MGMStation                       CAD/CAM, Macintosh
Drafting on Your Mac
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
System 3R claims that its MGMStation (for Micro Graphic
Manufacturing Station) CAD 2.5 release 2 is easy to learn and
use, yet it provides facilities that outperform more-expensive
and less-user-friendly CAD systems.
 
More than 200 functions let you have multiple windows, filleting,
chamfering, sectioning, hatching, transformation, and Macintosh
editing commands, plus drawing in absolute, incremental, polar,
and freehand coordinate systems. Two versions of CAD let you
choose black-and-white or color output to various devices to an
accuracy of 16 decimal places.
 
You can have grids of any size, metric or English units, and up
to 64 distinguishable layers, visual group representation, and
groupings by region or by entities. Available libraries include
mechanical engineering, architecture, interior design, and
electronic design. In addition, MGMS Geometry provides facilities
for perimeter, area, center of gravity, and moment or inertia
calculations.
 
System 3R also offers MGMStation CADCAM, a design and
manufacturing software system that incorporates modules for
milling, turning, punching, and wire electrodischarge machining
(EDM). With all the modules, you use MGMStation CAD to describe
the geometry of the piece or part to be manufactured, and then
MGMStation automatically outputs computer numerical control (CNC)
programs to suit most machine-tool control systems.
 
You can define and modify tool libraries to suit your
requirements. Within each module there is an RS-232C serial
communications facility for inputting and outputting CNC files to
and from machine-tool controls and other peripheral equipment
like tape punches and printers. You can add the optional IGES,
DXF, and PICT translator module to use other drawings for
geometry input.
 
The Mill module provides features for face milling, compensated
milling of contours and entities, pocketing of irregular shapes
and cavities with or without islands, and multiple hole cycles
for drilling, tapping, boring, and reaming.
 
The Turn module includes diameter and radius programming; face
turning, roughing, and finishing cycles for compensated turning
of contours and entities; face pocketing of cavities; and cycles
for grooving, drilling, tapping, boring, and U-drilling.
 
The Punch module provides the basic features of punching contours
and entities with or without bridges, area clearance of irregular
shapes, and multiple cycles on patterns of holes. MGMStation
displays and checks all clamps and dead zones and displays the
turret layout so you can select the station you want to use.
 
The Wire EDM module recognizes all facets of wire EDM, including
two- and four-axis work, with independent u and v axes, wire
diameter compensation, start holes, nozzle heights, E-numbers,
arc precision, and use of all Mfunctions inherent to wire
machines.
 
MGMStation CAD and the CADCAM software packages run on the Mac
512KE, Plus, SE, II, and IIx. The system supports Apple
ImageWriter, ImageWriter II, ImageWriter LQ, and LaserWriter
printers, and Hewlett-Packard, Houston Instrument, Roland Gould,
and Graftec plotters.
 
Price: L968 for the black-and-white version of MGMStation CAD;
L1392 for the color version; L5960 and up for the MGMStation
CAD/CAM software packages.
 
Contact: System 3R (UK) Ltd., 2 Duke St., Princes Risborough,
Buckinghamshire HP17 0AT, UK, 44-08-444-4339.
 
                              --- Martha Hicks
 
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