Optimizing & Machining

Optimization – it’s more than material usage

Optimization is usually thought of as cutting the most parts you can out of the smallest amount of material. While this is crucial for keeping material costs down, it’s only half of the picture.

The other half is how long it takes to cut that material. How much time does it take for the machine to make the required cuts – and for the machine operator to run it? These are cost-related resources that also have to be maximized.

CADCode’s optimization algorithms for saws and nested routers give you both – maximum material yield and maximum utilization of your machine and machine operator resources.  CADCode also factors in other needs: graining, safe machining of small parts, materials inventory and scrap utilization.

Machining – get the most from your resources

Machining also needs to be optimized for maximum efficiency. Program loading, machine set-up, head-travel time, the number of tool drops, securing parts on the machine bed – all of these are considered when CADCode processes parts and generates ready-to-run CNC programs.

CADCode supports multiple approaches to machining by letting you choose the brands and types of machines you want or have on your production floor – saws (both manual and automatic), point-to-points, routers, horizontal borers, dowel inserters, and hinging machinery. CADCode keeps it simple by letting you group your processes in one central location and generating the required code for all of the machinery with one click.

Highlighting Panel Processing Methods

Optimizing and Cutting Parts — Panel Saws

Optimizing and Cutting Parts — Nesting

Work Cell Machining

Nested-based Machining

Advanced Machining — Benefit from Our Experience

	It pays to compare. Want to test the efficiency of our nested optimization and code? Send us some sample data and we’ll be happy to process it and send you the ready-to-use results.

Nested-based machining makes use of a single machine to both cut out the individual parts and to machine those parts. An additional machine, like a horizontal borer/dowel inserter, may be used depending on assembly methods.

Efficient optimization.

Critical to nesting is making the most of the materials as well as efficient movement of the router head to minimize machining time. Both factors – material use and machine/operator time – relate to bottom-line profitability.

Flexible part handling control.

Equally important is making sure the parts stay in place as they’re being machined – this is particularly true of smaller parts. CADCode provides accurate, highly efficient code for maximum yield from your panel goods and fast machine run-time. CADCode gives the user multiple ways to control nest machining to deal with small parts, including tabbing, machining order, multiple passes, and onion-skinning. Other important features include graining control and dynamic editing of the nest layout.

Manage all aspects of production.

CADCode will readily produce code for single parts as well as code for a full nest of parts, allowing you to choose and manage both a nested-based approach and a single parts-based approach to manufacturing. As with other CADCode solutions, you can read and combine parts information from multiple sources, post to multiple machine controls, and generate part labels all at the same time. Create and store multiple tool profiles to simplify switching between machines and setups. CADCode readily expands your capabilities as your company grows and adapts to supply market demands.

NestMaster™

NestMaker™

NestLink™

	It pays to compare. Want to test the efficiency of our nested optimization and code? Send us some sample data and we’ll be happy to process it and send you the ready-to-use results.

CADCode Systems’ OptiNest™ optimization offers advanced part cutting control for nested based manufacturing. With OptiNest you’ll get more parts out of your sheet goods and spend less time making them. We optimize to maximize material yield and to minimize machine cycles.

Save materials, save time, save money.

Optimizing is more than just getting the largest number of parts out of the smallest amount of material. It’s also about the amount of time spent cutting out those parts. OptiNest maximizes the use of materials and minimizes machine time while also taking into account graining, small part locations, and the other factors that are vital for successful part machining.

Machining small parts is a big deal.

Because parts are “fixed” in place on the router’s table by vacuum, and vacuum is a factor of surface area, the smaller the part, the less pressure there is holding that part in place. The high rotation speeds of a cutting bit can easily knock a small piece loose if it isn’t held securely in place. OptiNest provides a number of options for controlling these small parts, from tabs, onionskinning, and multiple machine passes to smarter nesting algorithms that connect small parts to larger parts until their final release.

Stay in control of the optimizer’s results.

For special situations where you need to adjust the optimization results, the OptiNest Panel Editor allows you to view the cutting patterns and move the parts around, and will automatically generate a new cutlist and fresh machining programs for the modified patterns.

Easy nesting of non-rectangular shapes.

Nesting makes it simple to cut out non-rectangular shapes. You can include any shape in a job and OptiNest will consider the smallest rectangle available to contain that shape and place it into the nest. If you create lots of irregularly shaped parts, our optional non-rectangular or “true-shape” nesting will fit shapes within shapes with minimal space between parts to get more parts from each sheet.

Multiple operations with one click.

In nesting, cutting out the parts is just one more machining task that happens in conjunction with drilling, routing, dados, pocketing, and so on. Cutting out the parts is fully integrated with other operations to optimize the movement of the router head(s) to minimize travel and time spent to cut out the parts.

Do more at the click of a button than just optimize.

When you process a job, depending on the processes chosen, CADCode will also create all of the machining programs for the nest and each part within the nest, generate part labels, and generate reports, all at the same time, all with one-button simplicity.

CADCode’s OptiNest is an integrated in CADCode’s nested-based manufacturing solutions.

NestMaster™

NestMaker™

NestLink™

CADCode is used by many different manufacturers making many different kinds of products, but the most common application is panel processing – wood, wood-composite, solid surface and panels made of other materials. With CADCode, you can use the work cell or nesting approach, or both – See side panel.

Check out the list of standard benefits:

• Control panel process manager to define all machining processes in your facility and to assign parts/jobs through all operations
• Import all manufacturing data from major cabinet design packages, DWG, DXF, XML, spreadsheet and data base files
• Mix and match multiple sources of data for true batch processing
• 100% ready-to-run code for saws, point-to-points, routers, and boring machines with largest machine control library in the industry
• Simultaneous code generation for multiple machine types
• Automatic one-step assignment of all tooling and tool paths
• Internal machine configuration module - every aspect of machine operations is defined, including drill head layout, router and tool diameters, tool changer, single, aggregate, or multi-axis tool ability, table and zone configurations, and G-code format
• Automatic optimization of drilling patterns
• On-the-fly part editing and automatic part rotation
• Automatic run-field control and handling of mirrored parts

CADCode’s ProductionMaster™ combines all of the components to control both nested-based and work-cell manufacturing for plants that operate a complex combination of machinery and production methods.