Pocketing

Our pocketing is amongst the most advanced and fastest of any CAD/CAM software. The criteria when developing our pocketing were:

Minimum number of plunges to depth.
Pocketing speed.
Minimum toolpath length.

Here at SharpCam we all come from an aerospace background, where complicated pocketing is the norm. The way a component is pocketed can be the difference between making a profit or not. The biggest frustration we find with other systems is the continual lifting of the tool and rapiding over to a random place and re-plunging to depth, this just kills the cycle time.

Plunging to depth

SharpCam will never lift the tool unless it has to. For complicated pockets this can save an enormous amount of time. There is no need to mess around with different tolerances or settings to achieve optimum results, it just works as is.

Calculation speed

Because any changes made within SharpCam are instantly reflected, the pocketing has to be lightning fast. In our tests no other system can calculate the resulting toolpaths for pocketing as fast as SharpCam.

Total toolpath length

The bottom line is, the shorter the total toolpath length the shorter the cycle time. Our tests have shown reduced toolpath length compared to other leading systems.

Take the test

To prove our point we have created a complicated dxf file: Take The Test.dxf that illustrates the power of SharpCam. Download the file and try for yourself in your existing CAM system and also try with the demonstration version of SharpCam.

This test was carried out using a Ø5mm cutter, feeding from 2mm to a depth of 5mm in one cut to depth. The stepover is set to 50% of the cutter diameter to ensure full clean up.

Results:
PC Spec:	Pentium 4, 3.00GHz. 1.00 GB Ram, Windows Vista.
Plunges to depth:	1
Calculation time:	6 seconds (Including Nc code creation)
Total toolpath length:	185050mm