September 30, 2009

In This Issue

Partners

Training Schedule

Gibbs Newsletters

October Trade Shows

Gibbs Now Sells VoluMILL

Reduce Costs

Maintenance

New Version

Partners

Texas Offline CAD &
DNC Partners

(in alphabetical order)
DC CAD: Autodesk
Texas Engineering: SolidWorks
Vector Graphics: Autodesk
Texas Offline Machine Tool Partners
(in alphabetical order)
AmTTech
Bulls' Eye Machine Tools & Equipment
CAMPAT Machine
Tool Inc.
Champion Machine Tools
Chaparral Machinery
Ellison Technology
Haas Factory Outlet
Hartwig
Koch Machine
Machine Tool Specialties
Oliver Van Horn
Quality Tools
Regal Machine
Rex Supply
Timco Machine Tools
Technical Machine

Texas Offline will give you 10% toward your annual maintenacne fees up to $750.00 for any lead that becomes a sale.

Didja know?

Gibbs no longer mails their newsletters, but emails them automatically like Texas Offline does. If you are not getting yours, you can get the "Gibbs On Line newsletter" emailed automatically to you by filling in your email address at www.GibbsCAM.com/ news and events/ e-news sign up.
You can also download it at your convenience if you prefer by following the above directions, then look under "Newsletters".

Texas Offline, Inc
11702-B Grant Rd,
Suite 630
Cypress, TX 77429
Phone 281-376-2003
Fax 281-376-6594
info@texasoffline.com
post@texasoffline.com
support@texasoffline.com
sales@texasoffline.com
http://www.texasoffline.com

October Trade Shows

   Texas Offline will be showcasing both GibbsCAM and eNET DNC at two different trade shows in October. October typically starts the trade show season, but with our economy right now nothing is typical anymore. There are still a lot of vendors and Machine Tool Dealers who still see the worth of showcasing their wares at theses shows and your attendance if you're in the area is greatly appreciated. Both of these shows are Machine Tools shows and will be chocked full of new tooling and Machine Tools. Any shop striving to be on the cutting edge of technology in our competitive industry will be wanting to see the new advances in machine tooling.
     The North Texas Machine Tool Show is held at the Dallas Market Hall in Dallas, Texas October 7&8.   Texas Offline will be in booth #FS230 and parking is free this year. Show hours are Oct. 7th 11:00-5:00 and Oct 8th from 10:00-3:00.
     The Wichita Industrial Trade Show will be held on October 20, 21, 22 at the Century II Convention Center Expo Hall, 225 W. Douglas, in Wichita, Kansas. Texas Offline will be in booth #632 and 634.
      Texas Offline will be doing live demos on GibbsCAM and eNET DNC products. "We encourage prospects to bring your own prints or files so you can see how easy GibbsCAM can program your parts that are important to you," says Jason Heyse, President of Texas Offline Inc.    You can receive FREE tickets to the show just by E-mailing Sales@texasoffline.com with you contact information & company name.

Gibbs Now Distributes and
Supports VoluMILL

Texas Offline is always looking for ways to assist our GibbsCAM customers in this highly competitive economic time. GibbsCAM now offers "Volumill-for-GibbsCAM" for sale to Gibbs customers, serviced and supported by Gibbs, so that GibbsCAM users may enjoy the latest technology for cutting-parts-faster.Gibbs Corporate assisted Celeritive in developing this new version of Volumill that is integrates with GibbsCAM. This will safely run your machine tools at top speeds and feeds, dramatically reduce cycle times , increase your profits and easily handles any pocket geometry and efficiently machine open shapes and extends the life of your cutting tools and reduce stress on your machine tools.

VoluMill is fully integrated into GibbsCAM and the best part is that it's on sale until December 31, 2009 for 25% off the regular $2,000. price.

VoluMill is a high-performance toolpath engine from Celeritive Technologies that integrates directly into GibbsCAM. It handles any geometry, is easy to use, and outperforms all other toolpath technologies.
Using VoluMill in place of traditional 2-axis routines will reduce your cycle times, extend the life of your cutting tools, and place considerably less stress on your machine tools, thereby reducing your costs while increasing your productivity. VoluMill provides these benefits by fully utilizing the capabilities of modern machining hardware to control the rate of material removal. It plans the toolpath based on the abilities designed into the machine tools and cutting tools, irrespective of the shape being cut. Traditional toolpath strategies, by contrast, are derived from the geometry being machined, filling the bounded area with a zigzag pattern, or offsetting the boundary geometry until it collapses on itself.

