What’s New

GibbsCAM 2016, v11.3Q1, 2016

3D Systems, Inc.Modified: Saturday, February 06, 2016 6:32 PM

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Contents

NEW IN GIBBSCAM 2016, V11.3 4

Overview 4

Thread Milling 6New Tool Type: Full Profile Threadmill 7Tapered Thread Milling 7

Multiple Contouring 8

Oriented Turning 10Rotate Tab 10Changes to Machine Manager 10

VoluMill 11Technology Expert 12

5-Axis Simultaneous Milling 14All Calculation Strategies 14Calculation Based on Surfaces 15Calculation Based on TriangleMesh 16Calculation Based on Wireframe 19Calculation Based on SwarfMachining 20Calculation Based on 3-to-5-Axis Conversion 20Calculation Based on Port Machining 20Calculation Based on Multiaxis Machining 205-Axis Drilling 21

Data Exchange 22Graphical PMI 22NX (*.prt) Files 23

Miscellaneous 24

New in GibbsCAM 2016, v11.3

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New in GibbsCAM 2016,v11.3

OverviewHighlights since GibbsCAM 2015 (September 2015) include enhancements and changes in thefollowing areas.

ThreadMilling

The Thread Milling process has an expanded set of capabilities, especially when using the newtool type, Full Profile Threadmill.

l Offers the ability to vary depth with geometry, just as in the Holes process.l Understands and works with hole features.l Connects between Z passes.l Allows for multiple passes and spring passes.l Choose whether to rapid or feed from the center to the clearance diameter.

Full Profile Threadmill is a new tool type:

l Number of teeth can be 1 or more.l Support for threadforms and for tapered-angle tools.

Tapered Thread Milling, for multi-tooth threadmills, derives taper angle from the tool profile.For detailed information on all these enhancements, see “Thread Milling ” on page 6.

Multiple Contouring

The Mill module now lets you cut multiple contours on geometry with user-specified cutter sideoffsets. Separate sets of controls handle closed shapes and open shapes. For detailedinformation on these enhancements, see “Multiple Contouring ” on page 8.

Oriented Turning

GibbsCAM 2016 provides improved support for turning, including the ability to use a single toolat multiple B orientations, re-orient a toolgroup for use on a different spindle, and turn atarbitrary orientations on machines with redundant rotary axes.

l Rotate tabs for all Lathe processesl Support for flash tooling and for cake turrets

New in GibbsCAM 2016, v11.3

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l Changes to Machine Manager and tool setup for sub-positioning

For detailed information on these enhancements, see “Oriented Turning ” on page 10.

VoluMill

VoluMill 7.2 provides enhancements in the following areas:

l Technology Expert. Instead of using the standard Materials dialog to suggest RPM andfeedrate, you can calculate recommendations for many other parameters, including depthof cut and speed/feed/angle for ramp or helix plunge types. Calculations are based onmaterial type and hardness, current tool values, and other factors such as conservative oraggressive cutting style, and recommendations can be applied selectively.

l Spiral motion, especially in simple pockets like squares and circles.l Side Milling is significantly more efficient, and Side Mill Only is now the recommendedsetting. The algorithm uses wider radii for higher-speed cutting and better chip clearance.Also, Side Milling uses zigzag motion in situations when it reduces cycle times.

l Open-Face Milling. Improved algorithms can reduce cycle time for open faces by 60%.l Performance when regenerating TP. Infrastructure improvements make regenerationsmarter and quicker.

For detailed information on these enhancements, see “VoluMill ” on page 11.

5-Axis

5-Axis provides numerous enhancements throughout. For detailed information, see “5-AxisSimultaneous Milling ” on page 14.

Data Exchange

Expanded use of Spatial Corporation translators (separate options) provide new capabilities:

l Graphical PMI. Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI), can now be importedand displayed from several types of CAD files.

l NX (*.prt) Files. Files of type *.prt (Siemens Unigraphics UGS/NX files) can now beimported using the Spatial translator.

For detailed information on these enhancements, see “Data Exchange ” on page 22.

Miscellaneous

l Lathe. Process dialogs for Rough, Contour, and Thread have a slightly different layout.l Macros. You can now create balloon help for controls in macro dialogs you create.l Hole Manager and Hole Editor. Context menus and new controls offer increasedusability and some new functionality.

l Geometry Properties. You can right-click elements to summon a Properties dialog toquery properties like ID, type, workgroup, CS, Wall/Air, Rapid/Feed and wrap depth.

For detailed information on these enhancements, see “Miscellaneous ” on page 24.

