Digital manufacturing Module Works releases 2024.08 software update

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ModuleWorks GmbH

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Module Works releases the 2024.08 update of its digital manufacturing software, introducing new features and enhancements to boost safety, efficiency and quality in toolpath generation.

Module Works announces the 2024.08 release of its software components for digital manufacturing. This latest release of the Module Works SDK includes various new and enhanced features aimed at increasing safety, toolpath generation efficiency and part quality. These features contain enhancements across multiple components, ranging from Multi-Axis Roughing to Turning and many more.

Multi-Axis Roughing — Area Roughing

In previous releases, the rest roughing operation created unnecessary passes when material from the previous operation's tool trace areas was detected. With this new feature, Module Works 2024.08 now allows users to set a pre-defined rest stock thickness to precisely detect the rest material. This value should be greater than the rest material from the previous operation. This eliminates all the unnecessary passes in the rest roughing operation, generating cleaner toolpaths that reduce machining time and tool wear.

Multi-Axis Surface Finishing — Wall, Floor and Rest Finishing

In certain cases, the guide curve for geodesic operations on the wall is not ideal for generating the geodesic offset pattern. As a result, the generated toolpath can look complicated and not very intuitive. The Module Works 2024.08 release introduces a new floor parallel cut pattern for wall finishing that generates slices parallel to a planar floor. This ensures that features on the wall do not disrupt the pattern generation. The new pattern introduces a whole new set of geometries that can be machined with less tilting and better surface quality.

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Multi-Axis Surface Finishing — Wall, Floor and Rest Finishing

Working with advanced tools, such as barrel tools, might result in larger cusps at the start and end points of the toolpath when machining closed shapes. With this release, Module Works introduces toolpath extensions. This feature allows the tool to extend its motion beyond the start and end points of each closed contour. This reduces the size of the cusps at the start and end points, particularly with advanced tools such as barrel tools, resulting in an even surface finish on walls.

3-Axis Machining

The one-way and true spiral cutting methods cannot properly connect a toolpath when it collapses into multiple areas, resulting in a varying stepover and cusp. In the Module Works 2024.08 release, the constant cusp strategy now supports spiral blend connections with a shift distance. This provides a better surface finish compared to the one-way cutting method with blend spline, direct, or follow surface links for areas where a single region collapses into multiple regions.

Turning

Until now, it has not been possible to create turning profile toolpaths with simultaneous tool axis tilting. This has made it impossible to reach undercut areas or use short tool overhangs. With this release, Module Works has introduced a new B-axis profile turning strategy that allows users to create a turning toolpath with simultaneous tool axis tilting. This enables the tip to tilt around the tip center while gouge-checking the insert profile with respect to the part curve, thereby creating a safe B-axis profile turning toolpath. The strategy supports both round and non-round inserts (triangle, square, parallelogram and diamond). A major benefit of this strategy is that it can be used with a shorter tool overhang, thereby improving machining accuracy.

Module Works 2024.08 is available for download from the Module Works website.

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