Projecting geometry?

[Hugh.Venables]

I am working on a job that looks a bit like the roof of a house with some vertical walled pockets in it. I want to chamfer the top edges of the pockets. The original geometry is 2-D entities. Last time I did it I created a line down the ridge, broke the entities that crossed it, picked the ones I wanted in isometric view and rotated them in end Cplane. Chaining them in top Cplane produced a 3-D chamfer but not an accurate one because the rotations bought the entities closer to the rotation line (in top view) and the resulting chamfer width varied a bit from the ends to the sides. As the "roof" angle was only 6° and the pockets were narrow, it wasn't very noticable but I'd like to improve it.

 

Can I project the entities onto an angled Cplane? I can get the angled Cplane OK but can't see a way of projecting the entities onto it. Still using V8.1.1

 

Thanks, Hugh.

 

[ 02-11-2003, 06:03 AM: Message edited by: Hugh.Venables ]

[MATT Q]

Try creating a flat boundary to project the curves on and do it all in the angled c-plane and use create curve project and project it on the surface you may want to create the flat boundary just a little ways away from the trim curves so it will project not on it.

[Hugh.Venables]

Thanks Matt.

 

Create, Curve, Project prompts for "select surfaces". There are no surfaces, just 2-D entities. I haven't done much surface work. Could you tell me a bit more please. Also, what is the purpose of the flat boundary?

 

Hugh.

[Scott Bond]

Hi Hugh

 

If you could post your file(or some of it)

I will give you something to work with, this

should give us a better Idea of your part, and

help you see your part surfed.

 

 

IMHO The Solids will be much easier to learn than

the surfaces .

[TheePres]

Yup, perfect for solids.

[Hugh.Venables]

Thanks for the offer Scott.

 

I don't put stuff on FTP sites often enough to be able to remember how to do it. Right now, if I click on Ftp Upload Instructions at the top of this page I get up a page headed FTP Instructions but there are no instructions that I can see. I've done it once before and don't recall having this problem........

 

The University has just installed Solid Edge all over the place so I can probably expect some Solid Edge jobs to come in. I am going to do a two day crash course on it next week. They may try to push their own CAM package. I might need some Mastercam ammunition. I don't really want to change. This forum is too good.

Hugh

 

[ 02-11-2003, 07:43 PM: Message edited by: Hugh.Venables ]

[cadcam]

Hugh.Venables here is a link to get to the FTP.

If you still have trouble please feel free to email me your file I will help and also put the file on the FTP.

 

Link to get to the FTP

[Hugh.Venables]

Thanks Jay,

 

I could get to the site but couldn't find the instructions. I think I have remembered. I opened the FTP site and Windows Explorer and dragged the file across to the FTP window. A window appeared asking if I wanted to upload the file and I clicked OK but I can't find the uploaded file on the FTP site. It is called FULL BRIDGE COVER-SHORT.MC8 . If I click on your email icon to email you I just get (another!) blank screen. Maybe I should just give up and go home!

 

I think I've run out of time. I'll have to do it quick and dirty again.

 

Hugh.

 

[ 02-11-2003, 10:06 PM: Message edited by: Hugh.Venables ]

[cadcam]

Well you could go to my site and use the emails from there.

 

the site link is at the bottom.

[Hugh.Venables]

Thanks Jay.

I couldn't open your site properly either but managed to write down an email address and have sent the file to it. It is in quick and dirty form which can be shown by comparing the job width in level 2 (2-D) and level 4 (3-D by rotating entities in side Cplane). I'm going home, back in about 15 hours or so.

Cheerio, Hugh.

[Hugh.Venables]

The file is in the FTP site. It is called FULLBRIDGECOVER-SHORT.MC8 . It hasn't ended up in the MC8 folder but is in the Mastercam parent directory.

Hugh.

[Zero]

Your part is perfect for solids. A simple extrusion to create the main body and another extrude cut across the top with your chamfer geometry.

[cadcam]

Hugh.Venables I am sorry I did not get back with you yeasterday.

One of my thoughts to was I did what zero said and made a quick solid of the part and started to work with it then I had to go . Glad you were able to get to the FTP.

 

I will have some time later today.

[Scott Bond]

Hi Hugh

It Looks like your covered, I will check in later today.

[Hugh.Venables]

Thanks for your input Jay,Ezra,Scott. Looks like I'd better learn some solids.

Hugh

[cadcam]

Do you have solids?

[Zero]

Good point, here we are rambling on about solids and we're not even sure he has them.. Parts like the one you're doing are where solids really shine. I could make a solid of this for you in maybe 5 min or so, but I'm not sure of the heigths for this part.

 

I'm assuming all you need is these chamfer surfaces to write some surfacing toolpaths for. You could Create/Surface/Draft, pick your chamfer geo on one side,Done/View, select Side, and input your length, and whalla there's your surfaces.

 

 

Or Create/Surface/Ruled select the chamfer geo on one side, and then the other, Done/Do it and that will also give you the surfaces you need.

 

Sorry I couldn't be of more help, I'm swamped with parts over here..good luck

[cadcam]

I sent him a solid of his part.Along with that with some thoughts that I still had on his part.

I don't know how I wrote my prior statment .I could not read it either.

 

[ 02-14-2003, 12:01 PM: Message edited by: cadcam ]

[Hugh.Venables]

Thanks for your continued input on this guys. Ezra, I will have a crack at trying your prompts, the trouble is I did the job quick and dirty and it's hard to find the time to go back and spend some more time on it. Got a few other fires to put out.

 

---Our CNC mill is only 3 axis so it was easier to get 6° tilt on a universal head manual mill. What I needed to toolpath was a 1.5 m.m. chamfer around the outside and a 0.7m.m. on the inside, particularly the inside where the cavity meets the top horizontal and 6° surfaces.

 

---This is probably a silly question, but how do I tell whether I've got solids? Come to that, I often see discussion of different levels of Mastercam on this forum and I'm not sure where I am there either.

 

---The height is 12m.m. Would you believe about half the 16 pieces were supplied at 12.1m.m. and the rest at 11.8 m.m. Of course I never thought to check.

 

Cheerio, Hugh.