ESPRIT 2007 redesigns turning functionality and offers everything a programmer could desire.
As a leader in production turning and mill/turn applications, DP Technology of Camarillo, CA, paid some well-deserved attention to its turning operations in its latest software release, ESPRIT 2007. The last version of ESPRIT focused almost exclusively on milling upgrades, so this time the developers put some serious thought into improving the overall turning process. As a result, they made programming much easier while still maintaining full control over the process.
ESPRIT 2007
Other welcome improvements in version 2007 enable the automatic selection of individual solid faces for all types of machining—milling, turning, and wire EDM (electrical discharge machining). ESPRIT is designed for CNC programmers who crave complete control over the machining process, so adding more control over exactly what gets machined makes perfect sense.
Major Improvements for Turning
This release of ESPRIT will please lathe aficionados with completely redesigned functionality for SolidTurn Roughing, Balanced Roughing, and Contouring operations. The developers took a no-nonsense approach when determining what functionality should stay and what should go. As a result, the functionalities of five previous SolidTurn operations were merged into three, which then underwent complete redesigns to simplify and standardize the interfaces.
The choices of roughing operations have been slimmed down to two: SolidTurn Roughing for turning with a single turret and Balanced Roughing that optimizes the speedier cycle times achieved with dual-turret lathes. These two redesigns include many options for roughing parts, especially when it comes to the definition of rough stock. It now includes standard bar stock, offset stock, and easier selection of casting stock, plus a variety of choices for the shape of roughing cutter paths and new automatic depth of cut calculations. Programmers who love control will love the abundance of new options in a streamlined interface. The best features from ESPRIT 2006’s SolidTurn Pocketing and Copy Roughing commands were merged into the new roughing functionality, resulting in the removal of the two operations from ESPRIT 2007.
SolidTurn Contouring was also completely upgraded to provide the same consistent interface and options as the roughing operations and now has integrated support for undercuts. These were previously programmed with the now obsolete SolidTurn Pocketing operation.
Turning profiles, upon which turning operations are based, have been enhanced as well to recognize and extract more data about the internal as well as external profiles of complex mill/turn parts, particularly solid models. Previously restricted to calculating only OD profiles, the Turning Profiles command will now calculate internal profiles as well as projections of the front or back face of the part and then create the profile above the turning axis, below it, or both. This is a time saver for users who program machines with upper and lower turrets.
Faster Selection of Solid Faces
Machining operations in ESPRIT rely on data provided by machinable features, which feed information about depths, tapers, cut direction, cut side, and other machining data directly into the machining interface. In the past, the selection of individual solid faces for these features was limited, typically requiring the user to first extract 3D geometry from the solid model before the feature could be created.
The new Grouping Properties command changes all that by providing several options for intelligently selecting or deselecting multiple faces on a solid model in a single step. How does this new function work? Hold down the Shift key, select a face. Actually there’s a little more to it than that, but after the selection criteria is chosen in the dialog, that’s about it. Numerous options include selecting all faces that are tangential, adjacent, horizontal, vertical, revolved, or a specific color. By far the most useful is the option to select all holes in any number of solid models, making drilling a snap. It’s not obvious at first, but Grouping Properties is also incredibly useful for deselecting faces.
Users who will gain the most benefit from these changes are wire EDM programmers. The specialized EDM features in ESPRIT have been enhanced to recognize the faces selected with the Grouping Properties command. Plus, special options have been added that will exclude the selection of any face that can’t be cut with a wire EDM machine. Programming die plates just got a whole lot easier.
ESPRIT FX
As noted earlier, the machining technology in ESPRIT is fed directly from machinable features. So what about the original CAD features used to create the model? That problem is solved with the new ESPRIT FX, which allows users to automatically capture the original design intent of an imported CAD model.
Going beyond transferring just the part geometry, the FX technology provides portions of the original CAD Feature Tree directly inside the ESPRIT user interface, including features, tolerances, material properties, surface finishes, administrative data, etc. The more data provided by the CAD model, the better. CAD features and their associated properties are mapped into ESPRIT’s machinable features.
FX doesn’t require any action on the part of the ESPRIT user. It’s already included in ESPRIT 2007, but does require a special license. To use the new add-in, it only has to be installed in the CAD application. When an ESPRIT user opens a CAD file saved with the FX add-in, a new tab becomes available in ESPRIT’s Project Manager that displays the CAD feature tree. The CAD tree has the same behavior as the feature tree in the native CAD application and retains the original data ESPRIT needs to machine the part. Native support is available now for SolidWorks, and is planned for the other five major solids-based CAD systems: CATIA, Inventor, Pro/E, Solid Edge, and Unigraphics.
A Toolbar That Does It All
It may be a small addition, but the new Smart Toolbar add-in is destined to be greatly appreciated. It means the user can get rid of the toolbar clutter that can quickly build up around the screen. This one simple toolbar provides access to all icons in ESPRIT, showing only the toolbars related to the type of work currently being performed and hiding all the others.
Unlike some other context-sensitive toolbars in CAM systems, the user rarely needs to go to the menus. The default toolbar includes icons that let the user hop between machining modes—milling, turning, wire EDM—and displays icons that activate groups of toolbars for most of the standard menu commands. Clicking the geometry icon displays the geometry and workplane toolbars. Click the EDM icon and the geometry icons disappear to be replaced with icons for 2-axis and 4-axis EDM operations. The Smart Toolbar is easy to customize so that toolbars can be grouped and displayed any way that works best. The Smart Toolbar is provided on the ESPRIT CD and only needs to be loaded to start using it.
DP Technology has added well-designed, thoughtful, and solid enhancements to ESPRIT 2007. The developers figured out how to best serve the needs of production CNC programmers and deliver a lot of value in a well-packaged set of functionality.
Ann Mazakas is the president of Intelligent Creations LLC, a provider of services to the manufacturing industry. With an extensive background in engineering and manufacturing, she has built an in-depth knowledge of the CAD/CAM software industry. To comment on this article, send your comments through e-mail by clicking here. Please reference “ESPRIT 2007 Review, October 2006” in your message.
