BobCAD Changelog

What's new in BobCAD 25 Build 758

• New Toolpath Strategies
• Advanced Pocketing
• The Advanced Pocketing strategy has been added to the 2 Axis Pocketing feature to allow for the cutting of open shapes, as well as giving options for an adaptive roughing strategy.
• Rotary Toolpath
• The rotary toolpath, now included with the Mill 4 Axis Standard, 4 Axis Pro, 5 Axis Standard, and 5 Axis Pro module is a toolpath designed to machine parts on a 4 axis machine. It can be used to mill cylindrical parts by either machining along the rotation axis or around the rotation axis.
• 3 + 2 Positioning / Indexing
• The Mill 5 Axis Standard and 5 Axis Pro modules allow users to index to any face of the part allowing the angles to be automatically calculated based on the machine definition. With complete support for 5 axis head-head, head-table, and table-table configurations, multiaxis positioning is made simple.
• 5 Axis Trimming
• This toolpath is calculated based on using wireframe geometry or edges of models. The user has complete control of the tilt angles by the use of orientation lines to align the tool axis. One primary application for this toolpath is the use for trimming vacuum molded parts.
• Surface Based Toolpaths
• Seven surface based toolpaths have been added to the BobCAD-CAM V25 Mill family. These new toolpaths calculate directly based off of NURB surfaces as opposed to the 3 Axis toolpaths which are based off of solid meshes. Each of the toolpaths listed in the table above have robust controls for the following:
• Controlling lead and tilt angles with options for supporting tilt angles with tilt lines, tilt curves, or points
• Several gouge checking strategies for the flute, shaft, arbor, and holder
• Options to aid in roughing or plunging out material
• Robust feed rate controls
• Toolpaths calculated for 3 axis, 4 axis, or 5 axis output (5 axis output is only available in the Mill 5 Axis Pro)
• Project Curves
• Morph between 2 surfaces
• Parallel to surface
• Multiaxis Roughing
• The Multiaxis Roughing strategy offered in the Mill 5 Axis Pro module allows for a multiaxis toolpath that can be used to rough-out pocket shaped geometries. The options match the Advanced Roughing toolpath offered in the Mill 3 Axis Pro module including options for adaptive roughing, intermediate slices, and rest machining.
• Swarf Machining
• The Swarf Machining strategy offered in the Mill 5 Axis Pro module gives the user a simplified user interface giving them quicker access to the exact options they need when creating swarf style toolpaths. This strategy also includes more robust options for types of geometry that can be used for toolpath creation, further simplifying the programming process.
• SWARF (Side Wall Axial Relief Feed) machining, or also called 'flank milling', is a 5 axis simultaneous milling process. It will be used for machining fluid parts for turbo-engines or aeronautical parts like integral elements.
• The goal is to produce the target surface with only one cut, using the whole flute length of the tool.
• The motivation is:
• Better surface finish quality (without hand finish)
• Shorter finish cycle time
• Full access of machining areas through simultaneous 5 axis vector orientation
• Constant cutting conditions (increased material removal, constant (low) cutting force)
• The swarf machining will be used to produce the target surface with only one cut, using the whole flute length of the tool. Input geometry here is always an upper and lower curve. Different tilt cycles will be used to control the tool axis orientation.
• New Tool Types
• Additional tool types have been added for use with the 4 Axis Rotary, Advanced Roughing, and all of the Multiaxis toolpaths in the BobCAD-CAM system. The new tool types include:
• Machine Definitions and Full Machine Simulation
• Full machine kinematics can be defined to allow multiaxis posting and simulation support. Users can also now create their machine with separate STL files to see the machine in motion if they have purchased the Mill 4 Axis Pro, Mill 5 Axis Standard, or Mill 5 Axis Pro modules.
• General Enhancements
• Addition of the feed plane to all of the 2 and 3 axis toolpath strategies.