advantages of having solids

[Oppiz]

I do not have solids for MC. Our designers and myself use Inventor to create solids then I bring them into MC and create surfaces on import, then I work with the surfaces. I'd like to get solids for MC but I need some info on the advantages of this upgrade to be able to get the ok from my boss.

[B. Rad]

Oppiz,

 

The reason I pushed my boss to get solids is:

 

1. When creating parts in Mastercam, for me, it is quicker to extrude,cut,sweep and loft using solids instead of building geometry and creating surfaces.

 

2. I own a seat of Solidworks and do most of the designing in Solidworks. Mastercam with solids works real well with Solidworks. You can, if needed, bring into Mastercam the creation geometries that were used in Solidworks which can save time if changes are needed.

 

I know there are other advavtages but I cannot think of them right now.

[Josh T™]

There are several advantages to having solids in MC. One of my most important, being able to use solid stock. If you do any work with castings or odd shaped materials/composites being able to draw/select a solid to use for your stock is a necessity. This enables you to see the actual solid being machined in verify.

 

That's 1 of about 30 that I can think of.

[3R!< W3NG3R]

I honestly cannot think of any.

[Dave.L]

From the best of my memory, I was told by my reseller that solids was needed to work with imported solid models. If that’s not true, I don’t know why we would have bought the option since I never had intentions of creating solids in MC but I need to work with them when importing into MC.

[B. Rad]

Without solids you can import solids but they cannot be translated or rotated you would have to create/surfaces/ from solids then translate or rotate the surfaces.

[Redfire427]

B.Rad

 

You are correct in your statement, however, not being able to translate and rotate your solid does not prevent you from being able to machine it. By utilizing the WCS manager, you can easily manipulate the model to the correct plane/position.

[B. Rad]

Prosin molds,

You also are correct. Where I work now, we make a lot of parts in strip form (we buy extrusion, and leave the identical parts connected until the last operation, done in some form of fixture).I like to copy the geometry numerous times in a strip to mimic the parts as they appeir in the strip. Although all of this can be done using surfaces having solids can save a step.

 

Also as Josh T pointed out:

"If you do any work with castings or odd shaped materials/composites being able to draw/select a solid to use for your stock is a necessity. This enables you to see the actual solid being machined in verify."

 

Using a solid extrusion in verify is also a graphical help in observing what is going on.

Solids is not nessesary it is just another tool that is nice to have sometimes.

 

Just like this fourm.

[Justin Beebe at Folsom Tool]

I prefer to program from solids. My method is to import the solid with no edge curves and position it where I want it. Then I create wireframe on seperate levels to drive my toolpaths. I use the solid to select my depths. To me working with solids seems to be cleaner than working with surfaces. Auto cursor will snap to features on the solid to help you analyze and select features on your model even if you don't have wireframe geometry. You can't do this with surfaces. I also prefer to verify my toolpaths using my solid as stock to see if I am gouging the part anywhere. Designing with solids is faster and easier than designing with surfaces. You can also use solid faces to drive 3D toolpaths so creating surfaces is just an extra step. Not having a solids liscense and having to use WCS to position your solid model is also a disadvantage. I prefer to be able to rotate and translate my model and use WCS. The more flexibility the better.

[B. Rad]

oppiz,

How come you want solids? I surficed ( pun intendid)for a long time without solids, now that I have it I almost never use it. (don't tell the boss)Why do you feel that you need it?

[gcode]

quote:

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Using a solid extrusion in verify is also a graphical help in observing what is going on.

---

X4 high speed roughing has stock recognition now.

You make a solid model of your forging, save as an STL define it as stock and high speed rest roughing will tear it up... with minimal air time.

[B. Rad]

Thank you Gcode,

you seem to always have a better way to do stuff!

[Matt Berube at Ferron Mold]

You should try to get a temporary trial of the solids license before you decide. I've never used inventor but I'd guess it's a lot more advanced than Mastercam. I have a MC solids license but I almost never use it because I can do solid modeling in my other software much more efficiently and then just import a parasolid file to Mastercam.

