A revolutionary new Waveform Roughing Strategy offering even greater stability, more precise machining and faster metal removal, is a major enhancement in the latest release of Edgecam, exhibiting on stand Q36 at Southern Manufacturing in February 2012.

As well as Edgecam, the new 2012 releases of other software from the same stable will also be on display: Radan, the world’s most powerful sheet metal CAD/CAM software; Alphacam, which provides world-class CAD/CAM solutions for 2D parts through to complex 5-Axis applications; and the Javelin ERP/MRP system.  

Now in the standard license of Edgecam for all users, the new Waveform cuts cycle time from 63 minutes to just 18 minutes, and improves the metal removal rate from 30cm³/min to 135cm³/min.  In addition, the constant tool load path and smooth toolpath pattern improves tool life. Also in Edgecam 2012 R1, the new Flow Surface cycle follows the flow of the surfaces, offering improved surface finish, helical support to reduce link moves, and multiple face support, making it ideal for machining fillets and 3D surfaces.

Amongst the enhancements in Alphacam 2012 R1: new and improved 3D machining strategies, including the new Constant Cusp strategy which gives a more consistent surface finish over the entire part, and new Tool Axis Conversion methods for 4- and 5-axis normal to surfaces or solids, along with improved Toolpath Associativity and Operation Editing/Updating, and Solid Viewing Support for all modules and levels.

Radan 2012 R1 includes Enhanced Tagging, giving users greater control over the application of tags and micro joints; additional functionality on common cutting, giving intelligent nesting for complex parts; and enhancements to unfolding within Radbend mean the 3D model is now automatically updated with the information from Radbend and can be bent within the correct parameters as specified. Also, programming punching and combination machine tools now has the added assistance of a new interactive and dynamic tool list, which lets users view the suitability and usage of a machine and its tools, as well as verifying loading the tool within the machine.

And Javelin contains a lot of new functionality that has been specifically requested by customers. Within real time data capture jobs can be suspended but automatically restarted allowing users to be diverted from tasks but resume later with minimum interfacing time; greater control over Consignment Stores has been introduced allowing them to be  assigned to a customer and affording similar stock control facilities to normal stores; and items normally bought specifically on a contract by contract basis can now be purchased in advance of the contract and held for re-assignment when required, either manually or via MRP.