Key Advantages and Benefits:
1) High-performance, smart toolpath engine. VoluMill handles ANY part geometry with a single toolpath that outperforms all other 2-axis rough-milling toolpaths where it matters most: on the shop floor. VoluMill toolpaths reduce cycle times and extend cutting-tool life.

2) Powerful, efficient toolpaths for open shapes. A weak link in many CAM systems. Cut ANY combination of part/stock boundaries easily; all open edges are fully leveraged for efficient machining and to minimize plunging into the material.

3) Intelligent slot milling and side milling options. For softer metals, provides the fastest possible cycle time. Intelligently selects slot milling or side milling to maximize the material removal rate. Feedrates and axial depths of cut are automatically adjusted in slot milling to maintain a constant material removal rate, and can be overridden by the programmer. For harder materials, users can require side milling over the entire toolpath to avoid burying the cutter.

4) Fast machining of small pockets. The fastest way to clear out small pockets. Efficient, specialized tool motion for tight spaces; VoluMill automatically applies this special milling logic as needed.

5) Up to 100% stepover with no uncut material. Complete floor cleanup is always ensured. NO uncut stands of material will be left behind regardless of the size of the stepover. No special motion required, no extra option to learn.

Reducing Costs and Optimizing Productivity with GibbsCAM

      In today's challenging economy all manufacturers are attempting to "squeeze" everything they can out of their CNC machines. Gibbs customers know that GibbsCAM is a powerful productivity tool, yet many customers still underutilize the GibbsCAM investment they have already made to gain even greater production capacity as well as reducing operational costs. Sometimes this can be achieved with something as small as optimizing a post processor or ordering the latest GibbsCAM Maintenance release. Other times just learning the capabilities in GibbsCAM already owned will result in greater productivity. Or sometimes, adding a small upgrade such as turning or multi-axis milling will allow a user to optimize throughput, or even bid on work not previously considered.
        GibbsCAM has added significant new capabilities over the last few years; however we find that many users are utilizing only a small portion of the new capabilities available to them. In addition to some of the newer major enhancements such as the Advanced 3D with HSM (high speed machining) module, 5-Axis module and Macro capabilities, there are also other very useful improvements that can be overlooked.
         For example some customers have commented that they did not realize there is a set of several plug-ins related to geometry creation and manipulation. GeoTools and GeoEdit are plug-ins that expand the standard GibbsCAM geometry creation and manipulation capabilities. GeoTools and GeoEdit are accessible by all GibbsCAM users and can be helpful to even the novice user.
         If current business is a little "slow" and as such the current NC programming workload is a little "light", use the opportunity to learn the complete capabilities of GibbsCAM. Be a step ahead of your competitors by optimizing throughput when the next job comes in. Learning about these capabilities may provide an opportunity to bid on work which you possibly were not able to address previously. There are many ways to learn more about what GibbsCAM can do for your company. GibbsCAM 2009 includes online documentation, help and tutorials. Many customers have commented that they find the best way to learn GibbsCAM's latest capabilities is to attend a local training class.
         If you have been off maintenance for a few years you will find Gibbs has added many new productivity enhancements not accessible in the version they are currently working with. Getting back on Maintenance is simple, cost effective, and most importantly assures you will be utilizing the latest technology to optimize your part manufacturing. By renewing Maintenance, you get the latest GibbsCAM version which includes powerful new productivity tools to help reduce costs, optimize throughput and minimize scrap. It also provides full compatibility with the latest CAD system releases such as Inventor 2010 and SolidWorks 2009 assuring you can immediately begin work on a new job when it comes in. Most importantly it allows you to remain competitive in today's challenging environment.
         Once GibbsCAM users realize what they can do with what they already own and become more proficient with GibbsCAM, they soon realize that modular upgrades for High Speed Machining, 4 and 5-Axis Simultaneous, MTM, and even Multi Pallet Tombstone Management can help them win more business of this type of profitable work.
          Reducing costs and optimizing productivity are essential to succeed in today's challenging business environment. GibbsCAM offers many ways to help you achieve both with little incremental investment in GibbsCAM's programming system, starting with learning more about the capabilities of the GibbsCAM modules you already own.

WHY SHOULD I STAY ON MAINTENANCE?

