Release notes for:

NCG CAM v10.0.01 Date: 23/07/2010

NCG CAM Solutions Ltd are pleased to release NCG CAM v10.0.01 Below are brief details of the enhancements we have made since v9.1.07 (v9.1.08 was release to fix a problem in the cutter animation for users on Windows 7 32 bit platforms). 60 : Use English spelling of centre, etc. in the user interface and tips files. 99 : New Feature for v10. We now support .sat (ACIS) files via the Granite interface. The Granite interface is an optional module, allowing Pro/E parts and assemblies to be imported, Step files, and now ACIS files). 157 : New Feature for v10. A Machining Simulation functionality has been added for 5 axis machining, this allows you to simulate the machines movement and be sure there won't be a collision between the head and machine bed or work piece. 182 : New Feature for v10. Implemented Parallel Processing for Rest Finishing Passes, Raster, Radial, Spiral, Boundary and Morphed Passes. For computers with multiple processors or cores this gives a major performance boot. For the passes above the calculation will be split over the available processors. By default the number of processors used (for computers with multiple processors or cores) for parallel processing is 1 less than the detected number or processors / cores. The number of 'Worker threads' used have be overridden if needed: Tool > Options > General

292 : The mouse wheel now zooms about the current cursor position, making it more usable and like SolidWorks and Pro/E.

Release notes for:

NCG CAM v10.0.01 Date: 23/07/2010

333 : Major performance increase for V10. Rest Roughing: Optimise integrated roughing and trim to surfaces for AreaClearance, CoreRoughing, ZigZag roughing, Horizontal Area and Waterline passes types. This gives a better performance. 339 : Fixed a problem where holes were detected but not all holes were converted into drilling data folders. 340 : User interface: Change US Minimize to UK English Minimise. 350 : Linking: Limit lead out ramp angle to 60°. Before it was possible to enter 90° which gave some bizarre results - you just can't have a 90° helix. 360 : User interface: Combine Folders added under the mouse right menu for speed of use.

This option was only in the Edit menu before, but is very handy to combining boundary, triangulated surfaces or triangulated curves folders. Quicker and easier than dragging one folder onto another. 363 : The user can now set the default triangulation in the Tools > Options > General page.

This will affect the triangulation tolerance for parts (not dca files) opened. The actual value used is stored in the database and saved macros to avoid problems when the user changes the default value. Updated the documentation to reflect this change also.

Release notes for:

NCG CAM v10.0.01 Date: 23/07/2010

374 : User interface: Drilling hole data now displayed correctly in inches.

Before the parts of the hole were being displayed as metric, even though the units were set as inches. 375 : User interface: The default behaviour of offset surface is now to preserve original surface folder at top level in the tree. Offsetting one or more surface in v9.1 would have created an Edited Triangulated surfaces folder and the original folder would be a sub folder of the Edited Triangulated Surfaces folder. In v10 you have the original Triangulated surfaces folder left at the top level.

The same steps in v9.1 (left) and v10.0 (right) This saves you having to recover the original Triangulated surfaces if you wanted them also. 388 : Fixed a problem where 3-axis to 5-axis conversions did not work for fillets and other triangle based surfaces. Sometimes by adding internal fillets you can achieve a more flowing tool-path / machine motion. 391 : The stock-model extents now consider drilling cycles. If no boundary was selected (or some additional milling tool-path that did not covered a larger area than the holes) when making a stock model that included a drilling type cycle, the stock model would be made to the hole centre, not the holes edge. It is however recommended that a constraining boundary is also selected with the tool-paths before creating the stock model.

Release notes for:

NCG CAM v10.0.01 Date: 23/07/2010

420 : Hole detection now detects partial holes where the region of the partial hole is the same as it would be for a complete hole. Previously this would happen only where more than one surface constituted the partial hole. This should make the hole detection appear more consistent. 427 : Trimming to a 3D stock model built with different axis now permitted. Previously the passes being edited and the stock mode had to have the same tool axis. You had to save the stock model as an STL file and then reload it as triangulated surfaces, Now it just works!

Release notes for:

NCG CAM v10.0.01 Date: 23/07/2010

432 : The internal (macro) post processors support output for rotations on 4-axis machines using the "Machine is 4 axis" switch, this will only output the 4th axis. The Post output needs setting so that the rotating axis on the machine is the first letter of the axis in the output options. You also need to ensure that only the required axis has a rotation when defining the boundary.

Also, when the 'reverse rotation ordering' (outputting B50 A30 when normally it would be A30 B50) has been set true, the rotations back to zero move did not have its order of the rotations reversed. This has been corrected. When creating or modifying a post processor, always check the output in a text editor first! It is always wise to run the machine clear of the part to prove the changes you have made too. Also when working on a post processor several small changes are normally easier to do than one big edit - especially if you don't get what you want first time! 436 : (Includes ticket 673) Added function GetCurrentDateShort() to the macro language to output the date in short format (dd/mm/yyyy). This is implemented of the ISO post and Heidenhain post processors If comments are being output to the NC Tape-file and the post processing date was output it would be output as :- ( 02 July 2010 14:09:28 ) Using the short date, the date is output as ( 02/06/2010 14:09:28)

Release notes for:

NCG CAM v10.0.01 Date: 23/07/2010

459 : Comment lines can now be added to the SimulatorMap.txt file. This may help users with the 5-axis module identify post processor file names with machine names. Expect to find SimulatorMap.txt in <drive>:\Program Files\NCG CAM 10.0\GPOST\I486_NT\gpost 469 : The cursor tracking now shows values near zero as zero (in the way that it used to before 9.1.05) It was possible to get some rounding error and you would have cursor values of 0.000001 481 : New Feature for v10 Adaptive Clearance Has been added to context menus and online help. Aimed at smaller diameter, solid carbide cutters, Adaptive area clearance is an area clearance routing that takes full flute depths of cut, but with small stepovers. Because of how the passes are calculated and ordered the linking is done at the same time as the passes are calculated.