[Oppiz]

quote:

---

How come you want solids? I surficed ( pun intendid)for a long time without solids, now that I have it I almost never use it. (don't tell the boss)Why do you feel that you need it?

---

Thats why I'm asking. I'm not sure if I need it. I'd just like to have some of the mentioned advantages, but now I'm wondering if its worth it.

[3R!< W3NG3R]

The maintenance is the killer for me.

[Dave.L]

quote:

---

The maintenance is the killer for me.

---

Hey Eric,

 

I tend to agree with almost every post of yours, but on this one

 

If I disclose the number, the mods will blow a nut, but the cost for solids maintenance is pretty low.

 

Have a good weekend

[3R!< W3NG3R]

Dave, we must have different quotes. I found it quite high. Especially compared to the cost of solids.

 

I am in Canada and we always get the shaft when it comes to pricing. And I'm not just talking about MC here. It's everything

[Joe788]

I don't have the solid package, and don't really need it. If you already have Solidworks, you can do almost anything Mastercam solids can do, plus 1000 more functions. You can still import solids into Mastercam to use as stock, but as mentioned, you can't get move the solids around (I never do that anyways).

 

For verification, I save my entire Solidworks assembly as a single parasolid file, and import it as a solid to a new level on MC. Select that as your stock, and you can verify on your entire fixture. Combine that with holder definitions that have your spindle housing drawn in, and you've got a pretty thorough verification.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I have it, I use it, and I like it. I still do some toolpath on surfaces I create(mostly flowline), but I'd venture to say I would be creating WAY more headaches for myself not having it.

 

I do my design work in CATIA then import. I don;t think anyone (certainly not I) will make the claim that MC solids is as powerful as ANY midrange CAD Modeler (SW, SE, Inventor, etc...).

 

Withoug getting into specifics cost-wise, maintenance on solids is CHEAP. The solids add-on is CHEAP. Of course relatively speaking with regard to the cost of mill level 3. Even if I only had mill level 1, I'd still get solids.

 

JM2C

[BenK]

I think if you draw anything in Mastercam it would help you to have solids. I have a level 1 seat right now and I will be getting solids next. On the cost, the maintenance cost is small it's well worth it.

[Hitachi]

The benefit for our company is being able to manipulate the solid in MC. All of our solids are made in SW, we are not using MC to create them, but only 1 out of 5 seats has solids so I either put the solid on a different layer or use the computer with the solids key to move the part.

 

Elco1971

X4 Mill L3 Lathe L1 5X

SolidWorks 2007 SP3.1

XP Pro SP2

Xeon 2.80 GHz 2.00 GB Ram

NVidia Quadro FX 4500

[chopsley]

Where I work we usually create a solid from the customer's print, create wire frames on as many levels as we need and go from there. I asked why the shop does not just import solids from the customers. It seems that the customers that can provide a solid are more than likely to have a really messed up solid. So we create a solid from the customer's print and then let the engineering dept call and get an answer on that stuff. Needless to say I'm getting better every day at creating solids in MC. I could not do my job without the solids package.

[gcode]

quote:

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so I either put the solid on a different layer or use the computer with the solids key to move the part.

---

learn how to use SolidWorks Coordinate Systems

you can control a parasolids land in Mastercam with them.. no more translating parts in Mastercam.. they land the way you want them to

[jeff]

For me, having solids lets me create surfaces easier and faster.

I'm not very good at creating surface shapes unless I create the solid first.

It's cheap, and IMO it's well worth it.

Depending on the type of work you do of course.

[Hitachi]

"learn how to use SolidWorks Coordinate Systems

you can control a parasolids land in Mastercam with them.. no more translating parts in Mastercam.. they land the way you want them to"

 

I know how to create a part on different planes in Solidworks, the main issue is most of my parts run on a horizontal and I need to move the part to an open face. In addition, these parts do not always run on the same machine of face, so I will move the solid around for verification purposes. Other than that, I don't need a Solids key, MC seems to crash more when I use solid surfaces and features.

 

Elco1971

MX4 Mill L3 Lathe L1 5X Solids

SolidWorks 2007 SP3.1

XP Pro SP2

Xeon 2.80 GHz 2.00 Gb Ram

NVidia Quadro FX4500