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Wire

Fast, easy, and productive—the way programming should be. Mastercam Wire is a solution for programming CNC Wire EDM machines.

Mastercam’s suite of 2-axis and 4-axis wirepaths lets you choose the best method for the results you need, with control over the wire motion, angle, entries and exits, and much more. And you get that control in a clear, easy to understand way.

  • Full-featured design capabilities support any combination of modeling, from wireframe to surfaces to solid models.
  • Automatic lead-in and lead-out strategies, fast, flexible tab creation, and no core cutting make Mastercam Wire a powerful tool for quickly programming parts.
  • Intelligent NC programming lets you build a library of machining strategies that automatically adapt to new models.
  • Mastercam Wire complements the functionality of other products such as Mastercam Mill and Lathe.

The Mastercam platform is the most widely used and well known in the world of CAM. Shops using other Mastercam products that want to program wire EDM machines choose Mastercam Wire for a rapid return on investment.

  • Reduced time to find experienced individuals to use the software.
  • Familiar, user-friendly interface improves programming efficiency.
  • Efficient wire toolpaths deliver precision wire machining.
  • Power libraries for almost any wire machine.

Find a Reseller

If you are looking to find your Reseller, click on the link below.

Features

Flexibility

You can import geometry from virtually any source and create new geometry, giving you a high degree of flexibility to use your data for reliable programming.

Full Associativity

Gives you the power to capture your work and build on your experience; once you program a part—any part—you can modify any element of a job and get updated wirepaths immediately, without starting over.

Verification

Easily ensure the toolpath motion delivers exactly what you intended with Mastercam’s wirepath verification tools.

Control

With fast, easy, and complete control over tab creation you can quickly add multiple tabs to any piece of geometry.

Localized Support

Our Mastercam Resellers bring years of practical experience specific to various regions, manufacturing goals, and language requirements worldwide, to ensure that as a Mastercam user, you always have the support you need to get the most out of your CAD/CAM investment.

Free Software

Give the world’s #1 CAM software a test drive. Download Mastercam Demo/Home Learning Edition at no cost. Use it to learn Mastercam and get familiar with the latest advances in CAD/CAM – every step of the way up to actually machining a part!

Efficiency

Geometry and toolpath nesting provide an extremely fast way to program several parts while utilizing stock efficiently to reduce scrap.


System Requirements

See the table below for minimum and recommended system configurations for Mastercam. These recommendations are based on systems we have in use at CNC Software for testing and evaluation purposes. Our recommendation is to get as much power (processor, video card, and memory) for your systems as you can afford.

MinimumRecommended
OSWindows 10 or Windows 11 64-bit ProfessionalWindows 10 (version 20H2 or later) 64-bit Professional
ProcessorIntel® or AMD 64-bit processor, 2.4 GHz or fasterIntel i7 or Xeon® E3, Kaby Lake or later, 3.2GHz or faster
Memory8 GB32 GB
VideoOpenGL 3.2 and OpenCL 1.2 support with 1 GB memory. No onboard graphics.NVIDIA Quadro® or AMD FirePro™ / Radeon Pro card with 4 GB (or higher) dedicated memory.
Monitor1920 * 1080 resolution1920 * 1080 resolution, dual monitors
StorageSolid State Drive (SSD) with at least 20 GB free and a USB 2.0 reader (for installation media)NVMe Drive with at least 20GB free
3D Mouse3Dconnexion 3D mouse

Operating Systems

CNC Software continues to review the operating system (OS) requirements for Mastercam with a goal of providing the best possible user experience for our customers.

We recommend using Windows 10 (version 20H2 or later) or later 64-bit Professional editions. While Mastercam may run on other Windows editions (such as Home Edition) or virtual environments (such as Parallels for Mac), it has not been tested on these configurations and is therefore not supported.

Mastercam 2021 was the last release to officially support Windows 7 as Microsoft ended extended support for the OS in January 2020. Mastercam 2022 will install on Windows 7 systems but will not be supported. Future versions of Mastercam will not install on Windows 7.

Processor

The processor speed will impact how fast the software will calculate and complete tasks. With each release, more and more aspects of Mastercam are becoming multi-core processor aware. Toolpath calculation and Simulation will generally run faster with a multi-core processor. We typically see a 50% reduction in toolpath calculation time with the latest Intel i7 or Xeon processors.

Memory

When Mastercam uses all available RAM, it switches to using virtual memory space, which is stored on the hard drive and will dramatically slow the system down. We recommend a minimum of 8 GB of memory. For large toolpath generation and simulation, we recommend 32GB of RAM.

Video

When purchasing a new computer for Mastercam, one of the most important component is the video card.