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Thread MillingThe Thread Milling process offers a greatly expanded set of capabilities, many of which can beseen in the following comparison of the new process dialog with the previous process dialog:

Before GibbsCAM 2016 In GibbsCAM 2016

The new capabilities are especially useful in conjunction with the new tool type, Full ProfileThreadmill (see below).

• Offers the ability to vary depth with geometry, just as in the Holes process.

• Understands and works with hole features.

• Calculates how many Z passes are required for the thread's start Z and end Z, based on thetool's flute length.

• The process connects between Z passes:

○ Uses tangent arc retract/re-approach between each pass.

○ Arc length can be calculated automatically or specified by the user.

○ For OD threading: Connects using rapid in Z/feed arc.

○ For ID threading: Connects via center of hole.

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• Allows for multiple passes and spring passes:

○ You can specify depth between passes.

○ When using a multi-tooth threadmill, spring passes occur after all main passes arecomplete.

○ You can specify how many spring passes should occur at the finish cut diameter.

• You can choose whether to rapid or feed from the center to the clearance diameter.

New Tool Type: Full Profile Threadmill

GibbsCAM 2016 provides a new tool type for multi-tooth thread mills. For a thread millingprocess using such a tool, the value for Pitch (metric units) or TPI (threads per inch) is defined bythe tool, not by the process.

• Number of teeth can be 1 or more.

• Support for threadforms.

• Support for tapered-angle tools.

Tapered Thread Milling

For all thread milling processes, clearance diameter is constant throughout the cut, and a singlecut diameter is specified for the start of the cut.

For multi-tooth threadmills, taper angle is derived from the tool profile. For single-tooththreadmills, you can specify Taper Angle:

• Straight threading uses a taper angle value of 0.

• BSPT/NPT uses a taper angle of 1.78991 degrees.

• Or you can specify a custom taper angle.

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Multiple ContouringGibbsCAM 2016 provides support for performing multiple contours on geometry with user-specified cutter side offsets. Accordingly, the Contour process dialog now has an additional tab,Offset:

Inapplicable situations. Settings in the Offset tab are ignored, and the tab itself is unbolded,in the following circumstances:

• When the item selected for part machining is a body (solid or surface).

• When profiles are selected.

• When the Contour process is paired with a Pocket process.

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Functionality. Note that the Offset settings provide controls for both Closed Shapes and OpenShapes. This allows you to select closed and open shapes together, knowing that the system willuse the correct settings for the corresponding types. If multiple shapes are selected, they will becut centerline and without extensions, since GibbsCAM does not support machining markerson multiple selected shapes.

You can choose Centerline to cut each shape on the tool's center, without offset. Selecting thisoption disables incompatible controls such as Cut Inside or Climb / Conventional.

For Closed Shapes:

• Cut Inside will offset the tool towards the inside of the closed shape. If Alternate Side forNested Shapes is checked, then the tool will cut inside the outermost shape, outside anyshapes nested in that shape, inside shapes nested within those, and so forth, following thesame rules as Pocketing does by default.

• Cut Outside will offset the tool towards the outside of the closed shape.

• If Alternate Side for Nested Shapes is checked, the tool will cut outside the outermost shape,inside any shapes nested in that shape, outside shapes nested within those, and so forth,following the same rules as Pocketing does when Outermost Shape as Boss is selected.

For Direction:

• Climb (Left) and Conventional (Right) will offset the tool to the left or right of the shape. Shapedirection is determined from the shape, with one exception: If an open shape has only oneend terminator selected, then it is considered the start point regardless of the shape's innatedirection.

For Open Shapes:

• Start Extension and End Extension determine the distance from the start point (or end point) ofthe shape to the start point (or end point) of the toolpath. If applicable, Start Extension andEnd Extension values are applied instead of Overlap values that are set the Contour tab, so asto retain consistency with legacy behavior where machining markers can disable Overlapvalues.

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Oriented TurningGibbsCAM 2016 provides improved support for oriented turning, including the ability to use asingle tool at multiple B orientations, re-orient a toolgroup for use on a different spindle, andturn at arbitrary orientations on machines with redundant rotary axes.

Rotate Tab

The Rotate tab is added to the Lathe process dialogs for Roughing and Thread, and replaces theB-Axis tab for Contour.

