coordinate system for Mastercam Direct

[MattW]

I believe I read here at one time that you could attach a coordinate system to a Solidworks part so that it would land in Mastercam in the orientation and location you wanted. Could someone in the know explain how this is done? I can't seem to stumble my way to the answer.

 

TIA

 

Matt Wallace

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

[crazy^millman]

Gcode does this and he should chime in anytime.

[htm01]

Insert,Reference geometry,Coordinate system

[Altek]

Heres a guess based on what I have experianced using Inventor files in Mastercam...

 

If its a single part, you might have to place it into an assembly in the orientation and palcement that you want it to appear in mastercam. - I didnt say it was a good solution, I just think it maght be the only way to get what you want with MC Directs limited options.

 

HTH

Jason

[gcode]

Matt,

To atttach a SW cooridinate system you can't use SolidWorks Direct.

If you "Save As", IGES, STEP, STL, paralsolid X_B or parasolid X_T, you get a drop down labled

"Output Cooridiante System" on the File Save/Options page.

You can have multiple cooridiante systems, you just choose the one you want.

For exporting to Mastercam I nomally use binary parasolids (X_. This works well for making

STL files for Verify also.

CNC Software is looking into adding this feature

to SolidWorks Direct. Hopefully it will show up on a furyre release.

 

edit: This also works with assemblies.

You can build a SW assembly containing the stock, part and all fixture componets, give it a WCS, eport aas a parasolid and it will land in Mastercam just the way you want it.

[MattW]

Thanks gcode, that is what I was looking for. Well, I was looking for was to that within Mastercam Direct, that would have been slick, but your method still works much better than what I have been doing.

 

MattWallace

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

[Roger Peterson]

So do you import the part and then rotate it to an orientation to machine it?

 

I'm just curious because I never rotate parts anymore, I stricktly use WCS's in Mastercam to orient my part for machining. If you did use WCS's to machine your part then you can still use Mastercam Direct and maintain the associativity.

 

 

HTH

[MattW]

Roger

 

In Solidworks, you attach a coordinate system that aligns with how you want the part oriented in Mastercam, the save as a parasolid with that output coordinate system. When you open the part in mastercam, The origin and axes align with the default Top WCS. If you never move the part in MC to align with this position and just attach your own WCS, I don't see any particular advantage to this method over Mastercam Direct. If you like using all the default WCS in MC, attaching the coordinate system in Solidworks can save some work in MC

 

Matt Wallace

Vertex Pharmaceuticals