More productive programming

[Diedesigner]

Hi all,

Let me introduce myself. My name is Chris, and I work for a progressive stamping die manufacturer in the suburbs of Chicago. We have V8.1, but haven't fully migrated over to Mastercam because our programmers are more productive with our highly customized Smartcam, using macros.

I am more familiar with Mastercam than anyone else in our company, however my familiarity comes from what I've taught myself, and also through some interaction with our reseller. Our application is 2-1/2 axis drilling/tapping/boring and 2-1/2 axis milling; about 60% drilling ops and 40% mill ops. All of our work is in steel plates of varying thickness, with everything being "one-off". I find that using macros in Smartcam seems to be much more productive than the drilling functionality in Mastercam, but the milling is better in Mastercam rather than in Smartcam. So my question is more towards the drilling functionality of Mastercam.

It seems that MC requires more user input to accomplish the same tasks than in SC. I've built tool and op libraries, but even using the op libraries seems to require a lot of user input. In SC, all I have to do is an arc selection (similar to "mask on arc" function in MC), press a menu button which calls out a macro, and presto! , all the selected holes are programmed with all the tools particular to the chosen macro, with the proper depth, clearance, and reference properties. All this is accomplished in (3) mouse clicks combined with some typing of user input in the menus. The same macros will work on any thickness plate, all I have to do is type in the plate thickness on the menu. To import an operation in MC seems to be much more tedious and user input demanding, on top of which you would have to open each tool in the operation and edit the depths if the plate thickness varies from that which was specified in the op library.

I write all this so that you can see the programming environment I come from, so that you may hopefully be able to advise me on how I can get MC to be more productive for us. Any input from you users who do similar work? Any different methods you can recommend? I thought of recording a macro in MC where I could select my arcs, press the macro-assigned icon bar button, and have the macro automatically do the desired operation import. This would approach the functionality I have with SC. But the macro function is too limited in MC. And who has time to learn C++?

Because all of our programming is for unique parts where the programs will be used once, and then discarded, our programming has to be as quick as possible for fast throughput.

I look forward to reading your responses. I want to move our programmers onto MC as soon as possible, but they have to be productive also.

 

Chris

[Scott Bond]

Hi Chris welcome to the forum.

A trained craftsman using the V9 will have no trouble being at least as productive as SC. I am not convinced that the comparison you seek can be made on the forum.

In My Humble Opinion

It must be on your floor with your part, in a way that can be measured.

[Reece L Gibson]

Solid drilling?

[Diedesigner]

Scott:

Thanks for your reply.

The measurement isn't that difficult, IMO. If, what you mean by "a skilled craftsman using the V9 will be at least as productive", means that said craftsman will be skilled enough to run through the required input/mouse clicks at a fast enough speed to equal SC, then how valid is that comparison when the same skilled person uses a highly macro infused version of SC, which requires relatively little user input to accomplish the same task(s)?

What do I mean by "productive"? When you have lots of holes such as Spot/Drill/Tap, Spot/Drill/Bore, Spot/Drill, etc. on a flat plate; how involved is the procedure to program said holes? I posted this question here because I'm a relative newcomer to Mastercam, and I recognize that the greatest source of information on a product is from those who use it. If there's a better way to do it, or a better approach to my tasks, here is where I'll find my answers.

 

Millturn:

We program off of imported Autocad 2D drawings.

[Scott Bond]

Hi Chris

Millturn has mentioned Solid drill.

quote:

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Millturn:

We program off of imported Autocad 2D drawings.

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You could ask for SAT files and use the solid drill.Once you have a part made with a solid then bring in the the new solid and regen. But this is only one way, I am sure that other forum members will have some input as well.

Let's let this thread grow a little, maybe I will learn somrthing.

 

[ 05-28-2002, 03:55 PM: Message edited by: Scott Bond ]

[DangBubba00]

Try automatic arc drilling. In v9, Toolpath/Next/Arc toolpaths/Auto drill. Works like a charm.