Hey Toolpath Community!
September was a busy month with IMTS (see our recap here), and the Toolpath Team has been working hard to bring you some slick new features. Check out our Toolpath Tuesday video from Al and read more about newly released Toolpath features below!
Ever wished you could select features from the Toolpath 3D viewer to see their details? Now you can. Enable mouseover selection by clicking the cursor icon in the navigation bar and click away! So quick, no scrolling.
See mouseover in action in the video below:
We've made some legit updates to how Toolpath handles open pockets and how we work with single surfaces that require machining from multiple tools or setups. You'll notice these improvements when working with open pockets that extend over floors and with vertical walls emerging from a fillet—where Toolpath might have previously warned you about an un-machinable sharp interior corner.
Toolpath now programs and visualizes this geometry the same way you machine it.
Please see the video below for more detail about how Toolpath approaches these features:
Justin sat down in the Toolpath Podcast Booth at IMTS with the Audacity Micro/Taps & Patience team to talk about what what caught his eye at IMTS this year, machining as a board game, what got the Taps & Patience crew into machining, and future Toolpath development plans.
Listen below and be sure to subscribe to Taps & Patience wherever you get your podcasts.
To give you greater control over how Toolpath uses your tools and to better align with more common terminology, we've added new machining roles to Toolpath Cut Configs.
Your existing cut configs have been updated to the new machining roles, as shown below:
If you need a refresher on Cut Configs, remember to check out our How to Create Cut Configs article and Setting Up Tool Libraries and Cut Configs Youtube video below:
As a team that preaches good tool library management, we're blushing a little about this one. After running some extra sample parts through the Default Cut Config, we noticed the estimates seemed a bit off.
Don't worry—we've gone through and updated the Speeds & Feeds in the default tool library included in your Toolpath account! These are our recommended feeds and speeds for wrought aluminum with common machine rigidity, tool holders, and workholding (think of the VF2SS in Tim's garage or the Brother Speedio in our Ohio shop).
Let us know how the updated default tool library compares to your cutting parameters in the comments below!
Along with updating feeds & speeds in the Default Tool Library and Cut Config, we've added the Starter Demo Tool Library and Cut Config to help you quickly visualize machinability results with a more limited (or realistic) tool list.
While the Default Cut Config includes a large library can help you find tools and give you general design for manufacture results, the Starter Demo Cut Config will help you quickly determine if a part is machinable using a smaller toolset (including standard 1/16" through 1/2" end mills and a couple chamfer mills) - similar to the tools that are likely to live in your machines tool changer.
Toolpath now supports the 3D navigation controls from a wide array of CAE tools - including Fusion, Solidworks, Alias, and many more! See How to Change 3D Control Preferences to set your preferred controls, then be sure to tell your co-workers about why it is better than their preference.
Estimate Presets now include new currency units - so you can quickly estimate in your currency, wherever you are!
Paul Clauss : Dec 9, 2024 4:51:30 PM
Hello Toolpathers! With the Holiday season incoming, the Toolpath Team has been in the giving spirit - bringing you new features, squashing bugs, and...
Paul Clauss : Nov 6, 2024 2:25:10 PM
Hey Toolpathers! We've got more new features to make your shop more productive. This is an exciting one with options to give you more programming...
Paul Clauss : Aug 25, 2024 7:00:00 PM
It's been another busy week at Toolpath! We've been out in the community, releasing new features, and continuing our IMTS prep. Scroll down to read...
