MACHINING DIFFERENT SIDES

[HEAVY METAL]

i want to machine different side of part with out making my post put out a rotate code and with out having to transform or rotate the geo.i know there is a way to do this.

 

 

thanks heavy

[Dan Bedore]

you should be able to do that using the wcs

[cadcam]

HEAVY METAL try setting a new plane by clicking on tool plane look at what the prompt says at the top .

It says use Alt-O then from there you will have the option to rotate the plane.

 

Start here.

[Jack Mitchell]

Heavy,

 

The question is too general for a proper reply.

 

Application: horizontal machining center with a Baxis?

Application: vertical machining center with a Caxis perpendicular to the Xaxis?

Or perhaps this is a second operation on a three axis vertical, if so, then I would suggest two different programs or posts since the inclusion of M01 and M00 can in itself lead to a safety issue.

 

Regards, Jack

[HEAVY METAL]

i changed wcs to bottom without rotating any t/c planes this seems to work. i was able to draw geo and place toolpath on bottom side with out getting rotary code posting. i doing 3 axis work on a vmc . i trying to machine all side of part using one file. is this how everyone else does it?

 

 

 

thanks for any suggestions heavy

[Zero]

That's how I do it. Different WCS's for each machining setup. Everything in one file, works out great for me.

[F. JAVIER]

If any of you guys don't mind, would you load a sample? I always like to see how everyone else does their work.

Thanks in advance.

F. Javier

[kathy]

for two (or more) different setups:

 

two (or more) unique WCSs

two (or more) operation groups for each setup

each operation in the unique setup with part number A.nci

 

to post:

two (or more) files..

 

We do this all day long - hope this helps. Would be glad to send you an example file.

 

Kathy

[PROG_MAN_DO]

Hey there,

 

IMHO dependant on the file size my experience has been it is best to save each operation as a different file. I have several different reasons for this method.

1) the files can sometimes get very large very quick and become corrupt

2) It can be very difficult to de-bug when you have say 50 operations more or less

3) The grouping being what it is doesn't allow you to make a sub group.

4) verify can be a pain in the butt.

5) posting is an issue

 

I could probably think of a few more. Trust me I have done it the way you are speaking of. I know what some of you are going to say. But you have too many geometry files. Get over it, Until mastercam comes up with say a Modsys and a unibase for example as in NCL I have had the best luck with this method.

 

 

Russ

 

To thine own self be true

[Zero]

1.] Always keep at least 2 backups that are dated no more than 10 or 15 minutes from current. I always have a backup in my current folder and a copy of the backup and the main file on another computer incase something happens. Yes I know what you're saying Russel, but I've seen all these things happen with small files as well.

 

 

2.] I'm not sure what you mean by de-bug.. If any operation needs regnerating, there is a regen file stashed away that MC reads and speads up calculation considerably. I'm talking from like 45 min generation times to a regen time of 5 min or less

 

 

3.} Yes subgroups would be nice, but I make it a practice just to label my toolpaths heavily and throw them all in one group for each setup.

 

 

4.] Verify is always a pain in the butt. Why there hasn't been Metacut or Predetor integrated and used for verification of toolpaths is beyond me. The one nice thing (if your willing to wait 5 or 6 hours on large amounts of complicated toolpaths) about MC's verify is that it recognizes the WCS and you will see your complete part when verify is done, not just say 1 side. Personally I think that better verification of nc code (not nci) should be priority with MC, but that's just me.

 

 

5.] I've never had any posting issues..

 

 

It may not be for everybody, but I for one am not looking back to the old seperate file way after using the WCS I love the idea that I can take one file with numerous parts, seperate them all with their own WCS's and levels and keep everything all in one file. I was just looking through some old files for some geo that I could have possibly used for a job I'm doing now....I gave up after about 30 min of looking through a unending sea of seperate setup/part files.

 

[ 02-07-2003, 12:18 PM: Message edited by: Zero ]

[PROG_MAN_DO]

What I mean by debug is this:

 

I label my groups by tool, this way I can find what I'm looking for quickly. My experience has been that If you label by operation searching through to find the problem area can be difficult and if another programmer has to step in and make some changes, it's even more fun. As I said I have had as many as 200 operations in a single op, and I have found you had better have a good labeling system for sure.

 

Well, everybody has their own way of doing things that's for sure. If it's working for you great. Thanks for the input.

 

Russell

[Roger Peterson]

Here is a link to a downloadable file on mastercam.com, it is a tutorial with sample files. The examples are very basic and give a good overview of how the View Manager is setup and how it applies to different machining methods. I think anyone that has used the wcs would have a hard time going back to their "old" way of working with views and t/c-planes.

 

http://www.mastercam.com/Support/downloads...MgrTutorial.zip

 

hope this helps