custom tool creation problem

[JohnA]

Hi all,

What are the limitations to creating custom tool profiles. I've searched the topics and haven't found exactly what I'm after. I've gathered that the profile has to be from 0,0 and in the positive direction, also no centerline unless it's dashed and you can't overlap other geometry, I've also selected the "undefined" option. I'm using the layer method of creating the geometry and the tool geo is the only thing on that layer. I still get a problem with the geometry and the tool will not render in backplot. Any help is appreciated.

 

JohnA

[Guest]

John,

 

Can you place your file on the FTP or send it to me and I'll see if I can tell you what's going on?

 

Many times it is just something not trimmed together properly or something silly like that.

[phil darcy]

JohnA,

 

Tool must be in top plane

positive in x,y

1/2 tool only

x valve must be at least 1.0

edit tool size in par page and its should scale drawing to correct tool size

This is where I have a problem so times it works

hope this helps

 

PS I think v9 had better info in help

[Colin Gilchrist]

Hi Guys,

 

Ignore the information about the tool profile being drawn at 1". Just draw half of the tool profile to scale. Ignore the centerline, you don't need it. In the custom tool definition dialog box, input the acutal diameter of the tool. In the graphic of the tool you should see a dashed yellow line that represents the comp diameter and it should line up with the edge of your tool.

 

HTH,

 

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

MR2 and Beta test site

[gcode]

This is a screenshot of a Sandvick 3/4" ball insert mill in a Cat 50 endmill holder.

 

this is the corresponding define tool page

 

Note the redlined fields. These are mandatory to

make a custom ball endmill generate good code.

 

I set up tools and tool holders like this for 4axis jobs where tool clearance issues can get

ugly. Mastercam won't collision check a tool defined this way, but you can see violations in Verify.

[JohnA]

Okay,

The file is on the FTP site under the MCX_files folder. The filename is TOOLS-TEST.MCX.

Sorry, I don't know how to do the links and such.

Thanks for the help.

Gcode, the reference settings you sent to apply to my tool file didn't work. Thanks though

 

John

[Colin Gilchrist]

Hi John,

 

You've got mail.

 

I fixed the problems with your geometry. You had overlapping lines, arcs that were not tangent to other lines, extra lines that were off in X,Y by a tiny bit (<.0001). All of these problems were keeping the tool profile from coming up correctly. I think I found like 7-10 different problems. Most of the problems occured at the fillets between lines. After I cleaned up the Geometry the tool profile looks good.

 

HTH,

 

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

MR2 and Beta test site

[gcode]

Colin... you beat me to it

there were geometry problem that

cause chaining issues.. see tools-test_gcode.mcx

on the FTP

[JohnA]

Thanks guys,

I have another question though. The fixed file renders correctly in verify but not when I backplot. Also I can only get it to work as a custom file and not on a custom layer. If I try to use the custom layer method, I get the error "unable to create custom tool, backplot will use hte automatically generated tool"

Thanks for the quick replies.

 

JohnA

[Colin Gilchrist]

Hey Gcode,

 

I couldn't get my fixed file to upload to the FTP site. Am I missing something?

 

Thanks,

 

Colin Gilchrist

Boeing

[Colin Gilchrist]

John,

 

It works fine on level #2 for the custom profile and looks good in backplot here. You cannot have any other geometry on the level that your tool profile is on. In my fixed mastercam file the tool profile has 22 entities.

 

???

 

Colin

[gcode]

quote:

---

I couldn't get my fixed file to upload to the FTP site. Am I missing something?

---

firewall issue maybe??? I just dragged and dropped the MCX file on the FTP folder. Did you close the Mastercam session before you tried to upload??

 

John,

Layer definition is working fine for me as is backplot Make sure you have tools set "as defined" in backplot and the "show tool" button

on the backplot control pushed. (second button from the left)

 

see TOOLS-TEST_gcode2.MCX

 

edit... if you are copying this tool to another file and you want to use layer definition, you have to copy the geometry over also.

[Colin Gilchrist]

Hmmm... It must be a firewall issue. Thats the Boeing way

 

Thanks,

 

Colin Gilchrist

[JohnA]

That was it!!! Thanks so much for your help. When I brought the file in I created a simple arc to run the tool around but I forgot to change levels so the tool geo AND the arc were on the same level. Once I changed the arcs level, all was good.

How were you able to find those minute imperfections in the geometry? This very well may happen again and I'd like to be able to solve it myself. Thanks again for all the help.

 

JohnA

Baq from Iraq for 18 months now

[Colin Gilchrist]

Hi John,

 

I use several tools to check for problems. Right off the bat I use Delete - Duplicates.

 

Then I used the "FindOverlap.dll" chook to check for overlapping entities.

 

The final tool that I use to check the continuity of a chain is the contour toolpath. With the chaining dialog box in the contour toolpath it is very easy to check for problems. Just click near the endpoint of the first entity in your chain. Mastercam should be able to select the entire chain. If it chained correctly your chain should be highlighted in yellow and you should only see one green arrow at the beginning and one red arrow at the end (if the chain is open). If there is a pause in the chaining and the prompt says "Branch point reached", you know you have a problem with the geometry. Then I just zoom in and fix it.

 

Sometimes I will also use the "Screen Statistics" function to do an entity count. Then I compare what it says "10 lines, 8 arcs, 2 splines, ect." to the number of entities that I should have.

 

HTH,

 

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

MR2 and Beta test site

[gcode]

I had forgotten about the overlap chook.

I did it the hard way-Analyze Chain

some of the overlapping entities were tiny.

I'll bet that tool geometry was an imported DXF file???

[Colin Gilchrist]

I really don't care for the analyze chain method. I find that it will ignore branch points if there are multiple entities. That is why I use the Contour chaining dialog box. I think its a better option.

 

JM2C

 

Thanks,

 

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

MR2 and Beta test site

[gcode]

quote:

---

I really don't care for the analyze chain method

---

the proof is in the pudding...

You beat me by 6 minutes

[Colin Gilchrist]

 

Now I feel pretty good considering:

 

Gcode

Senior Member

Member # 192

 

192???

 

Thats awesome.....