New Feature on CAM Software Simplifies Five-Axis Programming

PowerMill 2019 from Autodesk offers three- and five-axis programming tools to help manufacture complex parts with new additive and subtractive technology. Autodesk says that introducing enhanced three-axis high-efficiency roughing and new five-axis collision avoidance tools will generate more efficient tool paths with fewer tool retractions, shorter cycle times and increased tool life. Automatic Tool Tilting is a new option to simplify five-axis programming regardless of the model shape or the toolpath type. The user defines the required shank and holder clearance distance and PowerMill does the rest. Collisions and near misses are identified and automatically avoided with smooth machine motion, which helps prevent dwell marks and other imperfections.

PowerMill’s new setup entity helps synchronize the connection between tool paths and NC programs. Autodesk says that this enables users to add tool paths to a setup and have confidence that the changes they make are automatically passed to the associated NC program. Users can use setups with fixture offsets to simplify the programming of parts using multiple operations or fixture locations. All manufacturing data can be sent to Fusion Production for cloud-based collaboration.