Creating Curves

[neurosis]

Boy this thread sure hit the sh1tter in a hurry.

 

Aero,

 

I was in the same position that you are when I first started using Mastercam. I came from a system that at the time, was far more powerful and convenient to use. I had allot of the the same views that you currently do regarding MC.

 

Once you get used to the software you will realize that some of its limitations are offset by some of its conveniences in other areas. You will begin to see where you need to create wireframe before you ever start generating your tool path so it becomes less of an inconvenience. Once you get to that point the things that bother you now will disappear and you will start becoming far more efficient with the software. It has some very good tools once you learn how to use them. Dont let yourself get frustrated.

[MotorCityMinion]

I wasn't ragging on you specifically as others have demonstrated frustration here as well. I just did not feel it was a true statement and did not want to see others get lead down the wrong road because of it. Mastercam was the first CAM package that I used and thankfully, most of these guys were tolerant with my whining when I first started posting here. The majority of the parts I deal with will require wire frame for chaining or for boundaries sooner or later, and as Neurosis stated, in time, you'll be able to spot when and where to apply those chains.

[Dan_AKA_ROY]

Tisk tisk..

 

Anyways, Create Curves has many applications for use. Create Curve Slice is very handy when needed, give it a try.

 

While I am a skilled solid modeler, I find the majority of my design work involves surface creation.

 

Mastercam is a very powerful program. I've done some very tricky programming to get the mold out just right.

 

Now when creating a solid in Mastercam, you use geometry to create your solid. There are a variety of methods you can do. Most often times, the solid ref geo used to build your solid(s) doesn't "look" anything like the solid(s) itself. Leave your solid ref geo an another level seperate from your solid(s). If you delete, trim, break, etc. your solid ref geo - your solid model becomes corrupted and you'll see a question mark next to it. That's where create curves comes in. Put them also on a different level and name it construction geo or something distinct. Create curves one at a time or more commonly for solids, create all curves. You'll have your 3D wireframe geo of your solid which you can use when programming and/or for additional design work.

[neurosis]

Tisk tisk..

 

 

Now when creating a solid in Mastercam,

 

 

You use Mastercam to create your solid models? You ARE hard core...

[gcode]

I do most of my solid modeling in SolidWorks, but when I do use Mastercam,

 

I blank the defining geometry. That prevents accidental edits and deletions

[David Colin]

I do most of my solid modeling in SolidWorks, but when I do use Mastercam,

 

I blank the defining geometry. That prevents accidental edits and deletions

 

The same here... i usually use the nohist chook to delete all history.

[BenK]

The same here... i usually use the nohist chook to delete all history.

 

Same here.

[jimp]

Yes use solidworks now for all my modelling but still agree Mastercam is the best for CAM.

 

JimP

[michaels123]

One handy thing you can do with curves is create surfaces.

[Mike Mattera - TFM]

Adding edge curves to a solid is getting to be a waste of time. It's much easier to machine right off the solid. Especially if your using the 2D HST toolpaths. It's very rare that I need to create edge curves anymore.

 

Mike Mattera

[Dtm]

I do most of my solid modeling in SolidWorks, but when I do use Mastercam,

 

I blank the defining geometry. That prevents accidental edits and deletions

 

How do I do this? I sometimes delete a piece of geometry used to create the model, then my model becomes dirty. This sucks if there is a way around it I would sure like to know.

[BenK]

Screen-blank entity- select entities.

[LaszloK]

I do all my solid modelling in MC. I like to keep my solid construction geometry in case I need to modify my solid down the road. I just put the geometry on a difeerent level which is only used for the construction of the solid. Only turn on that level when doing solid modelling.

[BenK]

I figure that when my fixture is already cut there is no point in keeping the solids history. I can always add to my fixture never take features away.

[uncle_dolan]

How do I do this? I sometimes delete a piece of geometry used to create the model, then my model becomes dirty. This sucks if there is a way around it I would sure like to know.

The other thing you can do is if you are happy with your model and satisfied you won't want to change it, go to the run user application menu and select the nohist.dll chook...then select your model...and the geometry used to create the model will no longer be associated to it.

[Teh Bear without Brains kinda idiot]

3-D surface paths in Mastercam are something it does very well as well.

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lET ME SAY it does it OK.

Very well is overstatement.