Desktop Engineering (DTE) Blog

Desktop Engineering Blog

ICAM Post Processing Advantage

Post Processing Overview

If you’re a CNC Programmer or Machinist the likelihood is you interact with machine code, often referred to as G-Code, on a daily basis. Around the world thousands of these G-Code files are produced from a CAM system with a few clicks of the mouse ready to be sent to a CNC machine or robot.

Read More

Topics: ICAM Technologies, Various - CAD CAM FEA PLM, CATIA, Manufacturing

Business as Usual - Working from Home

During these exceptional times, Desktop Engineering is adapting to the COVID-19 situation with diligence and care. We are doing all that is in our power to provide a safe working environment for our employees and ensure business continuity.

Read More

Topics: 3DEXPERIENCE, ICAM Technologies, Various - CAD CAM FEA PLM, Dassault Systemes, Training, Hexagon MSC Software

The importance of composites in Aerospace & Automotive industries

Raise your hand if you’ve ever sat down and asked yourself ‘what can we do to improve our product quality?’ but struggled to find the most cost-effective way to do this. 

As the complexity of product designs increases, so too does the need to find the right materials and techniques to bring these designs to life. This is where composite materials come into their own. 

Here’s how your organisation can benefit from the use of composite materials and how the aerospace and automotive industries are making strides in the use of composites.

Read More

Topics: Automotive, ICAM Technologies, Aerospace

5 talking points in the manufacturing industry you may have missed

The manufacturing industry is changing all the time, and it’s not easy to keep up to date with the latest updates and innovations in your sector. 

So we’ve listed 5 of the main talking points in the manufacturing industry to keep you up to speed with what’s been making the headlines in manufacturing, including the security of 3D printing, supersonic passenger jets and additive manufacturing.

Read More

Topics: ICAM Technologies

3 ways to extend machine tool life

Many automotive and aerospace firms are under significant pressures to cut costs, but improve the efficiency of their processes. Yet the rigorous nature of manufacturing takes its toll on the machine tools used, which may require purchasing of new equipment.

The difficulty here is that machine tools aren’t cheap. For example, a 12mm PCD cutter can cost anywhere between £300-£500. CNC machines can cost thousands of pounds. So it may be a case of trying to find ways to extend tool life to avoid having to spend on new machines.

Read More

Topics: ICAM Technologies

2 ways to reduce manufacturing cycle time

Consumer demand for more customised products is driving strong competition between OEMs, not just in innovation of design but also time to market. The difficulty often falls onto suppliers to optimize the manufacturing process to reduce time to market. 

For NC Programmers, it can take a lot of time to verify positioning paths in order to find the safest motions to use that avoid collisions and over-travel during machining. This manual process of having to consistently correct errors discovered from the machine simulation can be very time consuming.

Read More

Topics: ICAM Technologies

3 Reasons Post-Processing Software is Essential

You may have come across issues in the post-processing stage of your design and development process that set the time to market of a product back. It’s no fun for anyone involved.

Errors can occur when there is a lack of post-processing software being used or the software being used isn’t adequate for the job.

A lot of CAM systems generate neutral language files that contain instructions for a CNC machine but these are usually in a binary format called CLDATA or possibly an ASCII readable format, which is tailored after the APT language (Automatically Programmed Tools).

This alone won’t necessarily help with the post-processing as NC Machines often require customised input for the controller being used and in some cases for the operator running the machine.

It’s also very important that the NC machine is being driven in a way that meets the shop floor criteria being taking into account e.g. safety and efficiency.

Read More

Topics: ICAM Technologies