Sheet metal CADCAM software offers material and productivity gains

The latest version of the Radan sheet metal CADCAM software suite, 2009 R1, includes a number of productivity enhancements as well as improved material utilisation functions. Among them is Common Line Slitting, applicable on a part-by-part basis rather than whole sheet, that will be of interest to manufacturers involved in high precision profiling of parts for assembly or tight tolerance fabrication. To maximise the efficiency of punch press machines the new Edit Punch Tool feature can find and replace tools used on a part. For example, if a tool is damaged or in use elsewhere this feature automatically finds and replaces it with a chosen alternative tool. Further manual adjustment is offered by allowing the user to rapidly edit punch tool overlaps, either to improve efficiency or even to create or adjust micro-joints. A new algorithm has been introduced to calculate nests of rectangular parts. This is used in addition to the existing algorithms and improves the layout of parts on a sheet-by-sheet basis.