Rotate tab — Contour, Roughing, Thread Rotate tab with Variable B—Contour only

Controls on Rotate tabs for all Lathe processes:

• preview pane with view controls

• Holder Angle

• Face Relief / Diameter Relief

• Face up checkbox

Changes to Machine Manager

• Interop Events tab: new checkbox Advanced Different First/Second Angle Events

• Toolgroup tab: new checkbox Use TG Change Value Modifiers (for toolgroups of type Turretand Slide only)

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VoluMillGibbsCAM 2016 now includes VoluMill 7.2, which provides the following enhancements:

• Spiral motion for areas where spiral motion is more efficient, especially in simple pocketslike squares and circles. In the pocket shown below, following the helical entry intomaterial, smooth spiral motion opens up the right side of the pocket, followed by othermotions, including side milling, to complete the machining. The left side of the pocketrequires no spiral: As the area is opened up, a natural transition area is created for the toolto move from one pass to the next at high speed.

• Side Milling. Because of gains in performance, selecting the Side Mill Only checkbox is nowthe recommended setting. (However, slotting can still be more efficient than side milling insome cases, such as milling with large stepovers and shallow cuts in softer material.)

One of the sources of increased performance is the use of wider radii when possible,allowing higher-speed cutting and better chip clearance. This is illustrated in the precedingimage.

In addition, side milling now uses zigzag motion in circumstances when doing so reducescycle time, as shown in the following image:

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• Open-Face Milling. VoluMill now determines cut angle and order of cuts to minimizecycle time, and ensures full stepover for the last cut. Cycle time for open faces is reduced byup to 60%.

• Performance when regenerating TP. Infrastructure improvements make regenerationsmarter. For example, a change with no effect on geometry or slicing, such as a change tofeedrate, no longer triggers a complete recalculation.

Technology ExpertBecause VoluMill operations generate a different type of toolpath, values for feeds and speedsand other parameters can be fine-tuned using Technology Expert.

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Instead of using the standard Materials dialog to suggest RPM and feedrate, you can calculaterecommendations for up to ten parameters — not just spindle speed and feedrate, but alsodepth of cut, stepover, and speed/feed/angle for ramp or helix plunge types. Recommendationsare calculated based on not just material type but also hardness, current tool values, tool coatingand holder choice, how well the part is held, the degree of taper.

After you choose a machining style (conservative or aggressive) and calculate therecommendations, you can choose to apply some or all of the recommendations to yourVoluMill process.

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5-Axis Simultaneous MillingAll Calculation StrategiesAll calculation types: For roughing cycles, safe links are now created much closer to the part.This reduces machining time and air move travel, especially when retract distances are set toCurrent Z-Height.

All calculation types:Gouge tab offers a new substrategy for Retract Tool, Along tool plane, toavoid collisions while retaining tool orientation and height.

All calculation types: Link tab: Default Lead-In/Out now provides automatic extension ortrimming until arc is tangent with tool axis.

All calculation types: Link tab: Retracts dialog offers new ability to retract to an incrementalclearance area, as illustrated below.

Retract to an incremental plane

Calculation based on Existing Toolpath: Surface Paths tab offers a new strategy, Dropping, thatlets you project an arbitrary toolpath onto a surface, along a direction you specify, as illustratedbelow.

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Dropping toolpath onto a surface: Before Dropping toolpath onto a surface: After

Calculation Based on SurfacesCalculation based on Surfaces, pattern Project curves, type Spiral: Surface Paths tab nowoffers the ability to define the start point of the projected spiral.

Calculation based on Surfaces: Tool axis control tab offers a new capability, Smoothing, thatlets you apply smoothing parameters for the rotary axis and cutting direction either globally orindividually.

Calculation based on Surfaces: Surface Paths tab offers a new strategy, Flowline. Flowlinetoolpath will be aligned or mapped to the U or V direction of a single machining surfaceaccording to your choices, as illustrated below. This lets you avoid having to select additionalbounding geometries like wall surfaces or edge curves, and the maximum stepover can bemaintained with a constant distance even if the surface topology is very complex. Calculationtime is very fast.

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Calculation based on Surfaces:Roughing tab now offers a new capability, Mirror, that creates amirror image of a toolpath by reflecting it symmetrically with respect to a defined axis andpoint. This is an extension to the Transform/Rotate capability.

Calculation based on Surfaces: Surface Paths capabilities for Extend/trim have been expanded toallow Side extensions beyond the actual drive surface at the start or end, resulting in additionalcuts before the first cut or after the last cut.

Calculation based on Surfaces or Triangle Mesh, pattern Rough: The Roughing tab now offers anew capability, Transform/Rotate, that lets you copy toolpath by translation along a direction orby rotation around an axis. This allows you to create fully rotation symmetric operations forsuch purposes as impeller machining, or to apply a pattern multiple times on a surface.

