Alibre, Inc. (www.alibre.com) has introduced the Alibre CAM product family, including a fully integrated 3D parametric personal CAD/CAM package that the company said is the first, free 3D parametric CAD/CAM package offered by anyone.
The Alibre CAM family of Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software products is integrated within the company’s Design 3D parametric CAD software that Alibre says offers the functionality of products such as SolidWorks, Pro/ENGINEER and Autodesk Inventor at a low price.
Alibre CAM products provide 2-axis to 5-axis CNC milling that is fully integrated into the Alibre Design interface, with complete parametric solid modeling of parts and assemblies and automated creation of 2D drawings and bills of materials (BOM).
All components of the integrated software package are associative to the solid model, meaning that an update to a model automatically updates other related components. So when a part model is edited, all assemblies that use that part will be updated automatically, all 2D drawings of that part will be updated automatically, and, with Alibre CAM, the toolpaths created for that part also will be updated automatically.
The company said its Alibre CAM Xpress, will be offered free of charge to a select group of manufacturing professionals. The initial group will be authorized to invite colleagues and partners to get the software at no charge. Details for getting Alibre CAM Xpress are available on the company’s website at www.alibre.com/products/mechanical/alibre_cam_xpress.asp.
Alibre CAM runs only inside of the Alibre Design user interface and can be purchased as a bundle with Alibre Design, or as an add-on to a previously purchased version of Alibre Design. The Alibre Design product family includes four versions: Alibre Design Xpress (Free), Alibre Design Standard ($995), Alibre Design Professional ($1,495) and Alibre Design Expert ($1,995).
