CNC Software for Lathe or Milling of CAD DXF Files

12 March 2012 Sydney time - Dolphin PartMaster CNC Software Version 11 has been released for free trial download on CADDIT.net Australia. New features of the new version include Windows 7 support, improved CNC toolpath generation, additional PM3D tool for importing profiles from STEP and IGES models, specialized gear design software, font editor for engraving, a CNC-file organizer and more. PartMaster 11 is major update in the Dolphin CNC Software "low-cost series".

For those unfamiliar with PartMaster, here are some major features:

• Intuitive visual editing environment for creating CNC cycles from CAD data
• Milling, Lathe AND Wire EDM machine support (with new price discounts for combination licenses)
• DXF, IGES and STEP profile import. Surface profiles from STEP / IGES are extracted via the new PM3D tool.
• Flexible toolpath creation, prismatic machining, area clear, pocketing, drilling, extended text-font engraving, etc
• Fourth axis milling support. Backplot animation and verification.
• Fully-programmable post processor support for all kinds of CNC controllers. CADDIT/Dolphin offer additional custom-built post-processor options as well.

Note that Dolphin PartMaster is an ideal solution for DXF profile milling/machining, pocketing, engraving, lathe profile turning etc it is limited at complex surface full simultaneous 3-axis support for which we still recommend either Alibre CAM Expert or perhaps T-FLEX CAM. An independent review of Dolphin PartMaster on CNCZone featuring our CNC Lathe module can be read HERE. A partner has also set up a small YouTube channel with many of the usual Dolphin PartMaster tutorials HERE. Below is an example using PartMaster in a CNC Lathe operation:

Download HERE a free 30-day trial for the CNC milling/lathe module for Dolphin PartMaster (including a free CAD system for drawing). Questions about Dolphin PartMaster or a request for a demonstration can be submitted HERE.

Free Pro/ENGINEER "Lite" CNC, FEA, Structural Steel & Ergonomics Design Modules

Did you know that every seat of Pro/ENGINEER now includes full-featured CAD/CAM milling, mechanical assembly FEA simulation, human factor analysis ("Manikin" analysis) piping and cabling design?* Here is a list of functionality now delivered to every Pro/ENGINEER user with updated maintenance:

CAM Lite – (Expert Machinist)
Pro/ENGINEER Foundation XE includes a basic 2 ½-axis CNC milling license, allowing machining of prismatic parts in 5-axis positioning. There are no “Menu Manager" menus; interface is completely icon/dialog driven. Pro/ENGINEER NC Lite follows a simple workflow:

• Specify final part and original material stock
• "Work cell" definition - specify milling machine type and machine zero
• Toolpath strategies - define machining "features" to block list
• Toolpath calculation is virtually automatic when all parameters are defined
• Post CNC machine G-code (generic FANUC post processor included)

Toolpath definitions are stored independently of machine features. More specific additional NC G-code POST processors can be used, they should be acquired from AustinNC or other developers.


CAE Lite – "Mechanica Lite"
Pro/MECHANICA finite element analysis and simulation ("FEA") for maximum 100 surfaces. CAE Lite enables you to perform static structural analysis on parts and assemblies so you can virtually test your product earlier in the design cycle. Intuitive interface walks users through analysis setup:
• Static Structural Analysis for Parts and Assemblies
• Apply Loads and Constraints (Displacement, Pin, Ball, Planar)
• Full results functionality
• Results Probing, Animation, etc…
Leverages Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica technology. Complete upward model compatibility to the full version of Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica for large-scale analysis.

Manikin Lite
Find out how a human might interact with your design with ergonomic studies. Any Pro/ENGINEER user may load, place, edit placement and manipulate a manikin in the product scene. Explore the base concept of digital human modeling, directly inside Pro/ENGINEER!
• Limited selection of full manikin design extension tools for manipulation (2D drag and apply posture only)
• Manikin Extension adds the capabilities to check reach envelopes, vision cones, first person vision window
• Manikin LITE analysis extension offers Pro/ENGINEER users several important ergonomic analysis software tools for product designs.


