Introduction

This release of BobCAM for SolidWorks V8 offers more functionality than ever before. This version has 41 upgrades and enhancements affecting the following areas: 

• General
• CAM
  • General
  • Mill
  • Lathe
• Simulation
• Posting

The BobCAM V8 release is available in the following languages: 

• English
• Spanish
• German
• Turkish
• Japanese
• Czech
• Portuguese

General

Software Usage Analytics

BobCAD-CAM now collects anonymous usage statistics from the software to help us understand which features are most frequently utilized.

In the past, when it came time to create a new version of BobCAD-CAM software, we had to rely on a small percentage of customers who contacted us about feature requests, and our own brainstorming sessions, to decide what new and improved features users might benefit from the most. Now you can play an important role in helping BobCAD-CAM make your software better than ever! The anonymity of the data we collect means it does not contain enough information to identify a specific user, or to recreate what is being produced in the software. We do, of course, provide the option to opt out in the Settings dialog, but we encourage you not to, as this data allows us to focus on, and improve, the features of the software you use most!

To find out more, see https://bobcad.com/privacy/software-usage/.

The Settings Dialog

The Settings Dialog is designed to put every setting in the same dialog. In the past, Settings Part was in one dialog, Settings Default was in another. This meant that you were doing a lot of jumping around in the software to get the settings the way you want them. Now this can all be done in the same dialog.

Document Default / Current Document

Another bonus of a single dialog is you only need to program your current and future part settings one time. We now offer a button that will apply the settings you have to the other tab. If you're in the Document Default tab, click Apply to Document to apply those same settings to the current document. If you're in the Current Document tab, click Apply to Default to apply those same settings to future documents. Just like that, everything is just how you like it.

CAM

General

The Default Parameter Templates

The Default Parameter Templates are designed to let you change the initial values listed for the options in the CAM Wizards. When programming in BobCAM, you move through the wizards to edit the default values of the Features and Operations to create the program as you see fit. In the past, many customers have requested that those default values be changed to something that suits them better. However, the problem has always been, for every person that wants the value changed to one thing, there another person that wants it changed to something else. (And don't forget about the guy that likes it just the way it is!) Now, in BobCAM V8, we introduce the Default Parameter Templates. Simply move through the wizards and change any values you want to remain constant. Then use the Save Defaults option to save those values to a template. Once saved, any time that template is used the features and operations that have been saved to it will have those same values.

The Job Templates

The Job Templates allow you to save an entire Job from the CAM Tree to use as a template for future projects. From speaking with our customers, we have found many shops using the same kind of setup, or setups, used over and over no matter the job. In this release, you can right-click on your job and select Save Job as Template. Once you name the job, and save the template, you're ready to use it. Next time you want to create a similar job, just select Job From Template instead of New Job. Then, simply pick the job type and the template you'd like to use and click OK, and your job is in the CAM Tree ready to go. Save as much or as little of the job as you want.

User Defined Machining Strategy Templates

The User Defined Machining Strategy Templates allow you to create custom Machining Strategy Templates that have all the operation settings saved with them. Our Machining Strategy Templates have been around for a while, but only a certain amount were available, and they were always loaded with the default settings. That meant that every time you used them, you would need to go through the entire feature, and all its operations to update the settings to meet your needs. While you can now save operational defaults with the Default Parameter Templates mentioned above, the User Defined Machining Strategy Templates go beyond simple templates. Not only can you create as many as you need, but each template can have its own special operation settings saved in them. So, the next time you load your template, that's all you need to do, because you already set the settings!

New Machining Order Dialog

The Machining Order Dialog allows you to quickly view the order the operations will be output, and reorder if necessary, and in this version, it's easier than ever to use. A Work Offset column has been added to provide additional information, and now drag and drop functionality is available. This means, instead of having to highlight an item in the list, and then use arrows to move it up and down the list, you can simply drag and drop it into position to reorder your operations!

In the images below, you'll notice, while an operation can dragged and dropped into position, icons will appear showing where it can, and cannot, be placed.

