About Mastercam (Mastercam Website)

Solid modeling is transforming the way parts are designed. Now you can bring that power right into your shop.

• Faster modeling of parts, molds, and fixtures using integrated solids, surfaces and wireframe.
• Greater flexibility in accepting outside models.
• Solids machining with access to Mastercam's powerful CAM functions.
• The addition of Solids turns Mastercam into a true hybrid modeler.

• Mastercam Solids gives you powerful, streamlined solid modeling for practical design.
• Fast solids construction using familiar modeling techniques.
• Powerful revolve, extrude, loft and sweep commands.
• Easy shelling and thin-wall creation.
• Boolean addition, subtraction and common volume calculation between solids and surfaces.
• Fast, efficient filleting and chamfering.
• Draft solid faces.
• Create sheet solids that can be thickened, shelled, and more.
• Trim solids to a single surface or to multiple surfaces using sheet solids for maximum design potential.
• Freedom to model without part constraints.
• Hybrid modeling interaction between solids, surfaces and wireframe.

Efficient Wireframe Geometry

• Multiple point and line creation techniques.
• Efficient arc, circle, and fillet functions, including filleting at every corner in a chain of entities.
• A variety of functions for creating splines on surfaces including surface projections, surface intersections, edge curves, slicing curves, and parting lines.
• Create pre-filleted shapes to save time.

Flexible Geometry Editing

• Change widths, styles, and colors globally or for a single entity.
• Quickly modify parameters such as line length and arc radius after creation.
• Fillet or chamfer corners easily.
• Extend lines, arcs, splines, and surfaces.
• Trim single or multiple surfaces with full undo capability.
• Quickly translate, mirror, and scale (uniformly or with separate factors in X, Y, and Z).
• Offset entities by a given distance.

Powerful Surface Modeling

• Create parametric and NURBS surfaces using loft, ruled, revolved, swept, draft, Coons patch, and offset creation methods.
• Trim single and multiple surfaces to curves, planes and surfaces.
• Easily extend and split surfaces.
• Flexible surface filleting offers constant radius fillets and point-and-click variable radius fillets.
• Automatic parting line calculation for mold making.
• Create, edit, and manipulate realistically shaded surface models.

Easy Drafting Tools

• One pick dimensioning.
• Modify dimensional geometry and its dimensions automatically update.
• Easily drag and place drafting notes as they are being created and change their attributes on the fly.

File Management and Data Exchange

• Built-in data translators for IGES, Parasolid®, SAT (ACIS solids), AutoCAD® (DWG, DXF™ and Inventor) CADL, STL, VDA, and ASCII. Direct translators for STEP, Catia, and Pro-E® are also available.
• Save a description of your files for easier browsing and loading.
• View files before opening them.

Selection Options

• AutoCursorTM snaps to commonly used points to simplify construction.
• Smart chaining selects an entire chain of entities at once and automates other selection tasks.

Analyzing Geometry

• Instantly analyze any entity for size, location, entity type, and other attributes.
• Check the integrity of surface models and trimmed surface boundaries.

Powerful Part Modeling

• Easy 2D and 3D geometry creation with multiple ways to create entities.
• Fast creation of a wide range of NURBS and parametric surfaces.
• Associative dimensions update as you change your model.
• Extensive CAD editing tools.
• New user-defined work coordinate system makes it easy to work on a model without having to move it in 3D space. Your new planes and origins are easily transferred to your G-code.
• Built-in data translators for IGES, Parasolid®, SAT (ACIS solids), AutoCAD® (DXFTM, DWG, and InventorTM files), SolidWorks®, Solid Edge®, CADL, STL, VDA, and ASCII. Direct translators for STEP, Catia®, and Pro-E® are also available.

Efficient Toolpath Management

• Mastercam's Operations Manager stores all your job's operations in one place. Quickly create, edit and verify your toolpaths, or copy and paste parameters, toolpaths and tool definitions from one operation to another.

Associative Toolpaths

• Fully associative geometry and toolpaths let you modify the geometry or machining parameters and immediately get an accurate, updated toolpath.
• Store a library of commonly used operations to automate machining. For example, you can spot drill, peck drill, and tap a series of holes simply by importing one stored operation.

