Alphacam V8 What’s New - NEXNET, a.s. · Alphacam V8 What’s New Page 2 of 15 Notes • This listing contains an overview of the new features within Alphacam V8. Please see the

Alphacam V8 What’s New

www.alphacam.com Page 1 of 15

Contents

Notes ............................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Installation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Module Restructure ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 General ......................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Simulation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Lathe ........................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Add-Ins ........................................................................................................................................................................ 12



Notes

• This listing contains an overview of the new features within Alphacam V8. Please see the Alphacam V8 Release Notes for additional, important information including an extensive listing of all new product features, enhancements, changes, fixes as well as post processor and API enhancements.

Installation

• Updated Install

The Alphacam Product installation has been updated and enhanced.

• Distribution Media

The Alphacam installation package is now distributed on a single DVD.

Module Restructure

• Restructured Feature Sets

Alphacam V8 feature sets (levels) have been restructured and renamed, providing additional functionality to the lower-level modules. New Module/Level Structure

Essential Standard Advanced Ultimate Router Mill Stone Lathe (New)

Router Mill Stone Lathe Wire

Router Mill Stone Lathe Profiling Wire

Router Mill Stone Lathe Profiling

• New Module Names

Lathe Mill Profiling Alphacam View+ Lathe Alphacam Essential Lathe Alphacam Standard Lathe Alphacam Advanced Lathe Alphacam Ultimate Lathe

Alphacam View+ Mill Alphacam Essential Mill Alphacam Standard Mill Alphacam Advanced Mill Alphacam Ultimate Mill

Alphacam View+ Profiling Alphacam Advanced Profiling Alphacam Ultimate Profiling

Router Stone Wire Alphacam View+ Router Alphacam Essential Router Alphacam Standard Router Alphacam Advanced Router Alphacam Ultimate Router

Alphacam View+ Stone Alphacam Essential Stone Alphacam Standard Stone Alphacam Advanced Stone Alphacam Ultimate Stone

Alphacam Standard Wire Alphacam Advanced Wire



• Feature Adjustments (may not apply to all modules)

Many features have been moved from the Standard level down to the Essential level.

o On Screen and Manual True Shape/Rectangular Nesting of Geometries/Tool Paths (No Nest Lists) o 3D Engraving o Conventional Turning (Lathe Only) o More…

Many features have been moved from the Advanced level down to the Standard level.

o 3D Surfaces o Set Geometry Z Levels o 3D Project (Global 3-Axis) o 3D Wrap Onto Surface (Global 3-Axis) o Full Nesting o Take Account Previous Machining o Helical Interpolation o Cut Spline or Polyline o 3D Surface Machining (Parallel & Z Contour Roughing) o Edit Z Point by Point o C-Axis Machining – Set Work Area for Y-Axis (Lathe Only) o C-Axis Machining – Rotate Y-Axis Work Area (Lathe Only) o Auto Z Machining o More…

All 3D Surface Machining and 3D Solid Machining features have been moved from the 3D 3-Axis level (which is now obsolete) to the Advanced level.

The Ultimate level now includes the Alphacam Part Modeler.

General

• Updated Help File

The Alphacam help file (ACAM3.chm) been restructured and updated.

• New Input Image

Standard level and higher

This command will insert the selected image (.bmp, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .emf, .tiff, .png) at a specified location in its true size (calculated from its dimensions (pixels) and Dots Per Inch (DPI)). Upon insertion, a rectangular boundary is created around the boundary extents.



• Enhanced Tool Definition

Applies to Mill, Router, Stone, Lathe

New Tool Holder and Tool Tip to Gauge Line Length properties have been added to calculate the tool position during simulation and can be used as an alternative to tool holder graphics.

• Enhanced Project Manager Functionality

Objects can now be copied or moved from one Work Plane or Layer to another within the Work Plane or Layer tab via new Cut/Copy/Paste commands within the object’s right-click menu. Objects can also be copied or moved from one Work Plane or Layer to another by dragging objects from one Work Plane or Layer to another (to copy, use CTRL key while dragging).



• CAD Enhancements

A number of CAD features have been enhanced to provide additional ease of use.

o When creating 2 Point or 3 Point circles, a preview of the resulting circle is displayed.

o When creating tangent circles where there may be several possible results, those results and contact points are now made visible, allowing for selection of the desired circle as well as adjusting of the contact points.

o When inserting, moving, copying or rotating objects, a live preview of those objects is displayed while dragging. When using Snaps, the preview is displayed at the respective Snap position. This allows the destination to be viewed prior to accepting.



• Sawing Enhancements

Does not apply to all modules

Sawing can now be done using Auto Z and Partial Machining. A new Elements option has also been added which allows sawing to be easily applied to only the selected elements of a closed geometry, without having to break or explode the geometry first.

New Cut To/Cut On/Cut Past options have been added for sawing open ended elements.

• Cut Holes with Auto-Z Stone module only – Standard or higher A new Cut Holes with Auto-Z feature has been added to the Stone module.

• CAD Translators CAD file translators have been updated to handle current versions.

• Feature Extraction There have been many enhancements and fixes to the Solid Feature Extraction (see Release Notes for full listing).



• Alphacam API The Alphacam API has been updated to reflect all additional features and enhancements (see Release Notes for full listing).

• More… See Release Notes for full listing.

