NX 10.0.0 / 10.0.1 CAM - Pros / Cons

[sagande]

NX 10.0 / 10.1 CAM - Pros / Cons

We are still primarily functioning on NX 7.5, and been trying to progress to NX 8.0, but time has not been aiding in getting this accomplished efficiently.

We are primarily doing 2.5 Axis Drilling, Milling, and Turning, Fanuc based controls. (Very little 3-axis / Little, to no, 5-axis)

We build/modify our own Post Processors, in Post Builder.

So the question is, what is the general consensus for moving forward? (Jump to 10 or continue with 8.)

What are the thoughts on NX 10.0.0 / 10.0.1 CAM, so far?

Post Builder 10?

Any caveats for either?

Thank you for your comments/help!

Doug

Win7 - 64 Bit

Dell - M6700

Intel - Core i7-3840QM @ 2.80GHz

RAM - 16.0 GB

Video - NVidia Quatro K4000M

[MarkRief]

Doug,

Are you using solid models?

If so, many of the enhancements in "prismatic machining" may interest you.

For sure take a a look at floor/wall machining, and new hole milling operations.

If you're going to upgrade, I would jump to the latest MR - NX 10.0.1 or 10.0.2, depending on your schedule.

[Mould_United]

There are some really nice new drilling capabilities as well.  Makes me wish I did more drilling like I used to.

[jecho]

NX 9.0.3.4 or NX 10.0.2 if you want the latest,

[CAM_Jockey]

We are in the process of upgrading from NX7.5 and are going to take the latest release of NX10 as others have said there are some really good enhancements.
We had found a few things that stopped us from taking NX9 when we wanted but most have been fixed with NX10.0.1.
Hope this is of some help.

[sagande]

Mark,

We are using solids, but they are primarily STEP imports form Inventor.

Hopefully all these enhancements are still available for use on imports!

Thanks,

Doug

[sagande]

Wow!

I suspected that there would be some hesitance to move to the latest release, but it seems as thought there are not many migrating, or no one wants to discuss the issues!

I am looking for good or bad reviews, just to aid in the decision making process.

Thanks in advance!

Doug

[Stefan_Pendl]

I would definitely go to NX 10.0.1 or later, since there have so many things been fixed and enhanced.

1. Drilling is much better than the ancient P2P
2. Performance is much better in many places
3. Support for multiple CPU cores is enhanced
4. New operations for T-slot and groove milling

There are many more, but it all depends on what you do and what you use.

If you post a list of things you use, like FBM, prismatic parts, free-form shapes, etc., we could be more specific.

In the end it is best to read through the whats new guides for each release you skip and test at least one part utilizing the new functions.

[jkane1]

Doug,

I know you are looking for the good/bad/ugly about NX10, but here are some enhancements that you may enjoy based on the description of your work:

Face Milling:

NX7.5: FACE_MILLING_AREA

NX10: FLOOR_WALL

Face milling in NX10 has become Floor an Wall. The operation is similar, but there are more options and the desired output may be easier to obtain.

First, you will notice many more options under the Containment tab of the Cutting Parameters. In the NX7.5 Face Milling operation, your only blank option is to specify a thickness. Floor and Wall can recognize the blank geometry defined or the 3D IPW.

Next, when milling a planer face with a pad or boss, the generated tool path may be more desirable in NX10 with less work. Consider the JPG files I have attached named NX7.5 FACE_MILLING_AREA.JPG and NX10 FLOOR_WALL.JPG. Notice that the top of the pad, which is not part of the specified faces in either case, is completely left alone in the FLOOR_WALL operation, whereas the FACE_MILLING_AREA operation wants to cut across the pad. I could fix this by lying to the stock thickness or creating a fake check body, but the FLOOR_WALL operation gives the correct cut using the same input.

Hole Milling and Drilling:

The Hole milling and drilling operations under the hole_making type make it easier to select feature geometry now without having to predefine features in the Machining Feature Navigator. This should make it easier to select holes that are formed in sheet bodies instead of solids. Also, there is a nice preview of the volume being removed from the hole based on the tool being used. See NX10 DRILLING.JPG.

I hope you find these examples as well as other new enhancements to be helpful in your line of work.

[Mould_United]

I was going to wait for 10.0.2 but we're actually ready to migrate from 9.0.3 right now.  My company manufactures molds and I have not heard of any issues that would be show stoppers for us.  I am ready to migrate right now but we're so busy I cannot supplant programming time to migrate.  Being a bit frazzled by the end of the week, I just can't bring myself to go to work on a saturday morning.  Four years of 50+ work weeks tend to wear me down.  Come to think of it I really need a vacation...

Being that some 9.0.X new features didn't make 10 until 10.0.1, it's now safe to move if you are looking for all the new features.  You didn't mention if had looked at new functionality of all the versions since 7.5.  If you have not done that I strongly recommend to check out all the pertinent what's new docs; about 14 of them if you include the docs covering the MR's.

Show thickness by color has been greatly improved and is a valuable tool IMO.  About the only major caveat I have with it is when I use it on a large part with small features; the small details disappear in the coarseness,  I think the resolution hard coded to determine what it should use but Siemens is still working on it I believe.

The new Excel docs are really nice for most users although some prefer the old html docs for certain things.  I think there were some issues at first when they first came out so I waited until 9 to customize them and they work great for us.  Typically we use a simple setup sheet and I was able to get Excel docs up and running quickly with minimal fuss.  Basic Excel knowlege required.

Probably the only big issue that affects me is the new IPW background processing doesn't seem to play well with parallel processing so I have to choose between the two and I choose the latter; parallel processing is important to me.  To be honest I was not able to fully investigate ipw background processing because of the conflict but it looked promising.

Also I am very anxious to see what's in store with multi threading that Siemens is supposedly working on.  My mastercam counterparts are using multi threaded operations and it also underscores the need for ample ram and cpu cores.  They are finding out 32GB ram is their new minimum for mould programming but we'll see what Siemens has in store for us NX users.

I saw John Baker demo some new UI enhancements and I especially like the new functionality for multiple monitors and he covered a lot of new things in modeling and drafting as well.