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Is it possible to mirror planes?


parallax7761@comcast.net
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I have a part that has 6 unique planes for indexing on a 5th axis. This part has a mirror, so I typically just mirror all the geometry, solids and surfaces that have toolpath attached then regenerate it and flip/reverse all the chains and adjust lead in lead outs. The indexed toolpaths are plane specific and don't get mirrored when I move the model. I would normally just create new planes for the mirrored model but is there someway to get Mirrored versions of all your custom planes? I see that the toolpath transform has some options about planes but I am afraid of all the toolpath being conventional or something.

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Perhaps, I didn't think of that but I thought maybe it could mirror in way similar to the options you get while creating custom planes. Maybe it could mirror the plan and let you select how the gnomon is but that's already sounding like about as much work as creating from scratch....BTW I did already just create new version of all the planes already. But I really do wish Mirroring to get better I did enjoy how they added the swap lead in lead out button!!! Anyway I am sure there is some Technical reasons for you not being able to just mirror with no additional work....

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17 minutes ago, PAnderson said:

I don't understand why you would need to mirror a plane unless for visual reference only. Technically, planes stretch to infinity. The only thing important is the  height from the WCS and the normal vector.

 

Paul

If the features on the part are "mirrored", then the Normal Vector of the plane changes, relative to the WCS plane. This is a common practice in Aerospace, where only the "As-Shown" part is modeled and dimensioned. The designer will add notes for "As-Shown", and "Opposite", where features may be included or omitted, based on design differences between left/right sides of the aircraft. For example, a single system like the RAT (Ram Air Turbine), is only installed on one side. The RAT is used as backup power to provide Hydraulic pressure, in the event of a system failure. However, on the mirrored side, opposite the RAT, there will be a different system installed in that same space.

If you mirror the feature, but don't mirror the Toolplane, then the Tool Axis would no longer be "normal" to that feature being cut on the mirrored geometry...

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Usually we set our wcs by geometry. When you mirror the geometry, the workplane follows. Sometimes they follow correctly. Other times they get inverted. If they do, just go into the Planes manager, right click on the plane you need to fix, and select "Rotate Incrementally." Then the WCS will pop up in the graphics window with X,Y and Z options for you to type in the amount to rotate. We just moved up from 2019, so I'm not totally sure how 2022 works, but that's how we fixed them in 2019.

MIRROR WPS.jpg

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