Simulation

• Enhanced Machine Simulation

Does not apply to all modules

The Alphacam Simulation has been virtually rewritten and contains a number of enhancements.

o Standard (shaded) and Solid Simulation now reside within main Alphacam drawing screen o Inherits the same Zoom, Pan, Rotation, etc. as Alphacam o Utilizes new Machine Configuration features o More realistic visualization/multi-axis movements (e.g. B/C-axis rotation rather than tool movement) o Simultaneous tool/machine movements o Operations can be switched on/off during simulation o New Simulation Project Manager page contains access to simulation controls and settings



• New Machine Configuration

Advanced level and higher - does not apply to all modules

This new feature allows for creation and manipulation of a Machine Configuration and its components for use within the new Simulation.

Machine Components can be created easily from existing geometries or solid bodies. The Machine Configuration and Machine Component properties provide full control over the machine’s axes movement and rotational behavior.

Mill, Router, Stone… Lathe…



A new Machine Configuration tree has been added to the Layers tab within the Project Manager for easy access to all Machine Components. This tree contains a list of layers which contain only the objects pertaining to the Machine Configuration. These layers act very much the same as Alphacam User Layers and can be edited (e.g. rename, change color) and turned on/off in the same way. Objects can also be dragged and dropped to and from the Standard layers to the Machine Configuration layers. Mill, Router, Stone… Lathe…



Lathe

• Rapid Management System

• Enhanced Auto-Lead In/Out Auto-Lead In/Out for Roughing/Finishing now has independent length values.



• Enhanced Grooving Functionality The Lathe’s Grooving feature has been vastly enhanced to contain the following new options.

o New Rough Options

• None: Finishing Only • Single-Cut: One pass at the deepest central part of the selected Geometry • Multi-Cut: Multiple passes with Width of Cut options

o New Width of Cut Options for Multi-Cut

• Constant: Works across the groove with a constant step-over controlled by Width of Cut • Variable: Varies the Width of Cut to maintain the Maximum Error as specified • Pecking: Full or Partial Retract, Peck Decreasing Factor, Minimum Peck Depth, Cutting

Order by Zone or by Level • Clean Profile with Each Cut: Can eliminate the need to do a Semi-Finish pass, works as

the Diameter roughing option

o New Semi-Finish and Finish Options These new options allow for configurable Lead In/Out moves, Stock Amount, Minimum Overlap of left/right passes, support for 2 Programming Points, and use of G41/42.

• More… See Release Notes for full listing.



Add-Ins

• Alphacam Productivity Pack

The Alphacam Productivity Pack is now part of the Alphacam install. Previously, this was distributed separately, primarily in the USA.

o Boring Along 2D Line o CAD to CAM (Extra Cost Option for Standard level, Free for Advanced) o Multidrill (enhanced version) o Nest Reports and Labels o More…

• New Drawing Template (SysMacro)

Allows for drawings to be opened and saved as templates. Template files will be saved with all geometries, tool paths, etc. (if any) within the active drawing as well as all User Layers, Work Planes and Constraint Parameters/Equations.

• New Styles-Tools Sync (Mill/Stone/Router/Lathe)

This command will analyze the tools stored in all Machining Styles and compare update their data to its corresponding tool in the Alphacam Tool Library. Missing tools can also be “extracted” from the Machining Styles and saved to a specified location.

• New AutoCutout (Stone/Router)

This command will generate a start or clearance hole at the beginning of a tool path and machine the cutout using the clearance hole as its start and end point.

• New ReliefCut (Stone/Router)

This command will generate a relief cut at a specified distance and location, machine the main specified path, and prompt to apply a manual Lead-In/Out to both tool paths.

• Common Add-Ins Are Now Always Loaded

Many commonly used add-ins now reside in Alphacam’s SysMacro folder so that they are always loaded and available for use.

o 3D Part Rotation o Break at Distance



o Common Line Removal o Extend by Distance o Line Properties o Parametric Rules o Project 3D to 2D o Nesting Extensions (Productivity Pack) o Save Solid Bodies to Files o Work Plane by Line Element Vector (formerly Work Plane by Polyline Vector)

• 3D Part Rotation

New Rotate Text and Create Work Volume options have been added as well as other enhancements/fixes.

• AutoStyles

Machining start point can now be set to the middle of the longest element (for closed geometries).

• Common Line Removal

The user is now asked if the resulting geometries are to be joined; otherwise they are left as open elements.

• Create Default Material

The menu item (English) has been changed to “Auto Set Material” and a new Ignore Tool Paths option has been added.



• Line Properties

A new Custom color option has been added to allow for extended color selection (beyond the standard 16 colors).

• Parametric Rules

A new Import feature has been added which allows importing of rules from another drawing.

• Save Solid Bodies to Files

Advanced level or higher

This feature has been enhanced to now ask to select which Solid Bodies are to be saved as well as where to save them. The saved drawings are now named the same as the original name of the Solid Body (numbers are appended only for bodies with identical names).



• Multidrill (Productivity Pack version)

o New Machine Undrilled Holes feature

This new feature allows for a Machining Style to be used to machine holes which were unable to be drilled by the multi-spindle drill unit. The Machining Style can contain any type of operation and are applied as-is to the undrilled holes. Meaning, all machining data applied to the undrilled holes comes from the Machining Style.

o New Re-Multidrill during Nesting option

This new feature adds a Re-Multidrill option to the Nesting Parameters. With this option checked, as a nested sheet is complete (fully nested), all existing Multidrill operations are deleted and then reapplied to the nested sheet using the same database and settings that were originally used. This allows for rotating of parts with Multidrill operations (previously not possible) and also provides optimization on a per sheet basis, rather than a per part basis.

• More…

See Release Notes for full listing.

Documents

Alphacam V8 What’s New - NEXNET, a.s. · Alphacam V8 What’s New Page 2 of 15 Notes • This listing contains an overview of the new features within Alphacam V8. Please see the