Making ONGAA CAM easier to use and save even more of your valuable time has been the focus of the design team over the past few months and it has paid off. ONGAA CAM now provides an even easier and faster way to add machining to models.

• Drill all vertical holes on a FACE with a single ONGAA CAM process.
• Create all vertical pockets on a FACE or SKETCH with a single ONGAA CAM process.
• Create all polygon pockets on a SKETCH with a single ONGAA CAM process.

Vertical drills and Vertical pockets both provide Min/Max criteria to allow smart WoodWOP process creation when using faces as the source of the geometry. Simply select the FACE, click All Holes and ONGAA CAM generates a vertical drill process in WoodWOP for each hole that meets the min/max criteria. As with all ONGAA CAM processes, the ‘instructions’ to expand a face

New User Features

Since ONGAA CAM was first introduced the design team have been working hard to incorporate new features requested by our users.  Here we try to highlight whats new in ONGAA CAM’s recent releases.

Labels – any format.

ONGAA CAM now has improved label printing functionality in nesting.  Labels always include part name, dimensions material and can also include up to 4 custom properties, a barcode and the image of the parts.  The extra data is ideal for subsequent processing such as edge banding.  Label setup has also been greatly improved with a new interactive interface allowing you to see the results of changes to parameters.

ONGAA CAM Biesse – Generate CIX files as well as BPP

To improve the compatibility of ONGAA CAM and bSolid ONGAA CAM move produces both CIX and BPP files for programming Biesse CNC machines.

ONGAA CAM Biesse – Gets Repetition Functions.

Automatic Nesting

Several automatic nesting strategies are available in ONGAA CAM which provide a quick and easy way to nest rectangular parts across many sheets of material (directly from SOLIDWORKS).   ONGAA CAM optimizes the nest to both maximize material usage as well as minimize tool changes.

But not all part are created equally.  Automated nesting assumes the required material is as defined in the work piece definition of WoodWOP.   Odd shapes would waste both material and time.

Manual Nesting – ‘Nudging’

With the latest version on ONGAA CAM, manual nesting or ‘Nudging’ is now available.

Parts can now be selected, moved between sheets, moved on a sheet as well as rotated using intuitive button controls or keystrokes.

Unlike some other nesting solutions, ONGAA CAM goes not produce one continuous toolpath / process.

The resulting ‘Nested MPR’ shown here in WoopWOP 5 still produces … Read the rest

Whether you routinely make ‘left hand’ and ‘right hand’ parts or you use all ‘origins’ to make the same part, programming for a mirrored position in WoodWOP requires extra time (and care).  ONGAA CAM allows programming for any mirror position with only one selection.

To achieve ‘handed’ manufacturing, the program, designed for the #1 position, will generate a ‘Normal program’ and a ‘Mirror in X program’.  Although contour geometry is ‘mirrored’, routing strategies will be altered from climb routing to conventional.  ONGAA CAM provides a special features to overcome to need to think is reverse.  “Mirror Copy” will copy the process, with all the options and definitions, but reverse both the contour direction and the tool compensation.  Combined with the mirroring WoodWOP variables, each routing process can be turned on of off, by WoodWOP, depending on the position it is NC-GEN’ed for.

One program for any positions is more difficult … Read the rest

Update #2:  ONGAA CAM Nesting for Biesseworks – has been released.

Nesting is performed efficiently directly from Solidworks.  Nest up to 99 sheets with optimization and automatic separation of parts based on material and thickness.

Update :  ONGAA CAM Basic for Biesseworks – has been released and is available today.

ONGAA CAM Basic includes Drilling (Vert+Horiz), Routing (Vert + Horiz), Pockets (Rect. and polygon) and saw processes.

Contact us to arrange a demonstration today.

See how ONGAA CAM for Biessworks can make your programming easy directly from the SolidWork Model without DXF imports .  Watch our Video preview

Work on creating an ONGAA CAM version for BiesseWorks is underway.  The target release date in mid 2014 after the Beta testing has been completed.

This version will integrate as smoothly with BiesseWorks as it does with Homag’s WoodWOP.

Just imagine a world with  ‘no more DXF … Read the rest

Listed below are all the pages and posts relating to ONGAA CAM.

Find all the details of what it is and how it works with WoodWOP or Biesseworks and SOLIDWORKS.