Default Machining Order Options in Settings

To go along with our improved Machining Order dialog, we now also offer a way to set machining order defaults! In the past, the machining order for every job defaulted to Individual Tool Per Machine Setup. While this is probably the most widely used option, it still meant if it wasn't the option you used, you would need to change it each time. Now in the Settings dialog, you can set a specific Machining Order to each type of job: 

CAM Tree Flyouts

Here, at BobCAD-CAM, we are always trying to find ways to shave even more time off your part programming and make your software more user friendly. In this version, we're introducing CAM Tree Flyouts. These allow you to double check some, and even edit other values by simply hovering over certain items in your CAM Tree. Our CAM Wizards make programming incredibly easy, but having to find an item in the CAM Tree, edit that item, and then move to the proper page just to find that value can still seem a little frustrating. We don't want you to have to go through that, you've had a hard-enough day. With the CAM Tree Flyouts, hovering over an item will quickly give you access to information on the tools, stock, features, operations, and more! So now, even if you find yourself needing to update the speeds and feeds for the entire file, you'll be able to zip through and get it done with a smile.

Redesigned Tool Library

In this release, the Tool Library has been updated to a more modern and intuitive interface. On top of that it now gives you the ability to add or modify tools without the need to open a new dialog, allows you to save additional copies of your library, and even has a powerful search/filter tool integrated into it.

The modern interface makes your tools and tool types easier to read, and the dialog itself can be resized: 

With a single click, you can expand and collapse the tool parameters. This allows you to create and modify tools without the need to launch a separate dialog: 

The new tool library also provides the means to group tools, and filter tools to make searching large libraries easier than ever before!

Drag and drop headers into the group area to group tools by column information: 

The search filter can be a big help even in smaller libraries. With the filter open, you can easily Select All of the tools in the current group, and then set conditions to show only the tools you are interested in seeing.

These improvements make the tool library a much more powerful tool, while at the same time, making it easier than ever to use!

XML Import/Export of Tool Library

In order to allow import from outside sources BobCAM now offers its tool library in xml format. While users have always been able to share tool libraries with other users, tool import has only been possible between users of the BobCAD-CAM suite of software's. We have had many requests to give outside parties, like tool vendors, the ability to import their tools into our software. Now, with the tool library in an easy to read/write xml format, simply format your tool list to match, and bring it on in!

Machine Does Dogleg Rapid Move

We have updated the software to include a 'Machine Does Dogleg Rapid Move' check box in the Posting page of the Current Settings dialog. For many customers, a rapid retract using more than a single axis is not a problem. This is because for those customers, their machine uses interpolated movement for the rapid moves. Not all customers enjoy this option on their machines though. In cases where the machine does not have that option, a rapid move using more than a single axis can cause a dog-leg motion. These can be caused when one axis arrives at its target before the other, causing a change in direction. As you might expect, this can be a big problem for your part when you're using a rapid move to get out of a hole. To correct this, simply select the 'Machine Does Dogleg Rapid Move'. With this option selected, the rapid move will be replaced with a feed move using the speed set for the Maximum Cutting Feedrate in the Machine Parameters page of the current settings dialog.

Dog Leg Rapid	Current Settings / Posting	No Dog Leg

Mill

Mill Express

New Pecking Options

One of the most frequently requested features has been to include pecking options in more hole operations. In this release, BobCAM is giving you just that! While pecking has been an option in standard drill operations since the beginning, other operations have not had that functionality available. In this release you will find pecking options in the following operations: 

• Mill
  • Center Drill
  • Counterbore Drill
  • Chamfer Drill
  • Ream
• Lathe
  • Lathe Center Drill
  • Lathe Chamfer
  • Lathe Ream

New Side Roughing Options

Never have there been more options available when using the Profile Side Roughing pattern. This feature of the Profile Rough operation has had its options redesigned to allow you to set the stepover distance one of two ways, give you Zig Zag cut options in stepover and depths, provide linking options for the stepovers, and even cut order options to handle slices vs passes! In previous versions, the stepover for Side Roughing could only be defined by specifying the stock remaining and the number of cuts desired, all cuts would follow the same direction, and when using multiple depths each full depth was completed before the next.