Pro/ENGINEER Frame Extensions Lite (EFX)
Beginning with Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0 M020, EFX Lite is now also available to all new and maintenance users. Expert Framework (EFX) is for structural steel design, framework assemblies made up of steel beams, aluminum profiles and other types of custom profiles. Customers are using EFX to create industrial machinery, cranes, buildings, assembly lines, conveyor systems, marine structures, roof designs and much more. Essentially all the engineer needs to do is to create or import the underlying structural shape using Pro/ENGINEER datum curves, where the curves represent the major structural beams. Designers then use EFX commands to convert these shapes directly to framework assembly / structural profile.

WILDFIRE 5.0 is now available, for Pro/ENGINEER information inside Australia you can contact CADDIT via their website http://www.caddit.net/ or http://www.cadcam.com.au/ For an up-to-date product comparison between the several available product bundles included with Pro/ENGINEER, see the PTC website HERE.

*Lite modules included free as of Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 refresh M70

A Preview of Alibre CAM 2.0 CNC Software

The upcoming release of Alibre Design 12.1 (SP1) will include major enhancement to the basic CAM software included free with Alibre Design Expert, as well as the four- and five-axis options available for Alibre CAM Professional and Alibre CAM Expert. Improvement to the Alibre CAM Interface will make CNC programming inside Alibre Design much easier and enjoyable to do. Here is one comparison between the crowded old (left) tab interface and the new (right) cascading style:

But more than the lookand feel of Alibre CAM will change. A new entry method has been added to 2.5 axis profile milling operations allowing you to have more control over the entry angle.You can now create tabs/bridges for 2.5 axis profiling operations. You can specify the bridge height and length. You can also specify whether you want to use a particular number of bridges which will be equally distributed around the profiles or you can set an exact distance between bridges. Below is an example of the same cut-outs using 5 bridges and 10 bridges per profile.

The Tool Libraries will allow "drag and drop" of pre-defined tools into the active tool set. There will also be an option to immediately preview a tool upon creation.

Alibre CAM 2.0 will now support avoidance regions to specify where the tool should not cut, for example to avoid clamps holding the stock material down on your CNC machine. Flat faces can be directly selected as machining / avoidance regions instead of having to use sketches. You can also select the starting point for the engagement of the tool for Machining Operations defined by sketches.

Alibre CAM Standard will offer along-path-3D-entry for 3 axis horizontal finishing offers more control over surface finish for steep areas of parts. Specifying the engage angle and path height allows you to control the smoothness of the engage motion, helping to eliminate unwanted marks on the cut part that would otherwise need to be buffed out later. Alibre CAM Professional will also enjoy improvements to 4 axis milling.

Alibre CAM Expert will add a new 3D Offset profiling method, 3D Offset pocketing for making constant offset tool paths on the part surfaces, 3 axis pencil tracing now offers multiple passes & 3 axis valley re-machining allows split cuts, step over and cut control. Tool Holder Collision determines the minimum tool length required to avoid collision.

Alibre Design is sold in Australia by CADDIT. Download Alibre Design / Alibre CAM in Australia for a free 30 day "Professional" trial before software reverts back to free "Xpress" mode.

progeCAM CNC Milling Lathe Wire EDM for progeCAD IntelliCAD

progeCAM CNC Software for progeCAD 2009 has been released on CADDIT. progeCAM is an affordable CNC manufacturing package for progeCAD designers who would like to use a CNC mill, lathe or wire EDM machine for cutting their designs. The CADDIT progeCAM CNC package links progeCAD Professional to PartMaster CAM with a small plugin which adds several new machining commands directly to the progeCAD interface: pcamMILL, pcamTURN, pcamEDM - along with a pcamOPTION and pcamHELP command. Commands are enabled depending on the manufacturing license chosen. There is also a small progeCAD toolbar which can call these functions without typing.

The progeCAM manufacturing package including progeCAD 2009, Dolphin CNC PartMaster and the CADDIT module is priced at a combined discount of more than 10% plus including the module software and support for free.

Free Machinists CNC Training Videos for PartMaster

Dolphin PartMaster is low cost CNC machinists software for milling, lathe turning and wire EDM which is supported and sold by CADDIT. This web page includes a number of video CAD CAM tutorials from the manufacturer.