566 : It is now possible to modify the flute length on the cutter page of the 3-axis to 5-axis conversion dialog. 574 : Deleted items are now removed from the graphics area. For example if you transform surfaces and then delete the original, then the original surfaces are no longer drawn. 581 : Rest Roughing: A new algorithm for joining the passes (z profile only) gives improved reliability. 583 : Imperial Catia v4 files now load correctly after providing Catia v5 r20 support. 583 : Provide Catia v5 r20 support (update to Datakit libraries v64). Please note that some Catia v4 files with inches as their original units scale up by 25.4 (reported to Datakit as ticket #2358). 584 : View in parameter space now shows the area that has been trimmed away, where relevant 592 : The ISO post-processor can now create a tapefile for a machine whose head rotates about a given point - controlled by the new parameter bCompensateByRotationAndDisplacement. (Note that bCompensateForToolRotation must also be set to TRUE for the new parameter to have any effect.) 594 : Fixed 32bit exception in Rest Roughing. 595 : Fixed a corrupt surface loaded from a Catia v4 file

Release notes for:

NCG CAM v10.0.01 Date: 23/07/2010

598 : The user can now edit the shank definition on the cutter pages, in previous versions the field was greyed out. 602 : Corrected the Russian ppISO.mco files to removed wrongly translated strings. 604 : Upgraded to GPOST v6.3 The Option File Generator user interface is slightly different and v6.3 will run on Windows 7 611 : Fixed crash that occurred when animating a 5-axis toolpath after loading a file using the Granite interface on the 32-bit version running under Vista or Windows 7. 616 : Added a user parameter "Feedrate scale factor" to control the Heidenhain post variable rFeedrateScale for adjusting imperial feed rates. Some, but not all controls see F200 as 20"/min when working in imperial, this allows the user to scale the feed rate by a factor of 10 if needed. 617 : Updated GPost v6.3 post processor words vocabulary for the 5 axis machine simulation. 618 : Upgrade Granite interface to 6.0 M040, this is used when loading Pro/E .prt files and some other file formats like STEP and ACIS 619 : Linking: Fixed potential gouging situation for the helical lead moves. 645 : The GPOST 6.3 option file generator now starts up correctly on Vista and Windows 7. On these 2 platforms the Option File Generator was not being displayed. While it did not stop GPost from post processing, you were not able to modify the post as that required the Option File Generator. 650 : Fixed some possible gouges in raster passes when machining a stock model with surface smoothing. 656 : The rotation (at the start of a toolpath) is now output before the home point / G43 height offset. Outputting the 4th/5th axis rotation after the height offset was dangerous as it used the 'real' XYZ coordinates not the rotated values. 657 : Removed the ppNCL.mco post processor - This post was the forerunner for ppGpost.mco and not actually used. 659 : Added options to provide more control of some comments and there wording, A new option allows the HSM start to be output before or after the spindle start. 660 : For the ISO post-processor, the feedrate is now appended to the end of the move block to which the new feedrate applies, rather than being output on the preceding line of the tapefile. Having the feedrate on the preceding line without any motion was cause a problem on a couple of machines. 661 : The context sensitive help now works for Russian (RUS) version of NCGCAM.

Release notes for:

NCG CAM v10.0.01 Date: 23/07/2010

663 (682): It is now possible for users to access the 5-axis machining development (ModuleWorks) dialog. Do this by setting the Advanced User parameter FiveAxisUseDevelopmentDialog to TRUE, which is in the User advance options - mouse right in the 5 axis dialogue menu tree.

Any values changed in the ModuleWorks dialog will not have been saved in the database, if the plan is re-run the module works dialogue will be displayed and the relevant parameter will need to be changed again. Manipulating the ModuleWorks settings is not something for every tool-path, but there odd occasions when having such access will allow a tool-path to be tweaked for the better. 678 : The online help now works for Licence Manager. 681 : The machine tool simulation now has a complete Hermle C40U 5 axis (5AxHermleC40U) and its associated post-processor, are the supplied defaults for the 5 axis simulation. 682 : Fixed exception that occurred when changing view with no plan selected. Also, 5 axis plans which have used the ModuleWorks dialogs may now be re-run. Any values changed in the ModuleWorks dialog will not have been saved in the database and will need to be changed again. 684 : Corrected an ISO post-processor problem where if true rapids were output then move blocks could end with a single "F" character. A problem related to ticket 660. 695 : Changed title of online reference window to "NCG CAM Reference". 701 : The key-controls (eg shift, rotate etc.) used in the simulation window now match those of NCGCAM's main window. 702 : In the ISO post-processor a problem has been fixed where, if the HSM mode is enabled, the spindle-start command could be output at the wrong time. 703 : A post-processor configuration for a Thermwood Model 70 5 axis router is now included with the installation. This post is based on a B axis pivot distance of 260.9 but also requires a tool length to be defined in the cutting parameters.

Release notes for:

NCG CAM v10.0.01 Date: 23/07/2010

SolidWorks is trademark of Dassault Systems. Catia is trademark of Dassault Systems. GPost is a trademark of Austin NC. Granite, Pro/E are trademarks of Parametric Technologies Corporation. Windows XP, Vista & Windows 7 are trademarks of Microsoft