When it comes to staying on your GibbsCAM Maintenance, the pros far out ways the bad. We've heard it all before; "I can't afford it, there was nothing in the last issue that supported my module, I'll wait till several years lapse then I'll get caught up, & our all time favorite: I don't use it very often to pay for the upgrades."
Those who toot these excuses don't really realize their great losses. Gibbs only charges 12% of the software price for the Annual Maintenance. Do you realize that some CAMs charge has much as 25%!!! But then of course they explain this away by "giving you such a good deal upon purchase!" You would think that customers, who invest so much in their original software, would want to keep it cutting edge with the technology. Other wise you lose your investment & end up using dinosaur software. You know how quickly your computer ages, & software ages the same way with technology. Can you really afford that?
Keeping up with the latest release entitles you to several important privileges.

Gibbs assures you that you will always be able to bring in the latest CAD. We've had customers call us that fell off maintenance two years ago, & was shocked they couldn't bring in the latest CAD files their customer was sending them. (How do you explain that to your customer?)

Something that is not spoken about too much is software protection. You are assured that Gibbs will ship you next day a new dongle or USB key when yours is damaged. Surprisingly, this happens a lot in Texas believe it or not. We get 6-7 calls a year that lightening struck the building & fried their key. If the customer is on Maintenance, they are programming the very next day for a minimal charge of $300.

You get all major upgrades mailed to you annually. It's true, that there are not substantial enhancements on every module in every update. However there are multitudes of fixes to the general health of the software, that effect the speed & performance of every module. In addition, you are able to download at your convenience the latest-greatest-biggest-badest versions off the Gibbs Website. There is a whole team of technicians at Gibbs Corporate who's only job is to develop new Gibbs software for you. Interim versions with bug fixes are available instantly between the major upgrades. We have a lot of customers who download the newest version every month religiously. They want to make sure they have the very latest technology before their customer ask for it. Wouldn't you just love to have this option on your CNC Machine?

Tech Support~ Texas Offline has promised to give you free Tech support for the life of your software. But Jason just can not be two places at once, & there are times when he is doing a demo, (like when he was demoing YOUR software) that he can not take calls. In that period, Cindy will ask you to call the Gibbs 1-800 number, so you are never without an answer to your problem. If you are on Maintenance, then Gibbs considers you a preferred customer and you will go to the top of the list. In addition, if you have to send your file out to tech support, the same rule applies.

Gibbs Customer Newsletter is sent out only to those on Maintenance. It gives you important updates on products, technical tips and customer success stories. Texas Offline sends out our Newsletter to ALL our customers whether or not you're on maintenance, but of course we just can't cram everything in our quarterly newsletter.

The most important thing that Texas Offline sees in staying on maintenance is the multiple seat discounts. When you purchase seats 2-4 you get 20% discount. Seats 5-9 you get a 35% discount. And yes we have several customers who are well beyond the 10 seats & only pay 50% of the cost. What a savings.

Please note here, that in order to add to your current package you are required to be on Maintenance. Gibbs will charge you one year back, (no matter how long you have been off) & one year forward. Honestly, we hardly ever have a customer get back on maintenance once they have fallen off. It's very sad for us to hear that a customer has denied his maintenance, because we know the consequences. When they are finally able to get back on, they are so angry to find out the penalty, they usually buy something else. Ignoring the fact that they are trashing the investment they previously made. Texas Offline has tried to help our customers stay on maintenance by spreading out their payments or taking a credit card for payment. Please call the office, & Cindy will be glad to get you a quote to secure you investment & work with a plan that fits you.
Last but not least, all Maintenance customers can download release candidates TODAY by logging on to the Gibbs website www.gibbscam.com with your secret code. If you don't have a code, call 1-800-654-9399 & tech support will be glad to give you one.

Attention:

   The new V9.3.17 GibbsCAM Release is now downloadable from the Gibbs website.
   Your Gibbs password has to be restored every year as you renew your maintenance contract. This prevents other people from illegally logging on who are not on the maintenance program.
      If your company is currently on the Maintenance program, and you're in need of access restored please e-mail support@gibbscam.com and advise them you need a password. They will promptly email you back with your new password. We do apologize if this has caused you any complications, but the valuable maintenance upgrades you purchased, need to be downloaded only by the user that purchased them.
   Then After you receive your password: Go to www.gibbscam.com then to SUPPORT and then Gibbs Online. Once the window opens type your user name and password and you're in. Go to CURRENT RELEASE SOFTWARE and Latest Update full installer and get the newest up to date download.