As reported in Woodworking Network (Bill Esler). Software tailored to the work and the CNC machinery delivers the most productivity. Fletcher Wood Products purchased its first CNC in 1996 and wrote its own software to nest and generate machine code for its cabinet design software package.
“We also used our software to generate labels, track purchasing, and track the labor we spent on jobs,” says Jonah Coleman, project manager at the Fort Dodge, IA firm. They added Cabinet Vision S2M Center to export code for the KOMO now operating in their shop.
“We dropped our own nesting and code generating software for Vero,” says Coleman. “It simultaneously gave us better yields and freed us from having to fix and maintain an in-house software package.”
Biesse showed its bSolid Software at AWFS®Fair in July. It allows users to go from concept to the visual design of a part in a few clicks, and is fully integrated with the machine.
This allows users to make a virtual test run, reducing costly errors. bSolid’s artificial intelligence improves performance over time, so it calculates the most efficient order of sequence, reducing machining times.
bSolid software does project part design plans, then uses the shop’s own machine driver software to do a virtual test run.
bSolid software reveals conflicts and clashes in production, such as a misplaced pod on a CNC that might obstruct the bulky back end of an aggregate cutting tool – working with actual toolsets being used on projects, using G-code.