Machinists know, you're only making money when cuts are being made. As such, it is ideal to keep machine moves that aren't cutting to a bare minimum. In the new BobCAM for SOLIDWORKS V6 we now offer a Minimize Tool Retracts option that does just that! When multiple depths are used on the Profile Rough and Finish, and Corner Rounding operations, this feature will help to eliminate moves back up to the rapid plane and then back down again before the next pass is made. This feature also gives you the power to choose whether to link the passes with a rapid or feed move!

Points is a new toolpath pattern option to assist in copying toolpath and entire setups whose copies need to have varying distances between them. In the past, there was no way to create a toolpath pattern that did not fit nicely in an array, translation, or rotation. There are many case when a feature, or many features need to have copies that have varying X, Y, Z distances. With the new toolpath pattern option, those variations can be entered in the software as coordinates, or as points selected from the graphics area. Once all coordinates, or points have been selected, BobCAM will make copies of the toolpath at those locations.

BobCAM now offers new and improved sequencing options in order to offer lower cycle times. When using Standard Drilling operations, you will find new, highly effective ways to maximize the efficiency of the sequence. We now offer X and Y Direction sequences, and even a Custom Direction option you can define yourself. All of these options can be set to a Zig or Zig Zag style sequence, and we even go a step further in offering a ‘Reverse Each Operation’ option to save even more moves. With Reverse Each Operation, drilling features that contain multiple operations, can have subsequent operations track back along the path of the first operation to keep the tool from having to move all the way back to the beginning to start the path again. No matter what type of Drilling or Tapping type you choose you’ll always be able to manually pick the geometry in the order you want it to be machined or you can let us do the work for you and use "closest" to have BobCAM find the next closest hole.

Having the cleanest cuts possible is something everyone strives for. In order to create an offset style toolpath without the linking motions that show up on the final part, the 2 Axis Pocket now offers a Spiral pattern for circular Pockets. This offers the user the cleanest offset style for operations on circular pockets.

Every job has to be roughed out, and it is hard to beat the Adaptive Roughing pattern for the Advanced Pocket toolpath for a quicker, more efficient toolpath. However, the larger the job and the tighter the tolerance, the longer the job will take to compute. Now, we have made a great toolpath method even better, by improving the calculation speed and giving you smoother lead in motions. The calculation speed improvement has been tested and ranges from an amazing 20% to 90%!

In many cases large areas inside a pocket have already been cleared by a previous operation. Forcing the software to start the cuts in the void while not trying to cut air can save a lot of time. To help with these scenarios, internal hole boundaries are now supported for Advanced Pockets by using dashed entities.

Machining is all about having the control you need to get the required results. Having the control to handle certain surfaces or areas differently in one operation is a hugely helpful when programming the final product. To help with this, Gouge Checks are now available for all the Mill Pro toolpaths. You can set various clearance options for the different components of the tool, select which surfaces you would like to check, and choose either Retract Tool, or one of the six other strategies to use in case of a gouge detection. This option can be used to handle gouges of course, but can also be used to give you even more control over how particular surfaces are handled. You can choose surfaces to give additional allowance to, or even avoid particular surfaces completely.

Finishing is a huge part of machining. Everyone strives for the cleanest finish possible and the less time that has to be spent machining that perfect finish, the better. Since bigger tools get rid of more material, those are usually used first and then smaller and smaller for the finer and finer details. Being able to have each tool finish only what is needed is essential in creating the shortest program possible. Now, new Rest Finishing options have been added to the Advanced Planar, Advanced Z Level Finish, Equidistant, and Project Curves toolpaths.

BobCAD now offers two great solutions for handling your rest finishing needs:

NEW – STL Stock Model – With so many factors in what type of machining happened prior to finishing, the most accurate calculation is to utilize the stock model in its current state before figuring out the most optimal places to cut. The new Stock Model option allows users to import the cut stock model from simulation, giving the most accurate rest finishing calculation possible, completely eliminating cutting areas that have already been cut to finish size

With the release of BobCAM for SOLIDWORKS V6, comes a new module for our 3 Axis customers: 3 Axis Premium! The new 3 Axis Premium gives users 8 additional surfaced based toolpaths: Parallel Cuts, Cuts Along Curve, Morph Between 2 Curves, Parallel to Multiple Curves, Project Curves, Morph Between 2 Surfaces, Parallel to Surface, and Flowline. Flowline and blended toolpaths, along with the ability to do undercutting, are just the start. Users that require the best possible surface finishes and demand an unsurpassed amount of control will find this module to be a must have! The new 3 Axis Premium toolpaths will give you the tools you need to stay one step ahead of the competition!