Number of cuts	Direction of cuts	Order of cuts

This worked well in most cases, but now we provide ample options to handle just about any case!

The number of cuts can now be defined with the number of cuts and: 

By Stock Remaining	By Stepover

How the tool moves toward the geometry can now be determined with either a Zig, or Zig Zag cut.

Direction of cuts on each pass
Zig	Zig Zag

How the tool moves from depth to depth can now be determined with either a Zig, or Zig Zag cut as well.

Direction of cuts by slice
Zig	Zig Zag

These choices work in tandem to give you 4 different ways to define the direction of each cut.

Zig / Zig	Zig / Zig Zag	Zig Zag / Zig	Zig Zag / Zig Zag

Moreover, you now have another option to define the order in which the cuts are made!

Sort by: Slices	Sort by: Passes

Either of the above options can be applied to the cuts you create. This means every one of the direction options can be ordered in one of two ways, giving you 8 choices for handling cut direction and the order of those cuts!

Hole Feature Recognition

We have taken Hole Feature Recognition to a whole new level in this release. Now, with a single click we recognize all four hole types, and their variations! The machining features are automatically created based on a customizable set of rules in our new knowledge base, and all can be computed at once!

While BobCAM for SolidWorks has had hole recognition capabilities for some time, it was limited to creating a certain hole feature type and then finding the applicable holes when the model was chosen. In this release, feature recognition has been broken into several parts to give you the most control possible, while keeping things simple:

• Knowledge Base – Create rules for which operations and parameters should be applied to a certain hole.
  
  
• Hole Recognition dialog – Select a Knowledge Base Template, set criteria for which holes should be ignored, and select the entire model to have its features found and displayed in the Recognized Hole Features dialog.
  
  
• Recognized Hole Features dialog – Decide if there are any features you want to tweak or remove and then compute them all!

Work Offset Patterns

BobCAM now allows you to output copies of entire machine setups and allows you to specify different work offsets for each copy. While Toolpath Patterns have been offered in the past, and could be applied to Machine Setups, there was no way to output the same code with different work offsets. This could be a little frustrating when machining the same job on multiple locations on the table, because it meant you'd need to manually copy and paste the output, then adjust the work offset number of each copy by hand. Now, it's easy to create a Work Offset Pattern, set the work offset numbers to use, and set the machining order. You can also set a pattern type with distances to view the toolpath copies in the graphics area, and control whether the stock, fixtures, and workpiece are patterned in simulation. The Work Offset Pattern even gives you the ability to control in what order the code is output. Choose between By Tool Per Work Offset, By Tool, or By Work Offset. In the table below, you can see how these features are output using a single Work Offset Pattern copy.

Features and Operations

Feature A (Operation A1: T1) (Operation A2: T2)

Feature B (Operation B1: T1) (Operation B2: T3)

Job Setting Machining Order (By Feature) Posting Result:

Job Setting Machining Order (By Tool) Posting Result:

Offset

Operation

Tool

Offset

Operation

Tool

G54

A1

T1

G54

A1

T1

G54

A2

T2

G54

B1

T1

G54

B1

T1

G54

A2

T2

G54

B2

T3

G54

B2

T3

Work Offset Pattern (1 Copy <G55>) Using:

