update tools automatically?

[harmonson]

hey, im pretty new at this, so this may be a really stupid question, in which case i apologize in advance. i did a search, and did not see any thing about this, so hopefully this has not been posted yet. my question is: if we change a tool at the machine, and the height of the tool changes, and we change it in the library, can we make it so that the files we have already created in mastercam will look to the library every time and update the tool to show this new height, or do we have to manually do it for every tool? thanks for any input in advance.

[KMaynard]

I'm not sure I totally understand your question but if you change just the tool heights at the machine then you just change it at the machine as it looks to the height offset in the g code.. if your changeing dia of the tool the same will apply providing youir using cutter compenstion.. if your not using cutter comp then you have to update the dia every time ....does this help at all?

[harmonson]

hmmm-not sure what you mean exactly. maybe i should try and explain my situation better. the way that we have our post set up, is that when we are in mastercam, the top of our pods is at 0 for the z height. the post then takes into consideration the tool and holder heights and adjusts the z automatically. this is great, and easy to program, but if we need to run a part more then once, and we change our tool between those two times, our heights are thrown off because of the new tool height. so after we change the tool in the library do we need to remember to check every file we created and make sure we change it there as well, or is there a way that the file can update itself from the library automatically?

what do you mean by:

"if you change just the tool heights at the machine then you just change it at the machine as it looks to the height offset in the g code.. "

we dont have a problem with our diameter offset, the diameter of the tool usualy does not change enough to matter that much. thanks again.

[CycleTimeCharles]

I think he means total associatively similiar to working with parts and assemblies in Solid Edge.

Would be a neat idea, but could get a little out of control.

[Mariana Lendel In-House Solutions]

If you are changing the diameter of the tool and you used cutter compensation in computer, you have to change the tool in Mastercam and Regen path. If you used cutter compensation in control then just change the diameter offset at the machine.

For the tool height you change the height offset at the machine.

[This message has been edited by Mana (edited 06-13-2001).]

[harmonson]

thanks for your replies.

cycletimechalres- we do not have solid edge, so i am not sure what you are geting at.

we do not use compensation at the machine because we have a generic cam system, programmed by the guy that was here before me, and we do not want to mess with that. we use mastercam to cut our special parts, the other cam system works very well for everything else we need. we were hoping to be able to do all of our compensation in mastercam itself, and not have to do anything at all at the machine, which is why we would like the tools in the files we already made to update themseleves automaticaly from the library. we want to avoid using the control offsets inline with mastercam to avoid any mistakes from switching back and forth between our two cam programs. thanks.

 

[CycleTimeCharles]

Solid modellers automatically link parts with assemblies that they are used in.

Meaning that their is a tracking between those 2 files the part and the assembly. If a part is modified the assembly updates.

If Mastercam had the same link between the tool library and the MC8 files, the program would be updated anytime a tool in the tool library is modified.

Sound like a good idea in some applications, but a logicistal nightmare in others.

[harmonson]

so basically what your saying is mastercam will not automatically update our old files with modified tools from our library? thats too bad. thanks.

[Allan Brown]

Sounds like harmonson wants Mastercam to comp in Z in the code based on the length defined in the tool setup. True Z zero would be a determined gauge on the collet or spindle.

This would have to be set up in the post, looking at the parameters relating to the tool.

When a tool length changes, this is applied to the tool in the Mc8 file, and the toolpath is regened, and reposted. Each Z value output in the NCI file would be adjusted during posting.

If I'm correct about what you want, it's possible - just not a standard thing in Mastercam.

[harmonson]

i think we have what you are talking about, and that is why we are having this problem. as of right now our post calcuates the z value using the tool and tool holder heights, so that this way when we run mastercam we can set 0 to be the level of the pods. the problem we are now having is that we change tools about once every two weeks or so, and if we have to run a part more then once we have to remember to put in the new heights in our old files. what we would like mastercam to do, is for the old files using tools from the library, for them to update those tools from the library, so that after we changed our values in the library we could just regenerate our path, repost it, and still have the correct z values for our g code. as of right now if we do not change the height then our z values are off. does this make sense?

[cam-eleon]

Sounds like you are going to alot of trouble to get around somthing that is not too good in the first place. The best way is to program and have G code for zero tool length. That way you can read your depths right from the nc code. Make up the difference with tool length offset at the machine. That is why the control has such features. Other suggestions:

-do all programming the new way, be consistant, it's easier.

-program to a std 5 or 6" long tool, adjust the length offset for others.

-use g92

 

[Trevor Bailey]

I agree with "cam". It sounds like you are really doing things the hard way. Only use one system. MASTERCAM. If your peolpe do not know it, get them training. You must standardize everything in any shop enviornment to be absolutely productive. If you are worried about tool lengths changing, leave the original NC code alone. Buy a tool pre-setter. This would solve your problems. (The way I see it anyway)

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Trevor Bailey

[email protected]

Specializing in Contract Programming

[gstephens]

I think the part of the question that everyone is missing is that whether or not changing the tool in the library will update .mc8 files that called that tool. The answer is "no". When you bring a tool into a toolpath it gets copied into a new "library" (current) that gets saved as part of the .mc8 file. There is no associativity back to the tool library file. (Wire has this feature now, so it may show up in future releases of Mill)

[harmonson]

thanks gstephens, that was my original question, so thanks.

trevor-there are a few reasons we dont only use mastercam. we have had about 4 mastercam reps/sales people come in our shop to set us up/sell it to us. they all saw our no name cam system, and all said that it was very good, and that mastercam could not do what it did for us. we have been using our other system for a very long time, and it is very effective, switching is really not even an option for us. that is why we have this problem. thanks everyone for all your input.

 

[Trevor Bailey]

Harmonson,

I am really interested in seeing the job or file that MC "can't" handle. Could you post a sample file on "CAD-CAM's" ftp site for viewing? Also include a note about special fixturing, tooling, etc... that needs to be applied.

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Trevor Bailey

[email protected]

Specializing in Contract Programming

[harmonson]

trevor-

unfortunatly i do not have a "file" for the things that mastercam "cant handle" as you put it. i am not saying that mastercam can't handle our other work, but at the present time we are novices to mastercam. the things that we use our other program to generate are things such as twists and rails for stairs. each stair needs a different rail and twist, so no one job is exactly the same. our other program was designed specificaly for this, so all that needs to be done is for some data to be entered, and it will generate the gcode for us. it is a good program and extremly efficient, we would not even know where to begin if we were to use mastercam, but again we are very new to mastercam. we bought it to expand, and for it to allow us to do things that our other program can't allow us to do. so to reply to you, i can not post you a file, all i have is the generated gcode and i doubt you would find that intersting.