Solids Module advantages?

[Bruce Kanzelmeyer]

I've been programming for years without the Solids module by importing surfaces and wireframe from Solidworks and doing all my modeling in Solidworks. We are a thermoforming shop and I program 5-axis trim programs and 3-axis milling of aluminum tooling. I can't tell if there are any real advantages for programming using solids vs. surfaces for these kinds of parts. Can anyone please take a minute and highlight the differences? Thanks in advance.

[ablucra]

Personaly for the type of work your doing I can make chips faster starting in solids using FBM or converting solids to surface.

I started with AutoCad and dont have SolidWorks so MC solids was cheaper way for us. Depending on the complexity of the work

creating wireframe and then surfaces can take some time. If we had SolidWorks I dont know if we would have gone with MC solids.

 

HTH

[MotorCityMinion]

With surfaces, instead of Solids, it's easier to isolate individual faces, especially the small ones, and reduce tool path calculation time. 99% of the time, I keep the solid available just to make only the surfaces I need, but when I can, I'll tool path off the solid as this reduces gouges related to adjacent surfaces not being seen or selected. Added value for the solids package? That's a tough call to make as you already have SW. It is easier and faster to just create simple solids in MC and not have to deal with importing the model. Definitely worth the cost if your models are not to complex and you have no other CAD system to work with.

[Todd Tracey from Fastech]

Solids - Find Features - so you can find the holes and add them to the history tree and then suppress them is one thing