Punching

cncKad

Punching Automatic Punching Special Tools Automatic Reposition Turret Handling Advanced Technologies

cncKad punching creates programs for your punch machine from CAD files and designs.

cncKad punch turns CAD files into NC code for your punch machine. You can generate efficient programs for your machine with just a few clicks, while optimizing material utilization and machine run time.

Punching in cncKad includes fully automated processing as well as full manual control over all aspects of processing. For example, cncKad automatically chooses tools to process your parts, using factors such as preferred tools, minimizing turret rotation or tool changes, MicroJoints and, of course, material parameters. You can also modify the proposed tool selection as required.

Common cuts, working in stripes, punching part-by-part, and other specific ways of processing the sheet are available. Repositions are calculated automatically, whether to avoid clamp dead zones or to process sheets larger than the working range of the machine.

cncKad always optimizes the chosen methods to minimize production time, taking machine capabilities and limitations into account. The post-processor then converts these actions into efficient NC programs. Punch features include:

Automatic punching
WireJoints and MicroJoints
Predefined shapes
Special Processing
Common cuts
Sheet trimming
Processing stripes
Turret setup customization
Sheet repositions
Automatic indexing
Special tools
Clamp avoidance

Home / Metalix / cncKad / Automatic Punching

Automatic Punching

Automatic Punching option of cncKad, called AutoPunch, uses predefined rules pertaining to preferred tools, minimizing tool changes, part handling, MicroJoints, material, and thickness.

AutoPunch saves time by allowing you to set all the parameters that control the automatic execution of the punches in one place:

Crunches on notches and holes
Part Handling
Predefined Shapes
MicroJoints
Slitting
Special processing
Tool selection from the Tools Library
Display of punch warnings and limits

At the core of cncKad lies the expert knowledge system, containing the technology data that allows cncKad to make intelligent choices about process parameters and tool selection.

Despite the high degree of automation, the operator can take control of the process at any time, changing the selected tools.

There are two options for running AutoPunch:

For the whole part
On just one entity at a time

Notch Treatment

cncKad can process various types of inner notches starting from simple single notches to complex corner notches with bend relief and chamfers, or corner double notches with bend relief.
AutoPunch can process the major types of notches: corner notch, corner notch with chamfer, and right angled triangle notch.

Predefined Shapes

When you have a shape that requires specific processing, e.g., a specialized notch, you can save this shape together with the processing you defined for it as a predefined shape.

Once you do this, AutoPunch recognizes this shape in any part you process and applies your custom definitions. You can create a library of such shapes for cncKad to use.

See a video of how predefined shapes work

Special Processing

You can create special processing profiles, mapping them to the current material and thickness combination.

With this type of processing you can create special punching for particular cases of unusual round or polygon-shaped holes, which may be very large or very small. This causes the holes to be processed differently from the current processing definitions. For those holes you can apply complex processing including punching, pre-tapping, tapping, and extruding.

This efficient and time-saving feature is particularly useful when you regularly use tapping or beveling.

Part Handling

You can define default settings for handling parts, thereby streamlining how automatic punching (AutoPunch) handles them.

You add an unlimited number of contour sizes defined by X and Y dimensions, and for each defined contour size, you assign an action for a part or a hole, depending on your machine’s abilities. You can set defaults such as

MicroJoints/WireJoint placement
MicroJoint/ WireJoint width
Push out
Picking up the part or hole (scrap)
Stopping the machine after specific processing

All part handling settings pertain to a specific material and thickness combination for a particular machine.

WireJoint and MicroJoint Positioning

cncKad AutoPunch provides many possibilities for placing MicroJoints and WireJoints on entities to be processed. You can place them at corners, on part sides, and at designated intervals, using specific MicroJoint tools. The placement can be manual or automatic using the Part Handling table to indicate their size, minimum number, spacing, and preferred position.

You can set and edit offsets, and delete, show, or hide MicroJoints and WireJoints.

Home / Metalix / cncKad / Special Tools

Special Tools

cncKad supports special tools such as the Wilson wheel family (rib, offset, pincher) and other Wilson tools such as louver, cluster, tap, pre-tap, emboss, banana, slit, multi-shear, and other non-standard tools.

Wheel

cncKad supports the whole Wilson wheel (roller) tool family, useful for production of slits, ribs, and offsets.

