Solidworks and MCam

[Bill Henderson]

I have in Solidworks 2012 a MastercamDirect tool.

 

I am using X6 solids....

 

One is Filesave

and one is Mastercam X

 

The file save creates a SFB file. (solidworks feature based file) and it saves it to the public Mcam folder. Have NO idea as to what to do with this file.

 

If I click on the Mastercam X it opens the file in Mastercam, however even if I click off the feature-less brick option the block comes in missing almost every feature.

 

I tried on a different file the other day and it was great. All of my C'Bore holes etc... came in as the tree in Solidworks for the most part.

 

This file is a simple fixture with drill, and C'bores and some pockets thru.

 

What gives?

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks

[Bill Henderson]

Also, what can I do with that SFB file? Anything at all?

[Bill Henderson]

Ok, I found that the sfb file can be run using the .dll file in C Hooks. This however will only bring the tree (solidworks) into your level manager minus any entities. Sort of helpful, but not really.

 

At least you have the list of holes etc...

[Pete Rimkus from CNC Software Inc.]

Bill,

 

The "MastercamDirect" functionality is somewhat limited in what types of SolidWorks features it can successfully bring into Mastercam. On some models you will have more success than others, and we will admit that. We know that some feature types (Domes, Ribs, to name just a couple) cannot be replicated by any Mastercam Solids feature, so the body will be turned into a featureless "brick" when we encounter a feature that we cannot handle at all.

 

You're correct in discovering that the .SFB file (which is a homegrown format for passing the feature data from SW -> MC) can be imported by the MastercamDirect C-Hook. That's essentially what's going on behind the scenes when running Mastercam Direct ... we gather the SW feature tree data, save it as an SFB, launch Mastercam, and run the MastercamDirect C-hook.

 

Since you're running both MC and SW, has your reseller pointed out toyou the advantages of using the Mastercam for SolidWorks product?

[rsbeadle]

My reseller has said do not use the Mastercam for solidworks product. I am not sure why. We have just recently started using solidworks and are thinking of upgrading from X5 to X7 to take advantage of our 64 bit computers. I have received the demo version of X7 from my reseller, but we are still unable to import the solid tree.

[FROZEN]

upgrading to X7 might help some things, but I have no experience with open solid files yet plan on getting solidworks direct soon