We recommend an NVIDIA Quadro® or AMD FirePro™ / Radeon Pro card with 4GB or more of memory. Other graphics cards can be used, but they must offer full OpenGL 3.2 and OpenCL 1.2 support. OpenCL is required for Mastercam to be able to hand off certain computation tasks to the graphics card to increase system performance.
We do not recommend or support the use of onboard graphics found with some PC configurations. These do not generally have the capability to drive graphics intensive applications such as Mastercam and can lead to system instability.

Make sure you are using up-to-date drivers from your card manufacturer. We often see issues that are resolved with updated video drivers. The driver version can have a great impact on how the card performs.

The latest drivers for NVIDIA and AMD can be found at the online links. We recommend using the automatic detect feature to detect which video card is installed. More information on configuring the graphics card can be found at this Mastercam knowledge base article.

Monitor

Most of our internal systems utilize dual monitors and we find this to be a more productive setup. Mastercam displays on the primary monitor while applications such as Mastercam Simulator, Code Expert, or Tool Manager display on the secondary monitor.

The minimum recommended resolution for the primary display is 1920 * 1080 resolution typical of widescreen monitors available today. Mastercam will run on lower resolution screens but beware of potential sizing issues with larger dialog boxes and panels which may be awkward to work with. Lower resolution monitors may work fine as a second monitor in a dual screen setup.

Mastercam will run on large format displays, including 4K monitors and high-DPI devices however, we do experience some display issues with these configurations.

Storage

We have found that one of the best computer upgrades is to invest in a NVMe drive. These drives are now priced at a point which makes them a good investment. Many of our test systems employ a smaller primary NVMe drive for the OS and installed applications with a second large capacity conventional drive for data.

3D Mouse

A 3D mouse improves the way you interact with your 3D application. It is designed to be used by your non-dominant hand in tandem with a standard mouse for a balanced and cooperative work style. You gently manipulate the 3D mouse’s controller cap to simultaneously pan, zoom and rotate 3D content while your standard mouse is free to select menu items or parts of the model. Additional technical and purchase information can be found on the 3Dconnexion website.

Anti-Virus Software

Most computers today have some kind of anti-virus software to protect from unwanted malware. In some cases, these have been found to interfere with applications such as Mastercam which are running on the computer. CNC Software does not recommend specific anti-virus products, but if you see unexpected issues, it may be a conflict with anti-virus software. Try temporarily disabling the anti-virus software or setting an exception for Mastercam.

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Case Studies

Lathe

McAfee Chooses Mastercam for Tool & Die – Automotive Parts

The team at McAfee Tool & Die prides itself on the company’s ability to meet complicated orders in the automotive industry. All the parts McAfee produces for unibody vehicles have unusual curves and geometries, but it is imperative that McAfee meet each extremely tight tolerance, or else the vehicle’s safety will be compromised. To accomplish this, McAfee uses Mastercam.
shop employees at Progressive Tool & Manufacturing, Inc. Mill

Progressive Tool and Manufacturing, Inc.

Since 1984, Greensboro, NC-based Progressive Tool & Manufacturing, Inc., has made custom tooling and gauges for the medical industry, defense contractors, and aerospace companies that conduct prototype testing. The company’s ability to make parts with extremely tight tolerances has kept one customer in particular – a contract manufacturer of over-the-counter nutritional and pharmaceutical soft-gel products – coming back for over a decade to help design and make parts for their metering pumps and other production equipment.

Mastercam Community

When you choose the world’s most widely used CAM, you gain benefits beyond the technology driving our software. Our global community of Mastercam users, experts, educators, and enthusiasts helps you get the most from your investment.


FAQs

A CNC Wire Cut Machine is a machine that can be controlled by CAM software to remove material from a part or piece of stock material using Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM). Using a thin strand of superheated wire, CNC Wire Cut Machines are capable of very fine cuts and able to machine challenging shapes and materials with extreme accuracy.

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CNC EDM wire cut, or EDM machining, is a method of machining using a computer numerical control Wire EDM machine to produce parts using a thin strand of superheated wire.

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A wire EDM machine is programmed like all computer numerical control machines, with a CAM software. Software such as Mastercam converts a programmer’s instructions into the code that controls a wire EDM machine to cut parts to exact specifications.

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You can use software, like Mastercam, to control CNC wire EDM machines. Using CAM software, you can increase accuracy, speed, and repeatability as compared to manual programming.

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Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) uses an electrically charged wire to remove material from a piece of stock material. EDM wire machining is used for conductive materials, very hard materials, and to machine parts with very small internal corners or parts requiring extreme accuracy.

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