Tapping

Tapping tools included in the standard tool library supplied with cncKad enable forming of high precision threads.

Emboss

Emboss tools supplied with the standard cncKad tool library are useful for creating large counter sinks and locks for nuts.

Deburr

Deburring tools remove or treat unwanted material at the edges of the components, after processing, by smoothing the cut edges.

Louver

cncKad supports the use of special tools such as louver, which can be used to create airflows, decorations, or wire harnesses.

Tapping

cncKad supports the use of cluster tools as the most effective method of creating perforations. AutoPunch checks the possibility of using cluster tools for punching grids, and uses them whenever possible.

Home / Metalix / cncKad / Automatic Reposition

Automatic Reposition

cncKad provides automatic reposition of the sheet:

Whenever cncKad recognizes that the parts overhang your machine’s table range. This way, sheets that are larger than the working range of the machine can be processed.
To enable punching in the area of the clamps.

Enlarging Machine Working Range

The pictures below show automatic reposition that enlarges the machine’s working range.

Clamp Avoidance

cncKad permits placing parts near or even beneath the clamps. The clamp avoidance option maximizes sheet utilization by allowing punches in those areas that would be inaccessible otherwise. This is useful if you produce grids of holes on a complete sheet, or nest multiple parts on a single sheet.

This option is activated automatically when processing is to be performed in the clamp area. During NC creation, cncKad‘s post-processor calculates the reposition data, tool size, and dead zone data, and creates a program that repositions as needed, so as not to damage the clamps.

The number of repositions in a program is determined by the table size, the sheet size, and the size of the dead zone.

cncKad supports machines that have the option to move individual clamps.

Home / Metalix / cncKad / Turret Handling

Turret Handling

cncKad lets you specify the exact tool setup for your turret, thus ensuring your NC code runs smoothly on the machine.

You can define tools for specific stations in the turret using a graphic interface, allowing you full control over tool selection, including Auto Index and multitools.

Auto Index

cncKad supports Auto Index stations, which facilitate productive and effective manufacturing, thus easing machine wear, reducing the quantity of used tools, and resulting in shorter NC programs.

LASTSET Turret Setup

The LASTSET option lets you manage your tools effectively. This feature represents the exact tool arrangement in the machine, reflecting the turret setup of the last NC.

The LASTSET file is an alternative to the whiteboard often found next to machines, which machine operators use to update the current tools in the turret. Because it shows which tools are currently loaded in the machine, the LASTSET feature is useful in two important ways:

It automatically calculates which changes the machine operators must make in the tooling to produce the next part.
It helps the engineers select tools when processing parts. Different tools may often be used for the same job, and intelligent selection helps minimize tool changes, thereby saving time.

Turret Setup

You can preview a graphic representation of the turret, containing tools with their assigned station numbers.

You can add, edit, and remove tools from the tool display in the turret. Alternatively, the setup of the turret can be shown and manipulated as a list (displayed in the LASTSET section).

Home / Metalix / cncKad / Advanced Technologies

Advanced Technologies

cncKad supports advanced technologies, compatible with your punch machine. These advanced punch technologies are fully automatic, yet are easy to control manually.

Tool Path Optimization

cncKad improves tool path efficiency by

Choosing the starting corner of the cut
Determining the tool path
Specifying the width of material stripes
Determining the cooling distance

You can set the factors individually for each tool or allow cncKad to set them globally for all tools.

Minimum Tool Rotation

When using a tool in an auto index station, cncKad organizes the order of hits so that there is minimal rotation of the station.
This option ensures prolonged machine life by reducing wear on the machine components.

Common Cuts

The common cuts feature enables you to process adjoining parts with the same punch width, saving machine time and freeing room on the sheet for more parts.
The outer contours of two adjoining parts are processed with only one tool, even if they are machined by special tools.

Trim

You can automatically crunch the skeleton wrapping the parts; when you combine the trim feature with the common cuts command, very little skeleton remains.

You can choose to trim individual edges or the whole sheet.

Common cuts are used to cut the parts and three sides are trimmed

Stripes

You can divide the sheet into stripes so that cncKad processes one stripe at a time. The use of stripes significantly reduces collision problems and sheet distortions (common with thick or heavy punched sheets).

cncKad optionally discards the remainder of each stripe. In this case, an extra punch appears between the stripes.