Includes New Features for Automatic Feature Recognition & Preservation,
Hole-Making Automation, and 5-Axis Machining
MOORPARK, CA – July 11, 2011 – Gibbs and Associates, developer of GibbsCAM® software for programming CNC machine tools and a Cimatron company, today announced that it has released GibbsCAM 2011, with dozens of enhancements to make NC programming easier and faster.
“I am very pleased with the result of our development effort in the past year,” said Bill Gibbs, founder and president of Gibbs and Associates. “The 2011 release delivers many significant new features to improve efficiency in programming and machining, all while retaining the ease of use for which GibbsCAM is known. Across the product line, users will find new tools to make their jobs easier and their work more productive.”
GibbsCAM 2011 released July 8, 2011. Among the multiple additions and enhancements within the 2011 release, are the following:
Enhanced Feature and Color Recognition and Preservation – To optimize efficiency and throughput, new tagging capabilities, combined with automatic feature recognition (AFR), allow users to control how GibbsCAM imports CAD models and manages part features and attributes. Color Modes were added to extend tagging and selection criteria of geometric elements – geometry, faces, surfaces and solids. When a part contains user-defined features, or elements tagged with a color attribute, users can switch among Color Modes to distinguish, select or isolate features or elements for manipulation, copying or machining.
As a result of these enhancements, upon opening CAD models, GibbsCAM can read attributes, then recognize and preserve them as attributes in the GibbsCAM part file. Colors are preserved as CAD colors in the part file, and hole features in the model are recognizable and usable as hole features within GibbsCAM hole operations.
Hole Making Capabilities for selecting, organizing, recognizing and drilling holes have been broadly enhanced. Hole Manager, a productivity tool within GibbsCAM, now includes a new Auto Wizard, which allows users to store default settings for reuse, quickly and easily, at any time. Using AFR, holes (and entities that resemble holes) are selectable by part face, set of faces, a hole’s interior faces, or by coordinate system to which a hole feature is aligned. This streamlining enables users to automatically recognize and program hundreds of holes with as few as three mouse clicks, greatly simplifying and speeding up hole-making operations. Also, GibbsCAM now includes support for the full range of SolidWorks hole features.
Custom drill cycle options were added and, to reduce traverse and cycle time in drill cycles, a new check box enables reverse-order drilling.
5-Axis Enhancements include various new drill cycle options, toolpath conversion, toolpath smoothing and additional machining styles. The new hole making features make programming drill cycles at off-axis orientations very easy and extremely fast. Programmers can choose drill, variable peck, tap and custom drill cycles.
A new Operation Modifier enables the conversion of 2.5- and 3-axis toolpaths for 5-axis machining, which allows use of shorter tools to achieve smoother toolpaths through tool-axis rotation when the work piece or tooling interferes with the tool holder.
Toolpath smoothing methods have been implemented for all types of geometry, both STL (triangle mesh) and traditional surface geometry, to improve both tilt and rotary toolpath smoothness.
Swarf cutting can now be specified two ways. Users can drive the tool using a) upper and lower curves, with or without a drive surface, or b) a parallel-to-curve strategy with tool-axis rotation. Also new is a 5-axis trimming strategy that uses wireframe geometry.
Support for B-axis (tilting live tooling) was added to enable programming 5-axis milling with Y-axis offsets on lathes and multi-task machines equipped with a live-tooling B-axis.
For more information about GibbsCAM and GibbsCAM MTM, or to locate your local GibbsCAM Reseller, go to www.GibbsCAM.com, call 1-800-654-9399, or email Email Contact.
About Gibbs and Associates and GibbsCAM
For over twenty-five years, Gibbs and Associates has been a leader in providing cutting edge CAD/CAM technology, while maintaining its signature ease-of-use and productivity. Powerfully Simple, Simply Powerful is the guiding philosophy at Gibbs. Gibbs believes in empowering the NC programmer, machinist, and manufacturing engineer, not eliminating them. Gibbs’ goal is to introduce manufacturers to new technologies and new ways of working that makes their machining easier and their businesses more profitable. To achieve this goal, Gibbs creates tools that are naturally intuitive, graphically
interactive, extremely visual, associative, and just plain enjoyable to use. Gibbs provides a total quality solution with the service and support that successful customers require.
The current GibbsCAM product line supports 2- through 5-axis milling, turning, mill/turning, multi-task simultaneous machining and wire-EDM. GibbsCAM also provides fully integrated manufacturing modeling capabilities that include 2D, 2.5D, 3D wireframe, surface, and solid modeling. GibbsCAM is Compatible with Windows 7 and Certified for Windows Vista. GibbsCAM’s data exchange capabilities are able to access the broadest range of native and industry standard CAD data formats. GibbsCAM is certified under the Autodesk Inventor Certified Program, is a Siemens Solution Partner Program-PLM for Solid Edge product, and is a SolidWorks Certified CAM Product. GibbsCAM is either offered or endorsed by a number of leading worldwide control and machine tool manufacturers, including GE Fanuc, Infimatic, Siemens, Doosan Infracore, Haas, Index, MAG Fadal, Mazak, Mitsubishi, Mori Seiki, and Tornos. Gibbs and Associates distributes its products worldwide through a network of international Resellers.
In January 2008, Gibbs and Associates merged with Cimatron Ltd., and is now operating as a wholly owned subsidiary. For more information about Gibbs and Associates and its CAM software packages, visit its web site ( www.GibbsCAM.com) or call 1-800-654-9399 (outside of North America, call +1-805-523-0004).
About Cimatron
With over 28 years of experience and more than 40,000 installations worldwide, Cimatron Ltd., or Cimatron, is a leading provider of integrated, CAD/CAM software solutions for mold, tool and die makers as well as manufacturers of discrete parts. Cimatron is committed to providing comprehensive, cost-effective solutions that streamline manufacturing cycles, enable collaboration with outside vendors, and ultimately shorten product delivery time.
The Cimatron product line includes the CimatronE and GibbsCAM brands with solutions for mold design, die design, electrodes design, 2.5 to 5 axes milling, wire EDM, turn, mill-turn, rotary milling, multi-task machining, and tombstone machining. Cimatron's subsidiaries and extensive distribution network serve and support customers in the automotive, aerospace, medical, consumer plastics, electronics, and other industries in over 40 countries worldwide.
Cimatron's shares are publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the symbol CIMT. For more information, please visit Cimatron’s web site at: http://www.cimatron.com.
The Gibbs logo, GibbsCAM, GibbsCAM logo, Virtual Gibbs, and “Powerfully Simple. Simply Powerful.” are either trademark(s) or registered trademark(s) of Gibbs and Associates in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft, Windows and the Windows logo are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release includes forward looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such statements may relate to Cimatron’s plans, objectives and expected financial and operating results. The words "may," "could," "would," “will,” "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "plan," and similar expressions or variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company’s ability to control. The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward looking statements include, but are not limited to: currency fluctuations, global economic and political conditions, marketing demand for Gibbs and Associates or Cimatron products and services, long sales cycles, new product development, assimilating future acquisitions, maintaining relationships with customers and partners, and increased competition. For more details about the risks and uncertainties related to Cimatron's business, refer to its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company cannot assess the impact of or the extent to which any single factor or risk, or combination of them, may cause. Gibbs and Associates and Cimatron undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.