Machining Order: By Tool Per Work Offset

Machining Order: By Tool

Machining Order: By Work Offset

Machining Order: By Tool Per Work Offset

Machining Order: By Tool

Machining Order: By Work Offset

Offset

Op

Tool

Offset

Op

Tool

Offset

Op

Tool

Offset

Op

Tool

Offset

Op

Tool

Offset

Op

Tool

G54

A1

T1

G54

A1

T1

G54

A1

T1

G54

A1

T1

G54

A1

T1

G54

A1

T1

G55

A1

T1

G55

A1

T1

G54

A2

T2

G54

B1

T1

G55

A1

T1

G54

B1

T1

G54

A2

T2

G54

A2

T2

G54

B1

T1

G55

A1

T1

G54

B1

T1

G54

A2

T2

G55

A2

T2

G55

A2

T2

G54

B2

T3

G55

B1

T1

G55

B1

T1

G54

B2

T3

G54

B1

T1

G54

B1

T1

G55

A1

T1

G54

A2

T2

G54

A2

T2

G55

A1

T1

G55

B1

T1

G55

B1

T1

G55

A2

T2

G55

A2

T2

G55

A2

T2

G55

B1

T1

G54

B2

T3

G54

B2

T3

G55

B1

T1

G54

B2

T3

G54

B2

T3

G55

A2

T2

G55

B2

T3

G55

B2

T3

G55

B2

T3

G55

B2

T3

G55

B2

T3

G55

B2

T3

 

Multiple Drill Tip Positions

A single Pocket operation can now have multiple drill tip positions assigned to it. In the past, although drill tip positions were allowed, only a single point was allowed per operation. This meant that if you had a pocket that created multiple regions, only one of those regions could be assigned a drill tip position. In this latest release, you can assign as many drill tip positions as necessary for a single pocket operation!

 

No Drill Tip Positions	Drill Tip Positions Selected	Drill Tip Positions Computed

When working with Advanced Pockets, you can even apply multiple drill tip positions to a single pocket area with multiple regions.

No Drill Tip Positions	Drill Tip Positions Selected	Drill Tip Positions Computed

Mill 3 Axis Standard

Flat End V-Tools

In order to give users all the flexibility they need, BobCAM now offers a solution for Flat End V-Tools. In the past there was no parameter to define a flat end on V-Tools. This could cause an issue in certain cases. By allowing users to enter a Flat End Diameter parameter and updating the toolpath to accommodate that parameter, you can be sure your final part comes out perfect every time! 

No Flat End Diameter	Flat End Diameter

Skip First Cut

A new option is available in the Parameters page of the Z Level Finish, called Skip First Cut which allows you to remove the first Z level cut from the toolpath. In most cases, a cut near the very top of the part is ideal. This can help deal with fillets along the top edge, and other similar circumstances. However, in some cases, this is not what the user is looking for. Now, with the Skip First Cut option, removing that first step is just one click away!

Skip First Cut	Skip First Cut

 

Mill 3 Axis Pro

Barrel Mill Tool Support

Supported Barrel Mill Tool Types:
Standard	Advanced
Tangent Lens

For the first time, BobCAM for SolidWorks now support Barrel Mills for most operations. More and more companies are turning to Barrel Mills. Cutting with Barrel Mills can save an unbelievable amount of time and money. Until now, we've had no way to support these tools in your operations, but after working hand in hand with Melin Tool Company to test and retest, we can give you a product that puts this amazing tool in your hands. See the diagram below to get an idea of why these tools are quickly becoming the standard.

Note: It's easy to see how these tool shapes can save so much time! You can program a barrel mill tool with a much deeper step down and still leave the desired cusp height. Two additional barrel mill types can be utilized with the Mill 4 Axis Pro surface based toolpaths.

Trim Adaptive Depth Step Passes

Over the years, the Advanced Z Level Finish has come a long way. In this version, we offer a way to trim off the unnecessary portions of the Adaptive Depth of Cut to leave only what was needed. When we first offered the Adaptive Depth of Cut for the Advanced Z Level Finish, it was a huge help. Finally, areas of the part, whose steep angle caused large gaps in the toolpath, could be handled in a single operation by creating additional cuts on those levels. The only issue this caused, was the additional cuts went around the entire part. This meant if the surface that needed those additional cuts didn't go all the way around the part, there were now a bunch of unnecessary cuts on the other sides of the part. With the Trim Adaptive Depth Step Passes option, the rest of those unnecessary cuts are trimmed off, leaving the additional cuts only where they were intended.

