Contact: Yvonne Anderson Gibbs and Associates (805) 523-0004 (805) 523-0006 (Fax) Email ContactRenishaw's plug-in leverages GibbsCAM's ease-of-use realizing simplified programming approach for on-machine probing.
MOORPARK, CA – August 24, 2004 – Gibbs and Associates, developer of GibbsCAM®, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software for programming computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine tools, and Renishaw, one of the world's leading metrology companies, announced today that a powerful new probing plug-in for GibbsCAM that combines their expertise will be demonstrated at IMTS 2004 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois on September 8th – 15th, 2004. Renishaw's new Productivity+ plug-in for GibbsCAM leverages GibbsCAM's ease-of-use style to create a new simplified approach to producing touch probing routines on machine tools, allowing process control and inspection to be programmed at the same time as toolpath generation. As part of their strategic partnership, the Productivity+ GibbsCAM plug-in will be jointly marketed by both companies worldwide.
"Using the Productivity+ GibbsCAM plug-in, the many benefits of probing can be maximized by engineers who are responsible for developing manufacturing processes and understand the design intent," states Dr. Tim Prestidge, Director & General Manager of Renishaw's Machine Tool Products Division. "Machine tool probing for process control and inspection therefore becomes a natural part of the engineering process, using the probe just like any other tool in the magazine."
"Renishaw implemented the Productivity+ GibbsCAM plug-in using GibbsCAM's Developer's Toolkit," explains Bill Gibbs, president and founder of Gibbs and Associates. "The toolkit gives third party developers full access to GibbsCAM's data structures and functionality allowing them to implement custom solutions seamlessly with GibbsCAM. As a result, Renishaw was able to fully realize their vision of simplifying machine tool spindle probing through GibbsCAM."
The new plug-in supports probing routines to set tool length and diameter, perform work-piece identification, work-piece set-up, in-process tool offset control, and part inspection (pass off). With the seamless integration of these probing routines into the GibbsCAM environment, the entire process can now be fully simulated prior to machine prove out, increasing on-machine confidence and therefore increasing machine efficiency. For further ease-of-use, the intuitive menus provided within the Productivity+ GibbsCAM plug-in allow the effective use of machine tool probes on a range of controllers without a detailed knowledge of macro code. The instructions required to control the probe are automatically included in the same post-processed file as the toolpath.
A further Renishaw development are Productivity+ plug-ins written specifically for various machine tool controllers, which will bring advanced levels of probing functionality to machine tools. The probing programs are processed within the controller at run time.
The Productivity+ GibbsCAM plug-in can also be used to introduce probing commands into existing GibbsCAM programs only requiring a simple reprocessing.
About Gibbs and Associates and GibbsCAM
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2004, 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 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 has received Microsoft's "Designed for Windows XP/2000" certification. 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 Application Program, is a Solid Edge Certified Select application, and is a SolidWorks Certified CAM Application. GibbsCAM is either offered or endorsed by a number of leading worldwide control and machine tool manufacturers, including GE Fanuc, Siemens, Fadal, and Mitsubishi. Gibbs and Associates distributes its products worldwide through a network of international Resellers. For more information about Gibbs and Associates and its CAM software packages, call 1-800-654-9399, or visit the company on-line at www.GibbsCAM.com.
About Renishaw, plc
For 30 years Renishaw, one of the world's leading metrology companies, has supplied products to manufacturing companies worldwide, all designed to increase productivity and improve product quality in a competitive manufacturing environment.
The company has a wide product range, and a customer base across a broad spectrum of different industry sectors. Renishaw is most widely associated with its touch-trigger probes for CNC machine tools and co-ordinate measuring machines (CMMs), but has successfully diversified into other market sectors, including scanning systems for reverse engineering applications, laser calibration systems, position encoders, and Raman spectroscopy systems.
A British company, Renishaw plc has an annual turnover in excess of �100 million and exports over 90% of its annual production from its base in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, supplying all of the world's leading industrial nations. The total number of employees worldwide is now over 1,500, with 80% based in the UK working on all aspects of the business, from R&D through to manufacturing and sales.
The company has established subsidiary companies in the USA, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Hong Kong, Brazil, India, Australia, South Korea, The Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Austria, Slovenia, Canada and the Czech Republic, with representative offices in China, Singapore, and Hungary. An extensive network of distributors covers all other major industrialized nations. For further information visit Renishaw on-line at www.renishaw.com
The Gibbs logo, GibbsCAM, GibbsCAM logo, Virtual Gibbs, Gibbs SFP, SolidSurfacer, MTM 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, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
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