CAM, Simulation Interfaces Ease Program Transfer between Machines

Spring Technologies offers CAM WorkPackages, a set of interfaces between commercially available CAM solutions and NCSIMUL 4CAM (formerly NCSIMUL CAM). WorkPackages are provided for Catia (Dassault Systèmes), NX (Siemens), Creo (PTC), TopSolid’Cam (Missler) and Mastercam (CNC Software Inc.). Ultimately, Spring Technologies plans to offer its users direct interfaces with all the leading CAM products on the market.

NCSIMUL 4CAM is an add-on for a shop’s CAM deployment that makes production environments more agile, according to the company. WorkPackages enable users to transparently harness all their CAM project data so that they can quickly and easily switch from one NC machine to another without writing new code. A new NC program can be generated in just one click and then simulated, checked optimized and validated. More specifically, NCSIMUL 4CAM enables programmers to directly and easily retrieve a part assembly, a clamping system and a rough stock model, including the machining and positioning coordinate system data as well as associated cutting tool library, without having to go back into the toolpath program.

 In addition to the ISO files, the WorkPackage gives users access to Catia, Esprit, Go2CAM, NX, Pro-E and Surfcam APT files to automatically identify and separate the different machining phases and facilitate the change to the new machine. This delivers further substantial time-savings when changing between NC machines, addressing production and machine availability imperatives.

According to the company, the CAM WorkPackage optimizes flexibility by adapting to machine availability and enables faster production rates and TRS from NC machines. Dynamic management and exporting of intermediary rough stocks enables instant data checks at all times during the machining phase.