While STEP-NC is in its earliest phases and moving at a steady pace, there are a variety of its components that can be explored by the moldmaking industry. In the long run, manufacturers will have a choice as to how they provide STEP-NC data to their machine tools.

Most early adopters will use CAM systems to compile STEP-NC data into legacy codes. ST-Machine is a set of libraries that can be plugged into a CAM system to enable this approach. The libraries build a manufacturing model in the CAM systems, and during the infancy phase of deployment, it is expected that a user will have to fine-tune the model before it can be posted. Very little user input will be necessary in the later phases of deployment when enterprises have optimized their STEP-NC strategies to create best-in-class machining models. STEP Tools predicts that the CAM system and these libraries will be loaded directly onto the CNC machine to maximize safety and flexibility.

  Users also can discover how to create STEP-NC data using a new program called ST-Plan. ST-Plan is a tool that rapidly creates STEP-NC data (AP-238) from STEP data (AP-203 or AP-214). In the long term, STEP-NC data will be read and written by most CAD and CAM systems. However, in the short term, there needs to be a reliable source that can be used to test and optimize the STEP-NC machining processes. ST-Plan is this source. There are two versions of ST-Plan.This is the best method when the default features and plans created by ST-Plan are acceptable. A desktop version is being used by the P1I team and lets the user manually identify or re-classify features, change the order of a manufacturing plan and set a large number of default values.                         

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