The PC2DRO+ software of the DigiBall DRO system now includes a powerful 2-D CAD viewer that also displays axis readings on the same screen to increase operator productivity.

In another world first, the PC2DRO+ software of the DigiBall DRO system now includes a powerful 2-D CAD viewer that also displays axis readings on the same screen to increase operator productivity. The new free DigiBall viewer will import most versions of the popular dwg, dxf and dgn CAD formats, as well as, bmp, jpg, gif, tif, png and tga image formats. DigiBall's unique DRO-CAD viewer satisfies the needs of users of conventional lathes, mills, grinders and borers who wish to make their talented machinists more productive and their working lives far easier.

Using a single click of the mouse button, any working drawing is fully rotated or flipped making, for example, a turned shaft always face the same way on the screen, as the actual shaft does in the lathe.

Anyone who has ever operated a lathe will immediately recognise the benefit of this feature, as not only increasing productivity but, also, helping to reduce those costly mistakes.

The viewer allows all associated dimensions embedded within the drawing to remain fully readable whenever a drawing is moved, zoomed, rotated or flipped.

It's a fact of life that many machinists are colour blind and/or work in less-than-perfectly lit workshops.

The DigiBall viewer helps in these situations, since the background colour to the drawings can be simply changed 'on-the-fly' - as indeed, can curve resolutions.

Most importantly, to maintain the integrity of customer's drawings, the machinist cannot modify the CAD file in any way whatsoever.

All this is achieved without losing any of the usual DRO functions of the normal DigiBall PC2DRO program.

Engineering is becoming very competitive the world over, with just-in-time (JIT) manufacture evermore commonplace.

Globalisation is now embracing even the smallest machining companies many of whom, willing or not, are dramatically changing their business methods simply to survive.

Indeed, how many companies nowadays receive their working drawings as an email CAD file attachment; or have to download the CAD files themselves from a customer's internet/intranet site?

How many machine shops, after downloading a CAD file then have a large-format plotter to print those drawings full-size for their machinists to use?

Far more likely, is that the machinist will have to make do with a fistful of small drawings printed on the A4, or letter size, office printer.

This, of course, always supposes that the machining company has made the necessary investment in a CAD program of their own to accept the latest CAD formats and be able to print them.

Thus, a situation can regularly arise where productivity at the customer's premises increases but, at the supplier's factory, productivity actually decreases, since machinists continually struggle with inadequate prints of drawings.

The DigiBall DRO system viewer overcomes all of these problems, since it enables machinists to have the full drawing, or any enlarged part of it, directly at their machine - no more shuffling pieces of paper.

To enable perspicacious engineers to evaluate the benefits of the DRO-CAD viewer, a fully functional Demo program is downloadable from the DigiBall website.

Interestingly, whilst the innovative DigiBall DRO System has only been on the market for less than three months, it is already proving to be of particular interest to specialist machine shops, RandD departments, repair and maintenance shops, universities, and skill training centres.