Calculation Based on Triangle MeshCalculation based on Surfaces or Triangle Mesh, pattern Rough: The Roughing tab now offers anew capability, Transform/Rotate, that lets you copy toolpath by translation along a direction orby rotation around an axis. This allows you to create fully rotation symmetric operations forsuch purposes as impeller machining, or to apply a pattern multiple times on a surface.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh, pattern Parallel Cuts: Surface Paths tab, Stepoversection, now offers new controls, Detect threshold distance and Pass extension. For areas steepenough to meet the criteria you specify, the system creates regions with passes that areperpendicular to the regular ones.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh: The Surface paths tab offers additional capabilities forDepth step (Advanced): For Intermediate Slices, you can now choose Constant depth step and defineintemediate slices by the depth distance between them.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh:Utility Options tab now offers an option, Intermediateslices feedrate, that lets you specify feedrate for intermediate slices as a percentage of the

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feedrate for the main machining cycle. Because the tool load on such slices is usually low, youcan set the feedrate higher, thus reducing machining time.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh: Surface Paths tab offers a new control, Offset type, thatlets you specify a virtual offset to machining surfaces (such as for material or stock allowance)for radial and axial directions either globally or individually.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh pattern Rough or Wireframe pattern Parallel Roughing:The Roughing tab offers a new parameter, Link length threshold, that lets you specify maximumallowed length of hard links between parallel cuts.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh, pattern Constant cusp: Surface Paths tab now offers anew capability, Exclude undercut areas, that avoids air cut generation for undercut areas, resultingin reduced overall machining time.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh, pattern Rough: Surface Paths tab offers a newIntermediate slices capability, Start point, that lets you indicate a start position for Roughingtoolpath. Actual start position will be located on the cust closest to the user-defined point.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh, pattern Trochoidal: Surface paths tab now offers a newcapability, Start point, that lets you specify a desired start position for trochoidal toolpath. Theactual start position will be located on the cut closest to the user-defined point.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh, pattern Constant Z: In the Surface paths tab, the DepthStep dialog box now provides a new capability, Adaptive depth step, that offers parameters tocontrol the conditions for adaptive depth cuts: the additional slices can now be constrainedwith a Minimum depth step distance and a Maximum stepover distance, helping you to create onlythe minimum necessary amount of adaptive slices.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh, pattern Constant Z: In the Surface paths tab, the DepthStep dialog box now provides a new capability, Machine vertical walls, that lets you machine onlyvertical areas of the machining surface selection. The main benefit is that the Constant Zpattern works most effectively on vertical areas. Shallow areas always need special treatment,and this feature makes it easier to separate the areas.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh, pattern Rough, type Adaptive: Improvements toalgorithms have made Adaptive roughing significantly faster (up to 50%), with smoother lead-inmotions and improved ability to reach into narrow slot areas.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh, pattern Rotary: The Surface paths tab offers a newcapability, Axis of rotation, that frees you from having to align the part to the Z axis and insteadlets you specify a line or vector as the rotary axis for the toolpath, as illustrated below.

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Calculation based on Triangle Mesh, pattern Rough: In the Roughing tab, the Stockdefinition dialog (for stock types Surfaces and Bounding box) offers a new set of Areaparameters that allow you to define a certain machining area within the stock material. This isparticularly useful for rest machining when you want to machine only one area from the restmaterial. It differs from 2D stock containment in that the containment is not considered as ahard boundary, or pocket; instead, it is a soft boundary where the tool can engage from outsideand does not need to ramp in.

Calculation based on Triangle Mesh, pattern Trochoidal: Surface paths tab now offers severalparameters for Entry and Exit that let you add lead-in and lead-out motion to the trochoidaltoolpath pattern, as illustrated below.

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Calculation Based on WireframeCalculation based on Wireframe, pattern 2-Axis Rough: Surface paths tab offers a newcapability, Fixture curves, that lets you specify a fixture contour that must be avoided, so as toprevent collisions between tool and fixture during the machining process, as illustrated below.

Calculation based on Wireframe:When an input contour contains arcs, 2D profile cyclecalculations provide arc segments in the toolpath rather than a set of polygonized linear cuts.

Calculation based on Wireframe: You can now specify a unique start point on each curve to be,as illustrated below.

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Calculation Based on Swarf MachiningCalculation based on Swarf machining:Surface paths tab offers a new control, Guide tool at, thatlets you specify whether the tool should follow the surface's upper curve or lower curve.

Calculation based on Swarf machining:Multi cuts tab offers a new control, Direction, that letsyou create mutiple cuts for stripe milling that follows the actual curvature of the machiningsurfaces. This is most useful for convex shapes, such as gear flanks or the pressure sides ofimpeller blades.

