Release Notes

Soft Jaws Designer

• The Soft Jaws Designer is a new feature in CAM Assist that helps automate fixture creation.

• More information on this feature is available here.

• When running with settings that will use CAM Assist Cutting Parameters, a slider will now be shown that allows pre-configuration of all output. Previously this adjustment could only be done for individual calculated toolpaths, but the new slider will be applied to all toolpaths generated.

• Moving the slider to the left, towards ‘Tool life’ will produce more conservative results; moving to the right, towards ‘Productivity’ will produce more aggressive results.

• Cycle Time estimate reports can now be generated for files run through CAM Assist.

• This means that the Cycle Time report can be generated as part of normal CAM Assist runs, not only as a separate estimation run.

• In the Cycle Time Estimates tab, there is now an indicator of existing cycle time estimate results. This helps to reinforce the use of this tab as a queue for cycle time results prior to export. The results in the view are also shown in order of generation descending from newest to oldest.

• Setup time can now be added to a part in the Cycle Time Estimator Export page. This value can be used to account for handling time, loading time, turnover time and other tasks on the machine.

• Scale factor for Cycle Time Estimator is used to compensate for discrepancies between the calculated cycle time, and the actual machining time. This is necessary due to acceleration and deceleration during actual machining, equipment efficiency, and other factors. For example if the initial cycle time estimate is 20 minutes, but the actual machining time is 30 minutes, setting the Scale Factor to 150% would be needed.

• Face milling now produces a single operation with a rough and finish pass instead of separate operations for roughing and finishing. The feeds and speeds for the rough and finish pass remain separate and can be configured to be the same or different as required.

• Roughing toolpaths will have the micro lift option enabled, lifting the tool a small amount away from the part during linking moves.

• Multiple tool libraries can now be used in the Cycle Time Estimator view

• Subsequent to this release, there will be a notification in the add-on if an updated version is available.

• New support for Multiple Tool Libraries

  • Multiple tool libraries can now be selected on the General tab

  • Up to five (5) tool libraries can be selected

  • Note - a large amount of available tools may have performance effects on CAM Assist

• New Material selection workflow

  • Materials are now selected in the Tool Use tab

  • Stock material and Stock material alloy now used to define material

  • Material selection now synchronized to the selections available in Cutting Parameters Explorer

  • This effectively triples the number of default materials that can be used with CAM Assist

  • Material selection now persistent

  • Note - For user-defined Presets, use Generic alloy

• Control of toolpath generation

  • In the Advanced tab control of when toolpaths are generated now available

  • If Toolpath Generation is set to ‘Ask each time,' a confirmation message will ask the user if they want to generate at the conclusion of CAM Assist.

  • This feature allows users the opportunity to have control of the toolpaths generated by CAM Assist, without waiting for all of them to generate in Mastercam first

• Tool Change Time in Cycle Time Estimation

  • Tool change times are now part of the Cycle Time Estimation results. These variables are entered into the Machine Configuration section of of the Cycle Time Estimator.

  • Note - this feature is only available for Mastercam 2025.

• Cycle Time Estimations can be ‘stacked’

  • With each run of the Cycle Time Estimator, results will accumulate. This allows for an estimator to run multiple cycles of the tool, adding estimation sequences

  • In the Cycle Time Estimates tab of the Cycle Time Estimator, there is now a ‘Clear all’ button, this clears off results so that a new round of estimates can be generated.

  • Note - this feature is only available for Mastercam 2025.

• Cutting Parameters now supports Helical Boring

  • Helical boring (hole making, finishing) operations are now supported in the Cutting Parameters Explorer.

• In-app update notices

  • For subsequent updates to CAM Assist, user notifications will appear within the add-on interface.

• Renamed the ‘Network section’ to ‘Network setting’ (see the Advanced tab).

• Added more detail to message in the network section to: ‘Please note the following settings only take effect on subsequent runs of CAM Assist. After editing these settings, cancel and reopen CAM Assist. The settings will persist for all future sessions’.

• Improved the feedback to the user when encountering issues with network connection.