Trim adaptive depth step passes	Trim adaptive depth step passes

Detect Stock Thicker Than

The new Detect Stock Thicker Than option for the Number of Intermediate Steps option in the Advanced Rough is designed to eliminate unnecessary intermediate steps. The Intermediate Steps option was a huge help when it came out. You could program your depth as deep as you dared and set the number of intermediate steps. When your depth left large steps against the model, the intermediate steps would come back and focus only on those steps. It was a big time-saver. The only issue is that not all steps left against the model are created equal. Many of them weren't thick enough to cause a problem on the finish pass, but intermediate steps took those additional passes everywhere. Now, with the Detect Stock Thicker Than option, you finally have a way to specify steps that are not thick enough to worry about, and those will be ignored by the intermediate steps.

Num. of Intermediate Step	Num. of Intermediate Step	Num. of Intermediate Step
	...Stock Thicker Than 0.000	...Stock Thicker Than 0.025

Advanced Allowance

An Advanced button is now available in the Allowance group of the Mill 3 Axis Pro operations which allows users to access the new Allowances dialog. This dialog provides the ability to specify particular surfaces/solids which should use a different allowance value than what has been assigned to the overall feature geometry. In the past, specifying different allowances for different surfaces required several different operations with specific boundaries assigned to each. The Allowances dialog simplifies all of this by providing you the means to simply add a geometry item, assign an allowance type, and then set the allowance amounts to use for each item. The dialog even lets you assign Part and Fixture geometry separately! In the images below, notice the fixture geometry selected. In this case we specify 0.2500 inches of allowance to use to keep the tool well clear of our fixture.

Fixture Geometry Surfaces	Side View	Visualized Allowances	Simulated Result

Mill 4 Axis Standard

Group improvements

When we introduced Groups in our V29 release, it brought some much-needed organizational help to the CAM Tree. Now, Groups can also be utilized inside of Indexing System and Wrapping Groups! While Groups were a huge help for the overall machine setup, multiaxis users still ran into the same organizational issues with their Index Systems and Wrapping Groups. These users can now enjoy the same control and organization in any part of their job.

Mill 4 Axis Pro

Barrel Mill Tool Support

Supported Barrel Mill Tool Types:
Double	Section	Taper

 

For the first time, BobCAM for SolidWorks now support Barrel Mills for most operations. More and more companies are turning to Barrel Mills. Cutting with Barrel Mills can save an unbelievable amount of time and money. Until now, we've had no way to support these tools in your operations, but after working hand in hand with Melin Tool Company to test and retest, we can give you a product that puts this amazing tool in your hands. See the diagram below to get an idea of why these tools are quickly becoming the standard.

 

 

Note: It's easy to see how these tool shapes can save so much time! You can program a barrel mill tool with a much deeper step down and still leave the desired cusp height.

 

Mill 5 Axis Pro

Toolpath smoothing

This option smooths sharp corners in the toolpath and replaces them with user defined splines. Smooth and steady wins the race in finishing parts, so it's not surprising that abrupt changes in direction aren't things programmers try to create in their toolpath, but they are still things that appear occasionally nonetheless. In the Advanced options for Surface Quality dialog, in the Surface paths page, you can now select the Smooth tool path option, set the Smoothing distance, and even specify a Detection angle to control when the splines should, and should not be used, and you can turn all those hard direction changes into nice smooth transitions.

 

 

Automatic arc - tool axis orientation

The Automatic arc lead option now allows you the ability to control the Tool axis orientation! The Automatic arc is a helpful tool, and for a while, the only thing lacking was the inability to control the orientation of the tool axis. In this new release, the Automatic arc option also allows you to control this with a Fixed, Tangential, or Tilted Tool axis orientation, to provide you with another level of control for an already powerful tool.

 

 

Feedrate for direct/spline links

One of the most important things in machining is the feedrate. In the beginning there was a single feedrate, which might not have been the best speed for every spot, but it was the only option. Slowly but surely more feedrate options became available: Feeds for your rapids, feeds for your leads, feeds based on contact point etc. Now, in our V8 release, you have another tool to pursue the perfect path: control over the feed rate of the Direct and Blend spline links!

