New Radan Balances Automation With Valuable Manual Input
The latest release of the market-leading sheetmetal software , Radan , includes new functionality giving users a greater degree of manual control where flexibility is required for certain aspects of their individual production processes .
Product Manager Olaf Körner says while Radan 2018 R2 continues to provide important automation tools for improving productivity , users ’ knowledge and experience of a company ’ s components can address certain specifics that are often unique to their own manufacturing procedures .
“ Full automation is ideal for simple parts . And while automation also plays a big role in manufacturing complex parts , there ’ s often the need for some manual input as well , so we ’ ve added a number of more focused tools to allow them to easily take control of that .”
One such new tool is Grid Nesting , which gives additional flexibility for users wanting to create or manipulate a nest manually . “ For example , if a sheet isn ’ t completely full , they can either let the automatic nester take over , or , if they have a clear idea of what they want to do , this new function provides an easy way of filling a space with a particular part . Users can even stipulate the direction they want individual parts nested in .
“ The previous version allowed you to manipulate the automation to get the result you want , but grid nesting achieves it much faster .”
Reverse Cutting Direction is another example of providing additional user control . Olaf Körner says this new functionality is particularly important for plasma CNC machine tools . “ Plasma cutting of thicker material often generates considerable heat , which can cause the metal to distort . This can now be resolved with a single mouse click to simply reverse the cutting direction on certain areas of the material where there might be an issue .”
Moving on to the new automation functions – a major update is an improved way of calculating the most effective remnants . Previously , the operator had to manually choose the shape of the remnant – a square or rectangle – but the Improved Remnant Handling function , ensures the best possible option is always cut .
Picker Arm Movement provides additional automation on the machine tool . “ Automated systems
10 TUBE NEWS June 2018