Missler Software has recently announced the release of the latest version of TopSolid'Progress, its CAD/CAM solution for progressive die and press tool designers. TopSolid'Progress provides all the required functions to help designers compute sheet metal part blanks, design the strip layout and dies far faster than with a standard CAD software. The software manages all cutting, folding and forming stages of the sheet metal, creation of the die set, addition of standard components together with their machining processes, creation of punches, non-standard dies and draft creation.
TopSolid'Progress 2010 allows tool makers to significantly increase their productivity by offering a collaborative work option, impoved strip creation and many improvements for punches and dies, components and die bases.

Collaborative work
Once the strip has been created and the die bases installed the new collaborative mode option in TopSolid'Progress 2010 allows several designers to work on individual (but dependant) files of a master file. It is then possible, at any moment, to synchronise changes made in individual files towards the master file. This « on-demand » synchronisation happens without additional intervention from the designers. Several designers can, thereby, work on different parts of the tool at the same time: for example, one person working on the cutting parts while another works on the assembly. The new collaborative work option in TopSolid'Progress 2010 enables important times gains in the design of tools.

Improved strip creation
Strip creation is an essential stage in the design of a progressive tool and TopSolid'Progress 2010 offers many new developments to optimize this stage. The blank creation of complex transition zones between unbendable parts is now greatly simplified. This enables easier treatment of toric bends or tie-in zones in connector parts. Again in relation to the connector technology market, the design of strips containing several dozen stations (including many stations without operations) is now much faster thanks to a new strip working mode. The new TopSolid'Progress version also proposes the creation of intermediary bending stages to detect collisions.

Punches and dies
TopSolid'Progress 2010 provides a significant improvement in the management of clearances values associated with the insertion of punches into plates. These clearances can be defined with default values for each plate and are automatically applied during the insertion process of the punches.
Punch creation functions now include an option to define ground shoulders and the integration of the creation of a heel in cutting punches.

Components
The use of standard components has not been neglected either with the arrival of a new assistant to simultaneously insert screws and pins to manage standard assembly configurations for plates, punches and dies. As always when using TopSolid, such components are dimensioned depending on the assembly context and are automatically updated if the dimensions of the tool change.
A modification report is made available to the user if the tool dimensions change. This report details the list of components whose dimensions have been recalculated following on from an update of the tool.

Miscellaneous
Concerning die base design it is now possible to manage different stripping strokes for different stripping set modules.
Draft creation has been improved with a new function which enables information notes to be created for different posts. The content as well as the organisation of these notes can be customised by the user and is very easy to modify.

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