Minneapolis, Minn – Third Wave Systems’ newest version of Production Module is available now. While the latest v8.5 will provide several additional features to Production Module users, the major highlight of the release is: 

Ensuring Improved Part Quality with Tool Deflection based Optimization

Production Module v8.5 enables users to confidently optimize finishing operations with the availability of tool tip deflection as an optimization constraint. This constraint is applied as an additional constraint to the ‘Optimize By’ and the ‘Limit By’ optimization parameters. You can now ensure that the tool tip deflection is maintained below the maximum allowable value to ensure part production per the required specification.

Even Faster than Production Module v8.4

Production Module v8.5 provides optimization speedup of up to 50% in addition to the 4X average improvement observed in PM v8.4. In general, larger speed ups will be seen with cases that have a higher proportion of non-rapid cutter centers outside the air-cut clearance distance.

Up to 2X Speed Up in Optimization Algorithm

Support for CAM Software

• NX – Added support for NX 1899 to NX 1980
• CATIA – Added support for CATIA V5-6R 2020 SP2
• Mastercam – Added support for Mastercam 2021

Following are the major highlights from the previous Production Module releases which included several new features.

1. 4X Faster Speedup for Milling Projects

With PM 8.4 you will see an improvement in computation speed of greater than 4 times on average for Milling Projects running on 8 cores.  This speedup was observed on over 150 customer projects across a broad spectrum of industries.  You will also find noticeable improvement when animating the material removal from the simulation control helping you navigate to the In Process Workpiece quicker and visualize the material removal process more efficiently and effectively.

The computation improvement is achieved by leveraging multiple cores (logical processors) on the CPU. The average 4X speedup (median speedup of 3.6X) is based on using 8 cores. The actual results may vary and depend on toolpaths, tool type, tool and workpiece geometry. For example, a 5-axis toolpaths will see more speedup than a 3-axis toolpaths. Sections of the toolpath using indexable profile tools will see a significantly higher speedup than the average.

The speedup also varies with the number of cores used for computation. Production Module will automatically use up to 8 compute cores if available. Production Module will always leave two cores for other processes on the computer. For example, if a user has a 6-core CPU, Production Module will automatically use 4 cores (6 cores – 2 cores) for computation. Average speedup using 4-cores is 2.9 times the previous release.

2. Surface Roughness

Production Module v8.3.1 carries on in the same vein as the v8.3, focusing on addressing part quality with the addition of surface roughness for turning. Surface roughness calculation will provide users with a quick way to verify that the parts machined with the optimized toolpath meet the part surface roughness specifications. The surface roughness output is based on a geometrical calculation using the tool’s nose radius and the programmed feed rate. The calculation is available for standard turning and grooving tool types.

Image Courtesy: Sandvik Coromant

3. Constant Acceleration and Deceleration Model for Improved Cycle Time and Force Prediction

Milling projects in Production Module now give users the option to use constant acceleration/deceleration model for both rapid and linear feed moves. This feature will enable improved cycle time predictions for our users and will be particularly helpful for high-speed machining applications in soft metals. In addition, users will observe improved force calculation with feed rates adjusted for the machine acceleration/deceleration.

4. Voxel Mesh Output for Subsequent Part Quality Analysis

Voxel mesh output is a volume mesh that is useful for performing part quality analysis in a third party FEA software package. The voxel mesh used in conjunction with the force mapping file (*.WPF) for Milling projects allows the user to study workpiece deflection, clamping distortion, optimal fixturing locations, etc. This helps diagnose part quality issues due to sudden changes in force. 

Voxel Mesh and Force Per Degree Output

If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about the new v8.4 features, email us at [email protected]