Gibbs and Associates reports that both the 32- and 64-bit versions of its latest version of GibbsCAM® software for programming CNC machines have been certified for Autodesk Inventor 2012 3D mechanical design software. Digital prototyping with Autodesk Inventor software gives manufacturers the ability to design, visualize, and simulate how a product will work, all digitally, under real-world conditions. Completing such development work before a product is built helps to reduce overall cost and increase process efficiency.
In addition, Autdesk’s certification demonstrated that GibbsCAM is of high quality and up to date, and that it provides the highest level of interoperability with Autodesk Inventor software.
The current GibbsCAM product line supports 2- through 5-axis milling, turning, mill/turning, multi-task simultaneous machining and wire-EDM. It also provides fully integrated manufacturing modeling capabilities that include 2D, 2.5D, 3D wireframe, surface, and solid modeling.
GibbsCAM provides machinists with full associativity for geometry, processes, and toolpaths that accommodate updates to Autodesk Inventor part geometry and process parameters. With GibbsCAM, NC programmers can quickly optimize parts for machining and program machine tools to make the parts, whether they have simple geometry needing only 2-axis turning or 2.5-axis milling, or complex geometry requiring use of 5-axis milling, MTM or Swiss-style turning centers.
GibbsCAM verifies toolpaths with gouge detection and interference checking, and enables additional testing and ‘prove-out’ with a dynamic display of all moving components of a selected machine tool as it makes the part.
These are among many features that GibbsCAM indicates will help manufacturers eliminate scrap, reduce cycle times, and maximize efficiency, safety, and profits.
“We are pleased to announce continued support for directly reading Autodesk Inventor models and assemblies into GibbsCAM, extending into the eleventh year the high interoperability to which our joint customers have become accustomed,” stated Gibbs and Associates founder and developer Bill Gibbs. “Our customers can continue to take advantage of the numerous usability and productivity enhancements of each new GibbsCAM release, including additions for programming the latest, most sophisticated machine tools, without sacrificing the ease of use for which GibbsCAM is known.”
GibbsCAM, in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions, is compatible with Windows 7, so users can take advantage of the latest offerings from Autodesk, GibbsCAM, and Microsoft on a single platform. An easy-to-use and simple-to-navigate interface, with language and icons familiar to programmers and machinists, allows GibbsCAM users to quickly take advantage of its powerful capabilities – from minimizing the time it takes to learn use of the software, to making manufacturing engineering tasks and production machining extremely intuitive and efficient. GibbsCAM provides the capability to program the most complex machining processes, and the flexibility to allow user-preferred approaches to jobs, with options that are logical to programmers.
“We are very pleased to have Gibbs and Associates renew Inventor certification for GibbsCAM,” according to Carl White, director of digital design product management at Autodesk. “GibbsCAM has supported Autodesk Inventor with direct reading of Inventor models and assemblies since the beginning of our certification program, with constant dedication to interoperability and ease of use. We are proud to have companies like Gibbs and Associates as partners in delivering extensible, flexible and easy-to-use applications to our manufacturing customers.”
