Celeritive Technologies Releases VoluMill 3.5.2

By DE Editors

Celeritive Technologies, Inc. announces the release of version 3.5.2 of its VoluMill toolpath software. VoluMill has undergone a major re-engineering and is now 30% faster on complex parts than previous versions, according to the company.

“The primary focus of version 3.5 was on reducing overall path length and machine cycle times,” says Joe McChesney, VoluMill product manager. “Although customers have consistently reported cycle time reductions of 70% or more with older versions of VoluMill, we realized that there was still room for improvement, particularly when repositioning the tool between cuts.”

Testing of VoluMill 3.5 has shown reductions in overall toolpath length by up to a third over version 3.0, and reductions in retracts to the rapid plane by up to 90%, according to Celeritive Technologies. Much of this improvement is due to Freeway Linking, a new technique that lifts the tool slightly off the floor of the part and detours it at high speed around obstacles along a smooth path. In addition, VoluMill 3.5 introduces major improvements in toolpath sorting that minimize the length of linking moves between cutting passes.

Other enhancements include avoidance of fixtures or other obstacles, improved cutting around islands, and better use of multiprocessor computers, including reductions in processing time for the new generation of quad-core processors. In addition, VoluMill Universal, a stand-alone version of VoluMill that can be used with CAD/CAM systems, now features toolpath verification and other new features.

For more information, visit Celeritive Technologies' VoluMill site.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.