Electrode UCS safety check

One of the most important steps in electrode design is creating and positioning an Electrode UCS. This UCS is responsible for establishing the XYZ numbers that the machine will use as the burn position of the electrode. Without an electrode UCS, there are default numbers in place, but these will not likely be correct for your process. To prevent this dangerous situation, you can now configure the system to block any output (electrode reports, drawings, or posted files) unless an electrode UCS is found.

• Electrodes that lack an electrode UCS will be shown in a pop-up warning message.

• The new safety check is controlled by an electrode preference. By default it has been turned on.

• If multiple electrodes are selected, each will be checked, and if any fail the check then output is necessarily rejected for all.

The new preference is found on the Electrode UCS page.

Electrodes without an electrode UCS are noted, and mistaken output is prevented.

Electrode NC UCS safety check

In addition to checking for the presence of an Electrode UCS, the system can also now check electrodes to see if they contain an NC UCS. If they do not, exporting the electrode to NC will be blocked, and a warning message will be given.

• The new safety check is controlled by an electrode preference.

• Unlike the electrode UCS, using an NC UCS is optional. For this reason, the default state of the new preference is off.

• This check is made when exporting to NC. There is no check for an NC UCS made if the NC document is already open and the ‘Load Model’ function is in use.

The new preference is found in the Electrode NC UCS page.

Electrodes without an NC UCS are blocked from being exported to NC.

Add electrode holders with Cut

Many types of electrode holders have a machined slot or pocket to mount the electrode stock in. To properly represent how the electrode blank is attached in an automated way, the new option, Cut Blank to holder, has been added to the holder function. When this option is in use, the blank will be appropriately shaped to fit the incoming holder.

• Internal cutting objects have been added to all of the relevant electrode holder catalogs. Updating these files from our online catalog server is recommended.

• To be mounted correctly, holders are now placed using their active UCS as the origin point. This can be user adjusted by creating a different active UCS if desired.

Cut Blank to Holder is a new option when placing an electrode holder.

The electrode stock remains the same size on the electrode report, but is seen on the screen just how it would actually look in the shop – mounted within the holder.

Sync holder rotation to the blank

Electrode holders have an optional step where a rotation angle relative to Z can be defined. This step gets more automated in Cimatron 2026 by adding a new option.

• When rotation is set to the new setting, Automatic as Blank, the holder rotation value will be read directly from the blank rotation value.

• This is exactly as the Electrode UCS and NC UCS can do – get their rotation values from the electrode blank.

• Automatic as Blank is a smart option to use when defining an electrode design template, because it adds more automation into the template process.

• Automatic as Blank is the new default option for this step.

In Cimatron 2025, only manual rotation values were
allowed for holder rotation

In Cimatron 2026, the holder rotation can be automated
to match the electrode blank.

Ordinate dimensions for Electrode drawings

Electrode drawings contain automatically created ordinate dimensions for locating electrode features and burn dimensions. Being template based, they were not able to jog the leader when it was called for. This problem was resolved in Cimatron 2026. All ordinate dimensions that overlap will automatically jog, saving time easing the need for editing.

In Cimatron 2025, close ordinate dimensions
could overlap and be unreadable.

In Cimatron 2026, ordinate dimensions observe their
rules of size and jog when necessary.