Challenge
Woodworking is one of the most ancient and steadily developing areas of industry. Today, the market volume of woodworking machines and software for them dictates manufacturers and software vendors the necessity for automation and technological advancements. Complexity of modern designs together with the requirements for speed of production and quality of products create a challenging environment where the necessity for real «know-how» and IP of the machine vendor embedded into machine controlling software becomes inevitable. Integration of CAD technologies into end-user applications for woodworking machines could be the reply for these challenges. At the same time, due to a certain area of appliance, it is also important to integrate specific features for milling and woodworking based on geometry into the frameworks of the named applications.
Solution
Based on the extensive experience and long-term partnership with one of the flagships of the industry, Open Cascade offers specific solutions tailored for applications for woodworking. A set of online or offline CAD/CAM software packages allows creating highly ergonomic sketch application to draw woodworking patterns and then generate CNC code for the following production.
Embedding a fully parametric sketcher into the application allows geometries design and automatic toolpaths calculation.
The developed application could also simulate milling, drilling, and cutting operations of processing centers, with smooth 3D animation, collisions detection between tools, and real-time simulation of the surface of a processed part. Implementation of a powerful 3D viewer allows users to rotate, translate, mirror, and scale components and observe simulated machine programs on-the-fly.
A vast set of Open Cascade Platform file translation development tools gives users the opportunity of import/export and processing of a wide range of CAD formats.
Open Cascade Application Framework for parametric CAD and CAM functions can be customized for industry-specific needs — adding shapes and operations, optimized function mechanism, a tree of variables, operations, and sketch, etc. The framework also allows building in different plug-ins, for example, a CAM plug-in for roughing down, finishing, and formatting of 3D objects.
Business value
Custom software enriched with industry-specific technologies of Open Cascade Platform enables manufacturers and software vendors to embed known-how into their products or services. Open Cascade technologies built-in to these solutions add competitive advantages to the equipment that allows our customers to compete effectively in the market. End-users of your woodcutting machines or software will appreciate prominent time-saving and convenience of faster and more accurate process of data preparation and intuitive way to rapidly define new woodcutting pattern nearby the equipment and then machine it directly.
Faster time-to-market and rapid ROI can be gained thanks to already existing and time-tested technologies and development tools of Open Cascade Platform. Additional cost saving can be obtained due to a flexible licensing policy.
