CAM software developer DP Technology has announced two product updates which increase support for metal additive manufacturing.
The latest commercial version of its ESPRIT programming system now includes tools specifically for direct energy deposition (DED) additive manufacturing.
Inside the company's flagship product, users will find support for 3-axis, 4-axis, and 5-axis DED in addition to powerful, high-performance, full-spectrum programming for milling, turning, wire EDM, and multitasking machine tools. Combined with subtractive processes and embedded into a single software, DP Technology says its latest iteration now brings a "full spectrum of support to hybrid manufacturing."
ESPRIT's additive DED cycles include additive simulation and verification. The company says it is working with leading machine manufacturers and educational institutions to validate its new additive cycles.
Frederic Vignat, head of the additive department at Grenoble University in France, commented: "For more than a decade, we've been working on additive manufacturing, including research on DED toolpath trajectories and AM thermal simulation. ESPRIT's additive DED solution is the result of the close collaboration between DP Technology, the industry's most trusted CAM solution provider, and Grenoble University, the world's leading research institution on additive DED technology."
In addition, DP Technology is also expanding its capabilities to the powder bed fusion market with a new ESPRIT Additive for Powder Bed add-on application for SolidWorks. The software includes a patented Part-to-Build tool which automatically assigns exposure strategies based on simple inputs when preparing a part for manufacturing. It also includes a slicer which benefits from a parametric workflow model. Once the part is ready to slice, it can be imported to the job environment as many times as needed.
“This optimised workflow saves our users even more time by eliminating the need to repeatedly define the manufacturing information,” says Clement Girard, Product Manager for Additive Solutions for DP Technology. “Additive for Powder Bed Fusion improves consistency by ensuring a part is built the same way each time and maintains traceability by recording each step from the original 3D CAD file.”