 

 

Side tilt by contact point

This feature provides a convenient, new tilting option for 5-axis machining. Sometimes the value an option is asking for, is not the value you know, just like you may know the date, but not what day of the week that would be. Having another way to describe what you want can be extremely helpful, and the side tilt option now offers that. When tilting relative to the cutting direction, you can now lilt the tool to a specific contact point, using a value representing height or an amount along the profile of the tool, instead of just entering an angle.

 

By Line Parameter	By Height

 

Minimize tilting

A new option has been added to the Gouge check page which allows you to help reduce fluctuations in the tilt of the tool, when you use the Automatic Tilt Tool strategy. Machining is all about part finishes, and to get a good finish, the smoother the moves, the better the finish. The Minimize tilting function is designed to smooth changes in the angle of the tool along the path, which helps to provide the best possible finish to your parts.

 

 

SWARF

Spiral cutting method

The SWARF toolpath type now has a Spiral method option in the Sorting group of the Multi Cuts page. A lot of time can be spent on parts getting the toolpath started in the right place, and using the right linking methods to make the finished part as clean as possible. Many things have been added to toolpaths in the past to help eliminate the evidence of linking moves, but if you're going to use a linking move, it's best to use one that leaves the part, moves to the next pass, and then returns to the part as smoothly as possible. When you leave the part though, you aren't cutting, and when you're not cutting, you're not making money. Now that the Spiral option is available for the SWARF toolpath, you can eliminate linking moves altogether by using a smooth spiral motion all the way through the toolpath.

 

 

Customize guide curve detection

When creating a Swarf machining feature without selecting Tilt lines, or Guide curves some intelligent decisions are made based on the surface selected for the feature. Unsurprisingly, if that geometry can be done many ways, the result you get may not be the one you were expecting. Now, a Machining direction dialog is made available so you can enter the desired tool vector.

 

 

Sync with ISO curves

Another Strategy option that has been added to the Advanced control group of the Surface paths page is the Sync with ISO curves option, which allows you to utilize the curves of the surface itself as a guide. While there are many options to help you guide the tool for a swarf toolpath, there can be situations where the best course of action is to allow the surface structure to guide the tool. Now, with the Sync with ISO Curves option, you can do just that.

 

 

Links between regions

The Links between regions group has been added in the Link page to allow you to specify the type of movement to use between the different regions of toolpath. In previous versions, groups have been available to give you control over entry into, and exit from the toolpath, for dealing with gaps along the cuts, for links between the slices, and links between the layers, but there has never been an option for the links between regions. A large enough gap has always been considered a different area, and because of this, a clearance move has always used. With the new Links between regions group, these different areas of toolpath can be handled as regions, and now, you have access to all linking options you have for the rest of the groups in the Link page!

 

 

End Angle

In the Extensions group of the SWARF toolpath, you can now specify an end angle to use when exiting the toolpath. Having control over how the tool is leaving the part is just as important as how the tool enters the part. Now, just choosing the Start/End with angle option in the Extensions group of the Surface paths page, you can specify a End angle to use along with the Start angle.

 

Start 45° / End 0°	Start 45° / End 45°	Start 0° / End 45°

Lathe

New Pecking Options

One of the most frequently requested features has been to include pecking options in more hole operations. In this release, BobCAM is giving you just that! While pecking has been an option in standard drill operations since the beginning, other operations have not had that functionality available. In this release you will find pecking options in the following operations: 

• Mill
  • Center Drill
  • Counterbore Drill
  • Chamfer Drill
  • Ream
• Lathe
  • Lathe Center Drill
  • Lathe Chamfer
  • Lathe Ream

Simulation

Next Feed Move

In the Simulation, there are 3 new buttons added that give you the ability to jump over rapid moves to get right to the feed moves. Since feed moves are the only moves that should be removing material, there are times when you just want to focus on the next feed move. Now, the Run, Step Backward, and Step Forward buttons have a drop-down to allow you to change to Prev Feed Move, Feed Move Run, and Next Feed Move respectively. Each time one of the buttons are pressed, the simulation will jump, or fast simulate, to the first encountered feed move type get you past the rapids, and right to the feeds.

