Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) industry leader DP Technology announces the release of the latest version of its flagship product, ESPRIT® 2009. This latest version of the ESPRIT software is the result of a balanced effort focusing on both the shorter terms needs of its existing customers and the longer term direction of the metal-working community. A significant number of new, innovative technologies in the areas of 3- and 5-axis milling, feature recognition and user interface are being introduced with this new version, as well as a long list of productivity enhancing features for milling, turning and wire EDM part programming. ESPRIT 2009 is designed to run on both the Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Vista operating systems.New 3- and 5-axis machining cyclesTwenty-two new 5-axis machining strategies have been added to the existing 5-axis functionalities of both ESPRIT SolidMill and SolidMillTurn FreeForm®. These new simultaneous 5-axis machining cycles are available for both milling and mill-turn machines, translating to even greater machining flexibility and improved cycle times. The full performance of these machining cycles is realized when they are run on multi-core computers, which results in an up to 145 percent performance increase for each core added (1 to 2, 2 to 4, etc.).The new patent-pending FreeForm 5-axis composite machining cycle débuting in ESPRIT 2009 allows the user to independently define the machining pattern and the tool orientation strategy to be used when creating the simultaneous 5-axis tool path and includes 20 different machining strategies (cycles) in one, resulting in a wide range of easily manageable possibilities. The new ESPRIT composite machining cycle gives the user the ability to perform simultaneous 5-axis machining for a wide variety of different parts and industries, including aerospace, medical, and automotive, through one simple user interface.Five-axis swarf milling, 5-axis contour milling and 3-axis z-level undercut machining round out the list of new machining cycles available for FreeForm machining in this new software release. By using these new multi-axis machining cycles, customers can gain flexibility by running their parts on either traditional mills or on the more advanced mill-turn machines while gaining productivity by reducing the number of setups required to completely machine their parts.FX Technology for advanced Feature RecognitionIn ESPRIT 2009, the ESPRIT FX™ feature tree, which has been upgraded and now includes better rendering and visualization options, now supports multiple CAD models and assemblies. The new associative technology introduced in ESPRIT 2009 is also fully integrated into the ESPRIT FX feature tree, linking design features built inside the CAD system with manufacturing features built inside ESPRIT.ESPRIT 2009 includes new support for CATIA, Pro Engineer and Autodesk Inventor (support also exists for SolidWorks and Solid Edge), in addition to support for assemblies and the ability to merge multiple CAD bodies — even when they are created in different CAD applications. Additional upgrades include support for multiple SolidWorks configurations, functionality that allows users to view the status of CAD files in the CAD feature tree, the ability to update imported CAD models that have been altered outside of ESPRIT, and the ability to customize the background of the CAD feature trees. Graphics upgrades available in ESPRIT 2009 include panning, zooming and rotate-the-view functions that have been improved in the latest software release to more closely align with the viewing functionality in each CAD application. Controlling the graphic view is now possible from a 3D mouse, a standard mouse, or from the keyboard. New associative technology in ESPRIT 2009 — defined as the recognition of a given part and its subsequent downstream activities — allows for the recognition of engineering changes made to a part model and the association between the original and changed part. ESPRIT retains the link to the original CAD file as well as a link to the faces utilized for each manufacturing feature created inside ESPRIT. If the CAD model changes, ESPRIT recognizes which faces have been changed, added or deleted, and will update the associated ESPRIT feature and ultimately the manufacturing processes. Innovative new user interfaceESPRIT 2009 takes the previous redesign of the software’s Operation Manager one step further with a new graphical user interface (GUI) for the ESPRIT Cutting Tool Manager. This new GUI presents the same look and feel for both milling and turning tools, with cutting tools being grouped by the milling head or lathe turret they belong to. The new tool manager also has better integration with the KnowledgeBase™ (cutting tool database). Icons show which tools have been added from the KnowledgeBase and which tools were created individually in the ESPRIT document, which can be easily added to the KnowledgeBase so they may be reused in other programs or by other programmers. Additional GUI upgrades include new dialogs for the definition of individual cutting tools, which are significantly simplified and now support the definition of the tool shank. The new GUI displays more accurate images of the tools to aid in more easily defining tool geometry.
