DP Technology’s Esprit CAM software gets a 2012 upgrade

The 'park' cycle for turning in Esprit 2012 has been redesigned to allow a machine tool's head or turret to be parked on each axis. This can be individually controlled using one of the four modes available — not parking the axis; moving the axis to home, as it would be set for a tool change; the tool moves to the input position in the operation co-ordinate system, or the axis moves to the input position in the machine co-ordinate system. For milling, Esprit 2012 offers an enhanced method of treating features used for contouring operations. Rather than allowing the tool to 'roll' over the edge when at or near the starting depth, the feature edge can be extended to maintain the desired shape. For wire EDM, feature extension settings now make it possible to extend the extremities of the feature so the wire path can start or end outside of the material when contouring or with EDM turning operations. This allows the wire path to be extended without actually modifying the feature. A new dwell time setting that inserts a dwell at the end of the rough cut to enlarge the exit point – ensuring that the wire for the skim cut can be re-threaded – has been added to all EDM contouring cycles.