• -- ONGAA CAM
• About Dassault Systèmes SolidWorksCorp.
• About Us
• Contact Us
• Knowledgebase
• ONGAA CAM – Sitemap
• ONGAA CAM Knowledgebase
• ONGAA CAM Pricing / Licensing
• ONGAA CAM Support
• Request a Demo
• Special Offer
• Tour
• Tutorial – Geometry Tricks 1
• Tutorials
  • Drill Processes – Selection Options
  • Getting Started with ONGAA CAM – Basic Overview
  • Pocket Processes – Many Options for Selections
  • Route Processes – Selection Options
  • Saw Processes – Selection Options
• What is ONGAA CAM?
• Whats New in ONGAA CAM
• Features
  • Generating Better Labels Improves Automation
  • Tool Visualization
  • Nesting interface improvements
  • Multibody Part Programming
  • ONGAA CAM - Pack and Go Improvements
  • Smooth contours with ONGAA CAM makes all the difference
  • Interference Nesting with ONGAA CAM
  • Programs for all positions -

Optimizing Processes and Optimizing MPRs

Nesting – or combining multiple parts onto one sheet is a vital function for ‘Flat Table’ operators.

Until now, ONGAA CAM‘s ability to nest ‘complete assemblies’ has been received with both enthusiasm and a little reservation.

Users have ‘enthusiastically’ created all kinds of assemblies in SOLIDWORKS, combining nested assemblies, parts with multiple configurations and ONGAA CAM has created multiple sheet MPRs without a hitch.

Then came the next requests for improvements …

• How do I optimize the the processes? — the generated nested MPR made one part at a time — I want the number of tool changes to be reduced.
• I have a big assembly, how do I do more than 4 sheets.
• How do I tell ‘what part is what’ when looking at the nesting preview.
• How do I print the nest layout (with parts listed) so the ‘guys on the floor’

Since nesting is all about ‘optimizing’, we took another look at optimizing the nesting process to see where we could improve upon what we had.

Step 1, has not changed.  From an assembly click ‘Gen, Nested MPR’

With a single click, all ‘unsuppressed’ parts of the assembly will be listed, sized and initially laid out on as many sheets as it takes and that layout displayed.

The nesting process will take a ‘configured’ sheet size – width, length and thickness as well as a perimeter scrap dimension ans apply these while arranging the parts.

Grain orientation of part and board was available in the previous release as were the numerous layout options and these remain the same.

Step 2, Adjusting the layout options has new features added to help the process.

The first is a quick reset of the sheet thickness based on the thickness of the parts.  If … Read the rest

If you have ever needed to create a smooth, ‘arbitrary’, curved contour in WoodWOP from a SOLIDWORKS model you have probably been a little disappointed with the results.  ‘It’s not smooth!’.

The primary reason is in how the spline is converted into the WoodWOP contour and not how it is machined.

Most conversion programs will convert points on the spline to accurate contour points but they connect the points with straight lines.  Only by reducing the distance between the points can the contour be improved.   ONGAA CAM takes the connecting line into account as well and if it is curved, it supplies WoodWOP with the information to define an ARC.  This arc simulates the actual spline much more closely.

Take for example a perfect circle and imagine selecting 8 points along the circle to ‘guesstimate’ the contour.  This is of course exaggerated but it illustrates the point.  Now use those … Read the rest

ONGAA CAM is a program specifically designed for woodworking that allows you to create ‘MPR’ / ‘WoodWOP machining procedures’ (for Homag/Weeke CNC machines) or ‘BPP’ / Biesseworks programming files, from within SOLIDWORKS.  While working in SOLIDWORKS, you design and apply toolpaths for WoodWOP/Biesseworks without conversions or DXF files.  The MPRs/BPPs created by ONGAA CAM are 100% Weeke/Homag or Biesse compliant and require no manual edits.  ONGAA CAM is NOT a post-processor.  ONGAA CAM does NOT generate G-Code.  MPR s / BPP s generated by ONGAA CAM are processed by the Weeke / Homag or Biesseworsks post-processor you already have so there is no additional software costs.  This means you only need to define tools once in WoodWOP/Biesseworks, you keep all the safety features built into approach modes and the operator can adjust the MPR / BPP at the console. For those working with WoodWOP 6.1 and the new MPRX format, … Read the rest