Hexagon launches SURFCAM 2020.1 with updates to machining cycles, tombstones, and additive machining

Hexagon releases the latest version of SURFCAM, featuring toolpath associativity for the face mill cycle, the option to extend the solution’s parallel lace toolpath, enhanced additive undercutting, and a total of about 30 updates.

Alongside the upgrade, the optional CAD for CAM Designer module has now replaced Part Modeler. More than 50 enhancements have been made to Designer, including the ability to attach finishing and tolerance information to models and faces with the new ‘surface attributes’ command. SURFCAM reads this information and applies it to the features, so it can be used in strategy decisions, or to set speed and feed rates.

This version offers the powerful new ‘edit boundary’ command for modifying the trimming of faces directly on a sheet or solid body without having to extract any surfaces or edges. It also delivers a fresh new look and feel for the ‘auto-constrained surface’ command, used to quickly create complex surfaces.

The latest version enhances the additive lace cycle’s ‘undercut’ function by allowing the user to set a maximum overhang angle. Further boundary control options have been included allowing for greater material displacement control.

The Tombstone Manager has evolved into a particularly powerful tool for working with multiple batch quantities. This latest release introduces two enhancements controlling the deployment of each tool, with two new ‘priority’ functions. Firstly, ‘by tool then by plane’ rationalizes by tool, followed by reducing indexes. Secondly, ‘by plane then by tool’ rationalizes by plane/datum before reducing tool changes.

Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence | hexagonmi.com