BobCAD-CAM, Inc. develops CAD-CAM CNC machining software for manufacturing businesses. They have just released the new BobCAM v4 Series of Gold Partner CAM modules for 2.5, 3, 4 & 5 Axis CNC machining.
The release of BobCAM for SolidWorks v4 marks yet another milestone in the history of the BobCAD-CAM software family. The Development team at BobCAD-CAM has rebuilt the CAM portion of the software to bring our customers the most advanced and versatile machining package ever available from BobCAD-CAM. BobCAM for SolidWorks v4 introduces Dynamic Machining Strategies™. Dynamic Machining Strategies provide full control of the operations that are applied to a single machining feature. You can assign any combination of the available operations based on the type of geometry that you are machining. This is just one of the many improvements added to BobCAM for SolidWorks v4.
“Every effort was made to bring our customers the most popular feature requests, and our most advanced CAM system yet, while maintaining that usual BobCAD-CAM ease of use that our customers know and love,” commented Greg Myers, Product Development Manager at BobCAD-CAM. BobCAM for SolidWorks V4 helps to elevate BobCAD-CAM’s ever-increasing reputation as an extremely powerful and affordable CAM software solution for SOLIDWORKS users that need CNC programming capabilities. Myers added, “The changes made to BobCAM for SolidWorks v4 provide a solid solution for limitless innovation as well as the foundation upon which many great future advancements will be built.”
Among the many new features are new enhancements made to the CAM Tree that include a faster way to set up a job. The user can now open the Machining Job dialog box to select the Job type and a machine for the job. Then can immediately start the Mill Stock Wizard or Lathe Stock Wizard directly from the dialog box to get started defining the program. Now, one or more jobs of any type can be added to a single file. This means that Milling Jobs and Turning Jobs can all be added to the CAM Tree in any combination. Included in the CAM Tree overhaul is the ability to copy and paste features and operations in addition to the existing Feature Save and Load options as a faster solution to saving and reloading features repetitively. The copy and paste commands even work across multiple open documents.
The shortcut menus are more logically ordered and minimized to aid in speed and navigation as well as CAM features can now be edited and computed from the top level of the feature. Expand and Collapse functions have also been added to the CAM Tree for more easily viewing or minimizing all items of the Job, Machine Setup, Index System, or Wrapping Group.
For both Mill and Lathe, BobCAM for SOLIDWORKS v4 has moved to a CAM system that is based on CAD features (or geometry). The newly added Dynamic Machining Strategy functionality allows the user to select a feature of the model and choose any combination of the available operations to machine that one feature. Previously in the CAM Wizards, the machining strategies contained a fixed number and type of operations that were available. With the new dynamic operations, the CAM Wizards can contain any number and order of operations that can be applied to a single CAD feature or geometry selection. This is a huge time saving advantage to programming all the way down to hole drilling. For example, if the operator needs to drill a hole, but needs to use a smaller drill to pre-drill, there is no need to edit a Tool Pattern, now the operator would simply add another drill operation.
Dynamic operations now benefit 2-axis machining as well. Several finish passes can be applied by just adding more operations to the feature. Rough and finish operations can start in different locations, without using multiple CAM features, with the addition of chain start points at the operation level. There is also a default chain start point that can be used to set the start for all operations in the 2-Axis feature that also contain a start point. The dynamic operations also create a major advantage for 3-axis machining. Now instead of having to create multiple CAM features and select the same model over and over again, the operator simply creates one feature, select the model, and apply any or all of the 3-Axis operations to that model. The new BobCAM v4 allows the operator to automatically generate Job Setup Sheets that can be customized utilizing an .xsl and .css file that control the output information and format. Templates are provided with the system that include full reports or tool-only lists to get the operator started in creating Setup Sheets.
Among the many new features that have been added, the BobCAM v4 add-in modules offer new machining operations that include the ability to add multiple depths of cut for engraving, thread milling enhancements, a greater cohesion across CAM modules as Tool Libraries, Thread Libraries, Tool Patterns, Tool Cribs, Stock Wizards, Material Libraries, Cutting Conditions, Current Settings, Machining Order and more are all shared between modules now. Other enhancements include toolpath start point additions and more tools to choose from such as V-tool, Lollipop, T-cutter, and Dove-mill tools for profiling. The 3 Axis Mill Pro module has an enhanced Planar machining strategy that now offers the ability to control the direction of cut.
Additional 3 Axis features include Adaptive Step Over and Advanced Z-Level Finishing options as well as other toolpath enhancements that give the user more control over how the toolpath is output. The new Project To Curves toolpath allows users to select a chain(s) to be projected on a 3D Model and the system compensates for the tool geometry.
All in all, the new BobCAM for SOLIDWORKS v4 series addresses ease of use, the ability to reduce cycle times, speed up the amount of time it takes to program parts and improve finished part quality.
For more information on this new BobCAM for SOLIDWORKS CAM software contact BobCAD-CAM directly at 877-262-2231 or 727-442-3554.
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