Automation Eases Block Drilling
Mastercam X3 adds features that specifically target router automation, including block drilling, nesting, and automatic toolpathing. Nest block drill toolpaths within a restricted area on a sheet to ensure that they are placed within the machine travel limits. Specify machine X- and Y-axis limits and the proper offset for the drill block component in your machine definition, and Mastercam automatically positions block-drilled parts in a confined area of the sheet, ensuring that all drilling is done within the travel limits of the machine. Generate separate block drill operations for each sheet of material to provide more efficient sorting by optimizing the block drilling motion for all parts as a group. Available for either manual nesting or Automatic Toopathing (ATP), this option offers improved material usage by allowing block-drilled parts to be rotated.
ATP users can create or open a layered (multi-level) geometry file, select a machine definition, and select an strategy to automatically chain geometry and create toolpaths using the new Single File ATP option.
With Mastercam X3, you can direct where the tool enters the stock on an Engraving toolpath (interior corner, chain start point, or the midpoint of the longest line).
Feature Based Machining (FBM)
A highlight of Mastercam X3 is Feature Based Machining (FBM), available with Mastercam Router and higher. FBM eliminates manual feature identification for programming milling and drilling operations on solid parts. The FBM Mill and FBM Drill operations automatically create the toolpaths needed to machine features that are identified using your specific criteria. FBM's interface is simple and intuitive, so you'll become comfortable with it quickly.
New 2D High Speed Toolpaths for Router
Mastercam X3 introduces five new 2D High Speed Toolpaths for Router, all optimized for high speed machining and hard milling. See What's New in Mastercam X3 Mill for more information on these new toolpaths.
Energized 3D Toolpaths for Router Pro
- Mastercam X3 improves multiaxis toolpath speed and introduces new High Speed Toolpath (HST) controls that make programming efficient.
- HST can now be controlled by an XML-based file containing formulas used to derive the values in the HST toolpaths. This gives you the ability to set intelligent values for different cutting conditions (for example, material hardness).
- Options for controlling climb or conventional cutting have been added to all constant-Z HST toolpaths, including Core Roughing, Area Clearance, Waterline, Rest Roughing, and Horizontal Area.
- The Port5ax and Flow5ax toolpaths include a new feature that allows an overlap/blend to be added at the beginning and end of a toolpath. This feature is very useful in creating better finishes where toolpaths may need to meet from opposite directions.
