TPT September 2007

D esign, P roduction & M anagement S oftware

changed as required. Options include ‘surface normal’, ‘fixed angle’ and ‘follow face’. On any trim, at any position, the user can introduce ‘change points’ where changes in orientation, technology or details such as micro-joints can be applied. A tube part nesting facility can be used to prepare part programs for varying numbers of components that are to be manufactured from the same material section. Once the toolpath has been generated, full simulation including motion using

the kinematics of the machine axis relationships can be used. This ensures accurate verification of the program using rendered solid graphics. Construction and simulation requirements of machine tools are many and varied, but all kinematic relationships can be handled by the simulation setup. Errors such as collisions of the laser head and moves that cause over-travel conditions are identified and reported by the software. Collision conditions can

There is a demand for very high percentage up-time for tube manufacturing machine tools. The single most important product of any CAM system for any CAM operation is CNC code to run the machine. This must be generated to a high standard and be technically accurate. Support for features such as hole and slot cycles on the machine controller should be supported. SolidCut Laser products have an impressively large – and increasing – range of proven post processor solutions for all machines in use today. SolidCut Laser combines excellent graphical simulation and prove-out on the PC, together with high-quality, proven code for the target machine. This virtually eliminates first-off prove-out at the machine, which is particularly important when only a one-off is required. Vero International Software Ltd – UK Fax : +44 1453 887444 Email : marc@vero.co.uk Website : www.vero-software.com

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be removed automatically – which generally means compromising on the orientation of the laser head during the problem area of the toolpath. Alternatively the use of change points enables the programmer to introduce safety moves interactively. This is done by either setting appropriate axis values or by interactively manipulating the head.

fi Apertures and tube ends can be modelled using the software’s extensive library

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S eptember /O ctober 2007