The wait is over! 2D & 3D Milling now in ASCENT’s Inventor CAM Milling Fundamentals

Earlier this year (February 2020), ASCENT announced the release of a new learning guide for Inventor 2020 CAM. At the time, this guide only covered 2D milling, but the intention was to eventually continue the evolution of this book to incorporate 3D milling. With all the Autodesk Inventor 2021 guides now released, I had time to circle back to this. The new and improved Autodesk Inventor 2021 CAM Milling Fundamentals learning guide is now available with both 2D and 3D milling.

This guide remains focused on providing students, trainers, and industry professionals with an excellent foundation in using the entire CAM interface, as well as the milling and drilling tools in Inventor CAM.

2D Milling Model Sample

2D and 3D Milling Model Sample

The following changes/additions have been incorporated into the newest version of the Autodesk Inventor CAM 2021: Milling Fundamentals learning guide:

• The guide has a new name to indicate that you will learn all the fundamentals of milling. Similarly to the previous version of the book, the focus is on the workflow and not every 2D and 3D milling toolpath is covered; however, the more common ones are.

• If you are a trainer, we recommend teaching this new learning guide over 2 days.

• The 2020 course content was updated to 2021. There were no significant changes to the CAM software tools; however, the datasets have been migrated and instructions reflect the small text and image changes.

• Two new chapters were added to cover the 3D milling content. Chapter 6 is focused on the more commonly used 3D milling toolpaths (adaptive, pocket, contour, horizontal, parallel, pencil, and scallop). The skills you learn with these toolpaths can be extrapolated to the remaining 3D toolpaths. Chapter 7 is a new Projects chapter that provides additional practice models that enable you to incorporate a combination of both 2D and 3D milling toolpaths in a single model.

This new learning guide is now available for purchase on the ASCENT website.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Oh.. and as we speak I am working on a Fusion 360 Milling Fundamentals guide, please stay tuned!

About the Author

Manager – Learning Content Development<br><br>Trained in Instructional Design, Jennifer uses her skills to develop instructor-led and web-based training products as well as knowledge profiling tools. Jennifer has achieved the Autodesk Certified Professional certification for Inventor and is also recognized as an Autodesk Certified Instructor (ACI). She enjoys teaching the training courses that she authors and is also very skilled in providing technical support to end-users. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree as well as a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Dalhousie University.

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