Pocketing, Contouring and Drilling

2D and 2½D machining ranges from the very simple to the very complex. Mastercam delivers all the tools you need to maximize your time.

• Pocketing styles include high speed, zigzag,one way, true spiral, constant overlap spiral and morp pocketing, each with optional finish passes.
• Contour and Pocket remachining use a smaller tool to automatically clean out material left from a previous cut.
• Choose multiple machining areas with a single selection.
• Dynamically drag a pocket finish pass or contour start point to anywhere on your model.
• Facing cleans stock from the tops of islands or the entire part.
• Easily machine 2D and 3D contours including parametric and NURBS splines.
• Automatically identify and pre-drill multiple operations at their plunge points.
• With the addition of the Solids option, Mastercam automatically recognizes and programs drill holes on solid models, complete with pre-drill operations.

Powerful Roughing

	Pocket roughing with multiple entry methods

Fast efficient bulk material removal is essential to efficient NC programming. Mastercam gives you a variety of techniques to rough all your parts.

• Rough cut multiple surfaces, solid models, or a combination of both.
• Rough cut with constant Z contours or pockets.
• Constant Z rough rest milling (remachining) identifies and machines areas that need to be machined with a smaller tool.
• Automatic facing and critical depth recognition ensure flat surfaces that lie between Z-cuts won't be left with too much stock during rough machining.
• Automatically align all your roughing plunge points, making it easier to pre-drill those spots for production machining.

Versatile Finishing

	Mastercam's 3D project machining follows the natural curves of surfaces or solids for a smooth consistent finish.

Mastercam's suite of finishing tools lets you choose the best method for a specific project.

• Finish machine multiple surfaces, solid models, or a combination of both.
• Parallel finishing delivers robust toolpaths for a wide variety of projects.
• 3D project machining creates a consistent, smooth finish while following the natural curves of multiple surfaces or solids.
• Constant scallop machining maintains a consistent finish on sloped and flat surfaces alike by using a consistent 3D stepover.
• Flowline machining cuts single or multiple surfaces using their natural shape to define the cutter path, delivering a smoother finish.

Cleanup Machining

Leftover material causes extra handwork and time. Mastercam automates leftover material identification and removal, leaving you with a finer finish.

• Hybrid leftover machining changes the cut method as the slope of the model changes - in a single toolpath.
• Constant Z Rest milling (remachining) identifies and machines areas that need to be cut with a smaller tool, including automatically detected critical depths.
• Pencil tracing walks a tool along the intersection of surfaces to clean out hard-to-reach areas.
• Steep/Shallow machining cuts only those regions of selected surfaces that have slopes between two specified angles.

High Speed Machining

High Speed Machining (HSM) is a powerful machining method that combines high feed rates with high spindle speeds, specific tools, and specific tool motion. HSM can deliver faster turnaround and a superior finish. Mastercam includes a suite of HSM functions designed to help you make the most of this powerful technique.

• Smooth tool motion on and off the part.
• Contour parts with smooth, consistent ramping motion.
• Ensure more consistent material removal with variable Z-level cuts.
• High-speed facing.
• Smooth, automated circle milling.
• Loop onto and off of Z-level cuts.
• Full 'trochoidal' cutting prevents tool burial.
• Specialized high-speed pocketing.
• Channeling ensures smooth material removal in areas of heavier stock.

Multiaxis Machining

Multiaxis machining adds an extra level of flexibility to your machining operations. Mastercam's suite of multiaxis tools lets you program quickly and efficiently.

• Multisurface 5-axis roughing and finishing.
• 5-axis multi-surface flowline machining.
• Machine using 5-axis depth cuts.
• Create 5-axis contour toolpaths around the surface edges of the model for applications such as trimming vacuum-formed parts.
• Perform 5-axis drilling.

Dependable Toolpath Verification

• Watch your part being cut from a solid block of material with Mastercam's solid model toolpath verification. The tool and the holder are checked and displayed during simulation.

Intelligent Feed Rate Optimization

Running an entire job at a single feed rate reduces efficiency. Running the same job at varying feed rates can save time, tool wear and money. Mastercam can optimize any 2-axis or 3-axis toolpath based on volume of material being removed and machine tool limitations to give you efficient, varied feed rates tailored to each job.