Alan Levine

Alan Levine is the managing director of OPEN MIND Technologies USA, Inc., 1492 Highland Avenue, Unit 3, Needham MA 02492, 339-225-4557, Fax: 270-912-5822, alan.levine@openmind-tech.com, www.openmind-tech.com.

Articles by Alan Levine

Making it Wrong to Make it Right

The world of a CAM programmer may seem idyllic: They build toolpath strategies in logical sequences, select cutters from a library, and calculate and simulate results on the monitor. But there are complex challenges when moving from the sterile programming office to the shop floor, where the theoretical process becomes real.

The Weakest Link

Any process is most likely to fail at its weakest point. The post processor is often the weakest link in 5-axis machining even though it might not get high visibility during a machine tool purchase. Here are some reasons why it is reckless to invest capital in machinery and software without having a clear plan for post processor implementation.

ALL PART OF THE JOB

By introducing the job group as a new structural element in a position between job list and job, Alan Levine of OPEN MIND explains how new CAM software can arrange the machining process based on the sequence of worksteps, geometries, spatial orientation, tool orientation and more, allowing the user to streamline and automate a large number of jobs or programming steps.