Industry CNC machinists, educators and universities alike will now benefit from a completely new manufacturer CNC information website from PartMaster for training. The site includes new videos demonstrating CAD, CAM CNC milling tutorials, lathe, wire EDM and 3D CAM. Full personal online training will also be offered shortly.

The new videos include numerous practical examples of using PartMaster Level 1 2 and 3 software to create Text Engraving, Face Milling , Thread milling, Contouring and more. PartMaster has a variety of applications for tooling, CNC water jet, flame and laser cutting, wood and furniture manufacturing and electronics.

CADDIT continues to support and sell PartMaster at a special price to the Asia Pacific region. For AutoCAD users, CADDIT has also developed a live interface between progeCAD advanced IntelliCAD and PartMaster. Users can select entities to be machined from any AutoCAD DWG or DXF file and choose to import those directly into either PartMaster CAD for further preprocessing or PartMaster CAM mill lathe or EDM. There is also a video tutorial of our progeCAM bundle on YouTube.

T-Flex CAD CAM Software Launched in Australia

The rumours are true. T-Flex is finally here.

What is T-Flex? High-end hybrid parametric solid and surface modeling CAD CAM software. Many of the features somewhat resemble Pro Engineer. T-Flex CAD comes bundled with basic FEA and motion simulation and kinematic study for assemblies. Sketches are defined by either outlining or hatching vector construction entities, much the way a board draftsman darkens (HB) lines from his much lighter draft strokes (6H).

But don't let the simplicity fool you! T-Flex CAD CAM has been used to develop entire factories and transport systems. It's hybrid modeling abilities allow free-form changes to be made on parametric solids or surfaces, and these free-form changes can then themselves be changed parametrically from the model history. Coupled with an extensive standard parts library and included simulation and FEA, T-Flex is a complete engineering platform.

T-Flex CAD costs a fraction of what competitive systems do. CADDIT as further reduced the T-Flex price for a limited time as part of the product launch in Australia and New Zealand. It can be downloaded and tested free from the CADDIT T-Flex Page.


Read the entire CADDIT T-Flex press release here.

progeCAM 2008 Released by CADDIT.net

Machinists and designers alike will be interested in this affordable, scalable solution for mechanical design, drafting and CNC machining. progeCAM will be sold in two flavours:

• progeCAM Basic: Will be sold worldwide. Bundles the "Professional Version" of the world's favorite IntelliCAD (statistically speaking) with the well-know PartMaster from Dolphin (Level 1).
• progeCAM Professional: Will be sold and supported only in Australia, New Zealand and surrounding region. Bundles progeCAD Professional with the buyers choice of professional machinists multi-axis CNC/DNC milling, lathe turning or wire EDM.

progeCAM offers the economical "best of both worlds" to mechanical engineers: progeCAD's robust AutoCAD-like drafting framework with PartMaster industrial-strength CNC machinining software. progeCAM is sold and supported exclusively by CADDIT.net and their authorized resellers. Read the entire press release on CADDIT Australia.

progeCAM CNC Software is Coming

CADDIT will soon release their own special progeCAD IntelliCAD CNC integration software for milling, lathe and wire EDM built on PartMaster technology from Dolphin.

Affordably priced and custom packaged, progeCAM will be released next week on CADDIT CAD CAM Australia. progeCAM will be a flexible solution with a starting price around $500, with more advanced bundles for industrial machinists requiring lathe, wire EDM, DNC and multi-axis CNC milling.

A formal announcement with complete information and links will be made at that time.

Special CNC Milling, Lathe, Wire EDM pricing

CADDIT has reached a limited-time agreement with Dolphin CADCAM Ltd, UK to introduce their Level 3 CNC mill, lathe and wire EDM solutions at greatly reduced cost. Buyers from the following countries qualify to purchase a full level 3 license at level 2 prices for the rest of this year (2008): Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Buyers can also earn some money when they participate in the CADDIT customer referral program.

Reference links:
CADDIT/Dolphin PartMaster Level 3 CNC milling software
CADDIT/Dolphin PartMaster Level 3 CNC lathe software
CADDIT/Dolphin PartMaster Level 3 wire EDM software

More information about CADDIT CNC Software here.

Test users can download and trial PartMaster CNC here.