Serving the South African Manufacturing industry Software Development (Pty) Ltd - CAD / CAM / CAE / Wireless CNC communication experts Advanced CADCAM and Wireless CNC communication for the Manufacturing industry VISI Machining 3D Fast and intelligent 3D toolpaths VISI Machining 3D creates intelligent toolpaths on the most complex 3D parts. Dedicated high speed milling techniques and built in smoothing algorithms create highly efficient NC code. Intelligent toolpaths will reduce cycle times on your machine, improve productivity and continuously produce high quality components. Extensive range of CAD interfaces. * Parasolid, IGES, DXF, DWG, STL and VDA * STEP, Solid Works and Solid Edge * CATIA v4 & v5, Pro-E, UG and ACIS. Intuitive interface  * A simple tree structure to navigate around the machining operations. * All input using a highly graphical interface. * Most commonly used values, can be stored as default settings * On line help will guide the programmer through the available machining options. Comprehensive Tool library with holders, cutting parameters and sister tooling * Catalogues of tools, holders, extensions and adapters. * Store speeds, feeds, optimal cutting depth and stepover values. * Keep track of the amount of machining completed with a tool. Short calculation times and batch processing * Very fast calculation times even for the most complex parts. * VISI allow multiple operations to be calculated at the same time. * Individual operations can be postprocessed separately or as batches. Multiple roughing toolpaths  * Constant Z roughing, adaptive roughing, core roughing and rest roughing. * Intelligent ramp, helical and planar entry methods. * Smooth corner radii and smooth transitions between passes. * VISI will remember where remaining stock is left on the component. * Minimised air cutting. * Avoid digging into areas where there is excess material. * Rough pre-machined billets / castings. * VISI will recognise and machine only where material exists. * Visi eliminates wasted movement, and keep cycle times to a minimum. Waveform / Adaptive Machining * Roughing out from bottom to top. * Utilize full flute length of the tool with a small stepover. * Tool remains on the part as much as possible. * Toolpath automatically switches to a trochoidal motion as needed. * Avoid full width cuts and guarantees a constant tool load. * Tool wear is spread evenly across the cutting surfaces of the tool. * Tool force is half-way up the tool. * Reducing deflection and the potential for vibration. * Efficient and safe machining. * Improve cutting conditions which allows higher machining speeds. * Save up to 40% in actual cutting time. ISO-Machining * Single or multiple surface machining. * Toolpaths are gouge protected against neighbouring surfaces. Flat surface machining of planar surfaces * Machine only areas of the part which are flat. * VISI will automatically detect these areas and machine them. * Machining time for these areas will be significantly reduced. * Flat surface finish will be greatly improved by using a flat tool. 3D step over finishing * Constant surface finish irrespective of the component shape. * One toolpath will finish the entire job. * Keep the tool on the surface, minimising retract movements. * Eliminate duplicate cutter paths. * Step over is smoothly adapted to the shape of the part. True spiral / radial finish machining * Ideal finishing strategy for circular components. * Spiral toolpath has only one start and one finish point. * Tool stays on part. * Eliminating redundant moves or sharp direction changes. * Machine upwards only, downwards only or zigzag. Parallel Plane finishing. * Unidirectional and zigzag toolpaths at any angle. * Angle limits for steep and shallow areas. * Optimised cross-machining steep areas within one toolpath. * Rough and finish the part in one operation. * Smooth stepovers and tangential extensions. Constant Z / combined finishing * Components with steep walls Z slices provides a good surface finish. * Automatically adapt the slice heights of each level for shallow areas. * Wireframe geometry can also be used to control the slice height. * Angle limits can be used to eliminate passes in shallow areas. * Helical option allows one continuous toolpath to be created. * Eliminate witness lines on the part and improves surface finish. * Combined finishing for steep and shallow areas in one toolpath. Leading curve machining and 3D curve machining * Cut between two driving curves across a model. * Parallel machining will morph between the curve geometry. * Perpendicular machining will run normal to the guide curves. * 3D curve machining forces the cutter to run along a 3D curve. * 3D curves scribe lines and engraving onto the surface of a model. Rest machining of fine details * Machine small features on a model. * Reliably detect areas left by previous tools, so that they can be re-machined. * Repeate as many times as required to machine with very small cutters. * Toolpath works from outside to centre or from centre to outside. Tapered tools supported on all cycles * Use tapered tools to machine draft directly onto the model. Toolpath reordering * Drag & drop to modify the operation order. Smooth point distribution, and smooth transitions * Reduce unnecessary acceleration and deceleration on the machine. *,Run close as possible to programmed feedrate. * All the toolpaths have smoothing radii in the corners. * Smooth transitions between passes. * Machine tool runs faster and gives better tool life. * Internal part corner smoothing of toolpaths. Full gouge protection * All 3D toolpaths are gouge checked. Tool holder collision checking * Check tool and the holder against the model. * Information about tool length required to complete the job. Template machining * Speed up the programming. * Store tooling, operations, feeds, speeds, depth of cut for reuse. *  Applying to a new parts. * Greatly reducing programming time * Using company standard feeds, speeds, methods and tooling. Configurable postprocessors and set-up sheets * Library of post processors to suit most machine tools. * All post processors are fully configurable. * Canned cycles for drilling and boring. * Subroutines and cutter compensation can be output along with 3+2. * Set-up sheets are automatically generated. * Information about the datum position, tooling, cycle times, cutting envelope. * Layout of the set up sheets can be modified. * Output setup sheet as either HTML or XLS format. High speed machining and hard metal machining * 3D toolpaths tailored towards high speed machining and hard-metal cutting. * Smooth corners, smooth stopovers. * Arc fitting to minimize sudden direction changes. * Eliminate tool retracts. * Maintain a constant tool load. Kinematic simulation * Use real machine dimensions and limits. * Cutting tool, holders, jigs and fixtures can all be checked. * Check gouges against part, stock or machine tool graphically. * Software Develoment will setup any kinematic model for the customer. Photo gallery softwa@iafrica.com VISI Software: www.visicadcam.com