BobCAM now offers new and improved sequencing options in order to offer lower cycle times. When using Cross, or Multiaxis Drilling operations, you will find new, highly effective ways to maximize the efficiency of the sequence. For our Crossing Drilling, we now offer Along, and Around Rotation Axis sequences, and even a Custom Direction option you can define yourself. All of these options can be set to a Zig or Zig Zag style sequence, and we even go a step further in offering a ‘Reverse Each Operation’ option to save even more moves. With Reverse Each Operation, drilling features that contain multiple operations, can have subsequent operations track back along the path of the first operation to keep the tool from having to move all the way back to the beginning to start the path again. No matter what type of Drilling or Tapping type you choose you’ll always be able to manually pick the geometry in the order you want it to be machined or you can let us do the work for you and use "closest" to have BobCAM find the next closest hole.

When using multiaxis toolpaths a good method, in many cases, is to keep the tool normal to the surface at all times. There are many times, though, that using this method will cause a lot more movement than we would want. With Common Direction, the aim is to find a single tool axis orientation on the full toolpath or a single contour that works well on all areas of the selected surfaces. With the Common Direction, the tool axis is set to a normalized, single direction for all toolpath points and the option is available for all tilting strategies.

All surfaced based Multiaxis toolpaths now put the control over toolpath point distribution in your hands. You can enter a Maximum Distance and/or a Minimum Distance with a Deviation Factor. This allows you to have unprecedented control over the tolerance of the final part.

When working with complicated parts, it can sometimes be difficult to find the overall outline of the part to machine on a lathe. With the introduction of the Spun Profile, this is now done automatically for the customer. Simply select the model and BobCAM will pull the overall outline of the part to use as the feature geometry.

Cutting air is always something to avoid in machining. In the past, there were ways to work around the issue. But, when we offered our customers the ability to assign operational stock to milling operations to focus cuts on the stock itself, our users were elated! Now, BobCAM offers the same functionality in lathe, and even goes a step further by tracking the effects of each operation without the need to save the stock as an .stl, to then assign to particular operations. In this release, each operation automatically updates the operation stock of the following feature! This new functionality, used hand-in-hand with our Trim to Stock feature helps eliminate pesky air cuts.

Once a feature has been selected, choose the Feature Type and a Region.

The constraints give the user the ability to define the area in which the toolpath will be generated without the need to trim and extend geometry.

From Stock- Sets the Top of Feature to the highest point of the stock diameter.
From Feature- Sets the Top of Feature to the highest point of the selected feature geometry.
Custom- Sets the Top of Feature from the highest point of the selected feature geometry to the value entered. This allows you to pick a point as well.

For years, BobCAM has trained users on how to add geometry to CAD model to act as a bridge over areas of the geometry. With this method, you could keep the tool away from particular areas of the model you did not want to be cut with a particular operation. The new Undercut options offer a way to do this by simply selecting a check box in the Lathe Wizard. Pick an entire chain for the feature geometry and select what should be left out without the need to touch a CAD tool. Select Remove Primary Undercut, Remove Secondary Undercut, or both to have full control over what the operation completes.

The Lathe module now provides you with a Rapid Plane option to allow users control over where the rapid motion to the feature ends.

BobCAM has added a new feature called the End Face Feature. The purpose of the End Face Feature is to have a lathe feature that makes facing off the part quick and easy without having to draw in any additional geometry.

The Lathe module now has a separate Groove Feature to choose from. This feature, gives users the ability to choose multiple grooves at one time, and even rotate the feature for grooves on an angle.

Rotations of grooving features can be accomplished by entering an angle or picking geometry to align the walls or the floor of the feature with.

To make switching views in the simulation easier, the Smart View option has been added. The Smart View feature can be utilized with the Rotation Cube. While on, the Rotation Cube will allow you to click on a face of the cube to shift to the Top, Bottom, Right, Left, Front, and Back views. Clicking on the corners of the Rotation Cube will allow you to quickly shift into the various isometric views.

For quite some time now, users have been able to save an entire simulation as an .exe file. This has allowed users to export the simulation and all the controls in the simulation to share with decision makers to green light a project, or perhaps, to gain the business of a potential client. However, providing this much power, control, and data to others can, in some cases, be counterproductive. Now we offer the ability to simply capture a video of the graphics window, allowing you to keep things simple when needed.

Additional options have been added to the Program Based Stop Conditions. Along with the options to Stop on Tool Change and Stop on Operation Change, the On Block option has been added to allow for further stop control. The On Block gives users the option to force the simulation to stop at the particular move block defined by user. The Stop Before Occurrence option gives users the option to force the simulation to stop before the specified type of occurrence.