Move List Bookmarks

A new feature was added to Machine Simulator which allows you to add bookmarks to the move list with a simple double-click. Usually, when analyzing a simulation, there are portions of interest that the user returns to several times. Normally, this would be accomplished by remembering the operation number, and the block number, then moving to that operation, and going through the moves one by one. This can get difficult when you have a few different places you want to keep returning to. With bookmarks, you can double-click the move in the move list to add a bookmark to the progress bar: 

Click the bookmark in the progress bar to bring the simulation to that precise move. It's never been easier: 

 

Keyboard Shortcuts All Isometric Views

For each isometric view, a shortcut key has been added to quickly rotate to that view. In the past only one isometric view was available, when the view cube was added, users had a way to move the other views by rotating the cube, and clicking on a corner. The only thing missing was the ability to utilize keyboard shortcuts to move to these views. In our V8 release, you can now use keyboard shortcuts for the: 

• Upper Left Near Corner View
• Upper Right Near Corner View
• Bottom Right Near Corner View
• Bottom Left Near Corner View
• Upper Left Far Corner View
• Upper Right Far Corner View
• Bottom Right Far Corner View
• Bottom Left Far Corner View

 

 

Machine Coordinate System

A new coordinate system has been added to the Machine Simulator simulation area, called the Machine Coordinate System. This coordinate system is based on the machine definition, uses an internal detection algorithm for the main machine axis, and can be displayed on any corner of the simulation area. Some machines are created with coordinate systems that differ from the coordinate system shown in the simulation. This could be a little confusing when viewing the simulation, and in most cases, the best idea was to hide the Coordinate System to avoid confusion. In this release, the Machine Coordinate System has been added to the Graphics and Background page of the Machine Simulator Options dialog which allows you to view a coordinate system that is aligned with that of the machine.

 

 

Material Removal and Backplot modes: Setting retention

When switching between Material Removal mode, and Backplot mode, the state of the Initial Stock is now remembered. In previous versions the Initial Stock is always set to hidden when switching between these simulation modes. In our version V8 release the state of the Initial Stock will not be modified when changing from Material Removal mode, to Backplot mode, or vice versa.

Initial Stock in Material Removal mode:  Transparent	Initial Stock in Backplot mode:  Transparent

Posting

Subprograms

Subprogram for Operation

BobCAM now offers sub programs for individual operations. In the past, you could choose to output sub programs in the code, but BobCAM would try to make some assumptions in the output. A single depth profile, for instance, doesn't have multiple passes to create subprograms for, so why call a subprogram in the code? While this made sense in most cases, there are still situations where you would want that subprogram called, regardless of how many passes the operation has. Now, just by selecting the Subprogram for Operation check box in the Current Settings dialog, BobCAM will make no assumptions, and output a sub program for each and every operation.

In the table below, you can see how the Subprogram for Operation option changes the code for a basic, single pass Profile Finish.

Subprogram for Operation Subprogram for Operation N50 T4 M06 N51 G54 N52 G00 G90 X-1.3958 Y2.0625 S2383 M03 N53 G43 H4 D4 Z1. M08 N54 G00 Z0.2 N55 Z0.1 N56 G01 Z-0.25 F6.6738 N57 X0.7292 F13.3476 N58 Y-0.0625 N59 X-1.3958 N60 Y2.0625 N61 G00 Z0.2 N62 Z1. N63 M09 N64 M05 N65 G90 N66 T1 M06   N09 T4 M06 N10 G54 N11 G00 G90 X-1.3958 Y2.0625 S2383 M03 N12 G43 H4 D4 Z1. M08 N13 M98 P16 (SUBPROGRAM CALL) N14 M09 N15 M05 N16 G90 N17 T1 M06   O16 (SUBPROGRAM OF O100) N01 G00 Z0.2 N02 Z0.1 N03 G01 Z-0.25 F6.6738 N04 X0.7292 F13.3476 N05 Y-0.0625 N06 X-1.3958 N07 Y2.0625 N08 G00 Z0.2 N09 Z1. M99