We have an SCM Record 132 Prisma that we use to produce hardwood door and door frame components. We draw in Alphacam and convert to code via Xilog Plus.

My question.... most of our programs have never been optimised and when you watch the router cycle through a program there is a lot of obvious waste coming and going.... when you look at optimisation of programs to elliminate waste movement/tool changes etc are there off the shelf software packages that you can use or does the industry optimise manually program by program?

I'm guessing that if there is an optimisation package you'd still have to tweek the optimisation it suggests but if it elliminates 90% of the work then that would be a plus...

Anyone any recommendations???

Many thanks.. R.

Richard, Alphacam has an toolpath optimizer built in it. I would suggest trying it first, It works fairly well, If you don't like the toolpaths then you can easily sequence them manually in Alphcam using the tools provided.

We draw in Autocad and program in Alphacam. I am not familiar with Xilog plus or what its function is.

If all you want to do is save time, Xilog Plus has its own optimiser you can set it for path and/or tool change optimising. I don't use it very often my self, but it should do the job. Just remember to change the name when you go to save it, in case it isn't what you want.