Test the program on the virtual machine, not on the real one.
Every minute a program is tested on the real machine is a minute the machine does not produce – and every collision found there is expensive. NetVision LaserTools Machine Simulation moves that work to the programming station: NC programs run on a kinematic model of the real machine, with tools, clamping and part, and are checked and corrected before they are released.
Machines are loaded from a machine library or built with the integrated machine editor, including linear and rotary axes, laser heads with B/C kinematics, rotary tables, slave axes and industrial robots solved by inverse kinematics. Tools, tool holders, clamping models and parts are placed in the machine, and the program runs relative to the same zero points as on the shop floor.
The simulation plays the program move by move, at adjustable speed or in single steps. Collisions between machine, head, clamping and part are checked on pre-computed collision data, axis positions beyond their limits are highlighted, and the axis ranges of the whole program are reported at a glance. The reachable workspace of the machine is shown on the model, so a part that is placed out of reach is noticed before the first move.
Programs created in LaserTools and programs from other systems are loaded into the same environment. Every move in the simulation knows the NC block it came from, and the integrated NC editor adds syntax highlighting, breakpoints, renumbering, text templates, search and replace. Stopping at a critical block, inspecting the machine state and changing the code happens in one place.
Problems found in the simulation are fixed where they are found. Tool orientations are adjusted, limited, inverted or frozen along a program; paths are mirrored, translated, scaled, reversed or morphed onto new geometry; linear moves are fitted into arcs and filtered. Collisions can be resolved automatically by adapting the orientation within weighted axis costs – and a report documents setup and program for the machine operator.
Same project, same CAD kernel, same digital twin.
NetVision LaserTools Machine Simulation runs NC programs on a kinematic model of the real machine, with tools, clamping and part. Every move is linked to its NC block and checked for collisions and axis limits. Problems are corrected where they are found – orientations, paths and arcs are edited in place – before the program is released to the shop floor.