Calculation based on Swarf machining:Utility tab now offers a new capability, Maximum anglestep , that limits the rotation angle of the machine head to a specified value measured from lasttoolpath point. If the rotation angle is too large due to kinematic properties of the machine,then the distance between two toolpath points will be refilled with additional points. Thenumber of points is calculated by division of rotation angle and maximum angle step, resultingin small staps for angle changes.

Calculation Based on 3-to-5-Axis ConversionCalculation based on 3-to-5-axis conversion:Utility tab now offers a setting, Maximum angle stepfor rotation axis, to recalculate interpolation points when rotary or tilting angle exceeds themaximum defined the Tool axis control setting for Maximum change.

Calculation Based on Port MachiningCalculation based on Port Machining: Surface paths tab offers a new checkbox, Automatic spine,that ensures the minimum distance between spine and port is always larger than the toolradius. The toolpath is extended automatically to the end of the port so that the tool can rollover the edge.

Calculation based on Port Machining: Surface paths tab offers a new checkbox, Roll over edge,that creates a toolpath extension so that the tool approach and entrance is smooth and gradual.The flute cuts out material step by step from the tip and is not in full contact with the materialon full diameter.

Calculation based on Port Machining: Link tab now offers the ability to calculate the radius anddirection for the Connection cylinder automatically, using the minimum clearance cylinder as theboundary.

Calculation Based on Multiaxis MachiningCalculation based on Multiaxis Machining: Surface Paths tab now offers the capability ofdefining a floor consisting of multiple surfaces, as illustrated below.

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Using multiple surfaces to define a floor

Calculation based on Multiaxis Machining: In the Roughing tab, Stock definition for Stock type ofSurfaces offers a new option, Stock has undercuts, that lets you avoid air cuts in certain stockmaterials, such as a castings that have pre-machined or undercut areas.

5-Axis DrillingFor Drilling, when the Link tab choice for Large gaps is Retract to incremental clearance area, youcan specify clearance area using two traversing types: Direct and Step. With Direct, the toolretracts to the incremental clearance area value using a connection that is a direct line to thenext position; for example, the line can diagonally connect the two cuts in the shortest andfastest way. With Step, the retraction distance is never less than the incremental clearancevalue, using a connection that is a horizontal line to the next cut; because the line is horizontal,the incremental clearance area value of the lower point will be extended until the upperincremental clearance area distance is reached, for a greater safety distance while traversing.

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Data ExchangeExpanded use of Spatial Corporation translators gives GibbsCAM 2016 several new capabilities.Note that readers for NX (Spatial), STEP (Spatial), and CATIA v5+v6 are separately purchasableoptions.

Graphical PMI

Product and Manufacturing Information (PMI), such as the exact color, shape, and positioningof Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) information like notes, dimensions,datums, and information on roughness and tolerances, can now be imported and displayedfrom CAD files of the following types:

• NX (Unigraphics or UGS/NX)

• STEP (ISO 10303: AP203 and AP214)In STEP, Graphical PMI has also been called PMI Presentation.

• CATIA v5 R2x and above

When an imported GibbsCAM model contains PMI, you can click and hold the ShowDimensions button for menu options relating to dimensions and PMI.

PMI-related options under the Show Dimensions button; PMI Manager; and GibbsCAMsolid model with PMI displayed

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NX (*.prt) Files

Files of type *.prt (Siemens NX files, formerly called Unigraphics or UGS/NX files) can now beimported using the Spatial translator, which offers the ability to import Hole features and torecognize and preserve their threading.

As with translators for CATIA v5 and STEP, you can specify whether to use Datakit or Spatial asthe translator for Siemens NX files. Separate licensing is required.

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MiscellaneousLathe. Lathe process dialogs for Rough, Contour, and Thread have a slightly different layout.

Macros. You can now add balloon help for controls in macro dialogs you create.

Hole Manager. The context menu (right-mouse menu) has some new items: Fit Columns hasbeen moved from a button, and Hole Groups lets you see the groups that the selected holebelongs to, or add it to a group or remove it from a group.

Hole Editor. Now provides at-a-glance information on hole ID (the title bar now reads, forexample, Edit Hole H5) and segment ID and count (the left column now tells you, for example,Segment 3 of 4). Two new buttons have been added: Reset Hole Definition” (to undo all unsavedchanges) and Profile to WG (to save the hole silhouette as geometry in a workgroup; this isespecially useful for form tool definition).

Plug-Ins. The Contour Trace plug-in is moved out of GeoTools and into the Geometry sub-menu.

Geometry Properties.When you right-click a selection of one or more elements (points,lines, curves), you can summon a dialog that shows you the most important properties of eachelement and allows you to toggle Air/Wall or Rapid/Feed status and to supply or modify a valuefor wrap depth, as illustrated below.

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