MachineWorks 8.3 Release Debuts

MachineWorks Ltd., supplier of software components to the engineering industry, has released MachineWorks 8.3, the latest major version of its flagship MachineWorks middleware. 

Headline enhancements include:

• New C# wrapper
• Support for complex concave polygonal tools, typically turning inserts
• Improved accuracy and performance of surface detection
• Improved detection of very small features during target part comparison
• Enhancements to Visicut snapshots and bookmarking.
• Direct access to dexel grid in Visicut sampled stocks for rest machining analysis
• New classify point against solid function for On Machine Verification and CMM applications
• Further enhancements to bending simulation

C# Wrapper

A completely new C# interface is now available that replaces the existing hand-generated wrapper. Relationships between objects are more explicit and there is stronger type-checking plus better support for intelligent code completion. MachineWorks’ application programming interfaces (APIs) and structures can be used in ways that are more natural from managed code and it is easier for application developers to avoid common pitfalls that could significantly degrade an application’s performance.

The new wrapper is automatically generated, functionally complete and fully compliant with MachineWorks’ extensive regression test suites.

Complex Polygonal Tools

A new API allows complex concave tools to be automatically split into convex sub-tools comprising cutting inserts and non-cutting geometry. Different cutting and collision settings can be applied to different sub-tools so that MachineWorks can detect if non-cutting portions of the tool collide with the stock.

Surface Detection

MachineWorks’ surface detection capabilities have been upgraded delivering more accurate surface matching and improved performance, which in some cases is faster.

MachineWorks’ surface detection fits parametric surfaces on the in-process stock to support creation of the stock model as a CAD BREP. Image courtesy of MachineWorks.

Surface detection tolerance is now exposed to the application and the new algorithm exploits stored cut number information if available.

Target Part Comparison

MachineWorks includes a number of mechanisms to compare the in-process stock with the design part, including full solid-solid Boolean intersection. The existing analysis mesh rendering method, intended for fast visual inspection, has been enhanced to optionally refine the mesh further in regions where there are very small features on the target part that might otherwise be missed as they happen to fall between points in the adaptive surface sampling strategy.

Direct Access to Dexel Grid

Along with the traditional polygonal BREP model MachineWorks Visicut supports sampled stock representations for use in environments where constant memory footprint is critical and model fidelity must therefore be reduced.

A new API to allow direct export of points on the Visicut dexel grid has been added to support enhanced query of the in-process stock specifically for use in rest-machining algorithms

Bending Simulation Enhancements

The MachineWorks sheet metal bending module allows a stock to be defined as flange and bend regions, to support the simulation of air bends, joggling and hemming. For bend sequence validation, MachineWorks offers fast and accurate clash detection of the flanges with solids representing the press, brake, finger-stops and other supports.

In MachineWorks 8.3, a number of enhancements have been added with the goal of aiding bend tool selection and design including creation of the intersection solid between the tool and the solid sweep of the stock during a clashing bend motion.

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