Irvine, CA – NCCS announces that it will be displaying its NCL 5-axis software in its booth at the upcoming IMTS show being held in Chicago, September 4-11, 1996 (booth A1-9100). NCL is an industry leading multi-axis CAD/CAM system used by aerospace, automotive, mold and die, and other manufacturing companies throughout the world.

According to Donald F. Schultz, President of NCCS, "NCCS has implemented even more control of five axis motion in our flagship product NCL.  The three new modes are:

• Tool axis through a point
• Tool axis through a curve
• Tool axis offset to a guide curve

These new modes shift the tilt and swivel origin of rotation to occur at the designated point or along the designated curve. This additional control is particularly valuable when access to the surface to be machined is limited. This condition is common in such parts as blisks and impellers."

"NCCS has also added an option to the Modify TLAXIS command that allows for a constant tilt to be applied to the controlling tool axis mode. The tool axis can now be modified with forward angle (lead), reverse angle (trailing), and side angle (slew). Modification to the tool axis is often necessary due to geometric constraints and frequently results in more efficient material removal."

Mr. Schultz continued by saying, "A new mode of surface violation checking has been implemented. In this mode, the surface to be machined is checked along the entire length of the cutting tool. This mode prevents undercutting of convex surfaces while allowing for a maximum amount of material to be removed. It also prevents undercutting when the tool axis cannot be aligned with the elements of a ruled surface. The combination of these new tool axis modes along with surface violation checking simplifies programming of complex multi-axis parts and yields more accurate results."

PostWorks Also To Be Demonstrated
PostWorks, a development of NCCS, is a two through ten-axis universal post-processor and drive generator that produces customized output for CNC devices such as lathes, mills, or CMMs. PostWorks supports up to six linear axes and four rotary axes for a total of ten programmable axes; the rotary axes can be any combination of rotary tables and/or heads and can rotate around any of the major axes.

The PostWorks system is used to convert too path data, generated on a Computer-Aided manufacturing (CAM) system, into G-Code that is formatted for a specific machine/control combination. PostWorks easily replaces unadaptable custom post-processor and unmanageable generic post-processor . It is configured to accept data that is formatted for other post-processors without change. Because of its unique flexibility, the G-Code output of PostWorks is so exact, that it looks as it was written by a manual programmer. Automatically generated, user definable document files provide shop floor information such as; spindle speeds, feedrates, and machine time.

PostWorks' interface features menus, prompts, and forms with complete on-line tutorials making it very easy to learn and use. The programming is self documenting. A user manual is produced on demand when the definition of a machine driver is completed. It also has a powerful macro capability which further extends the users' ability to customize. PostWorks will accept input data from virtually any CAD/CAM system including NCL and CATIA, and is available on a variety of computing platforms.

NUMERICAL CONTROL COMPUTER SCIENCES (NCCS)
Numerical Control Computer Sciences (NCCS) has been an international supplier of Computer Aided Manufacturing software and services for over 25 years. As a recognized leader in software solutions for multi-axis machining applications, its flagship product NCL is used throughout the world.