Solid Translator advice please

[Müřlıń®]

Well guys I am in the process of persuing some new work.

 

I have looked at the prints and they all seem doable in Mastercam solids without any stitching.

 

These guys have Pro-E and need me to be able to supply them with a watertight model.

 

I have stuck my foot in my mouth and told them I can supply them with a .PRT file with the history tree. I hope I dont choke....

 

I have requested to purchase the translator from my my reseller.

 

If anyone has used the the Pro-E translator before, could you give me some advice on what will work and what won't, or should I just go STEP?

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

 

Murlin

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

quote:

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I have stuck my foot in my mouth and told them I can supply them with a .PRT file with the history tree. I hope I dont choke....

---

DOH!!!!

 

History Tree???? I think you're gonna have to eat some crow on that one. I don't know of any of the translators that Mastercam has will transfer the history tree. Any self respecting "Engineering" software shoudl be able to build one though depending on complexity of course. Matter of fact the Pro-E Translator is a "Read" not a "Write" translator.

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

[Müřlıń®]

Well rats....So STEP is the way to go then ?

 

I coulda swore that I read in the Mastercam news letter that the translators were both read and write.....

 

Ya I stuck my foot in real deep...

 

I dont think they needed the history tree anyways, but I wish I hadnt told em that...

 

 

Murlin

 

[ 12-30-2003, 03:43 PM: Message edited by: Murlin ]

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

STEP is pretty robust. Prefer Parasolid though. No real reason onther than it's free!!!

[Müřlıń®]

James, do you know if PROE comes with a parasolid module?

 

I didnt think the PROE kernel could open a parasolid. If they dont have the STEP module they will have to buy it, which might hamper my getting work from them. If memory serves,(and its not doing a good job right now),its pretty expensive.

 

Damn...me and my big mouth.....There has to be some way to work around this prob.

 

These guys want to be able to use their machining module and lay down their own cutterpaths on my solid model.

 

They must machine on a watertight solid, or so they say. I dont see why they just cant machine on an IGES.

 

Personally I think this is a disadvantage of PROE.

 

I am planning on also doing the cutterpaths for themalso, but they want to start out with me just doing the modeling.

 

I don't guess there is another translator out there somewhere you can buy that will convert Mc9 files to PRT is there?

 

 

Murlin teh foot in mouth bigtime!!!

 

[ 12-30-2003, 07:40 PM: Message edited by: Murlin ]

[Trevor Bailey]

If I remember correctly, STEP comes with ProE.

[Müřlıń®]

quote:

---

If I remember correctly, STEP comes with ProE.

---

At the last place I got my work from they didnt have a STEP on the list of file formats they could import.

 

But there's no telling how old their module was.

I didn't ask.

 

That would be a lucky break for me if the new guys have STEP.

 

I am still trying to figure out how to gracefully remove my foot......dont think its doable. I think I'm just going to have to swallow it and tell them I was ate up with the Dumba$$.....

 

 

Murlin

[gcode]

I get a lot file files from ProE users.

Normally they export them as an IGES and I

import them into Mastercam.

The ProE surfaces come in as surfaces and

95% of the time, the Mastercam solid from surface

command will make a single watertight solid.

I also use SolidWorks to open IGES files

and it does a really good job.

I just got SW 2004 yesterday and havn't had time to play, but its got some new features that look really sweet.

[Saultspics]

quote:

---

I didnt think the PROE kernel could open a parasolid. If they dont have the STEP module they will have to buy it, which might hamper my getting work from them. If memory serves,(and its not doing a good job right now),its pretty expensive.

---

Proe wildfire will do step. files

I believe it came with it?

 

We design with proe machine with Mastercam.

I have used step from MC to Proe no tree.

Proe translator is read only. Sorry!

Stephen

[cadcam]

Murlin ,Murlin ,Murlin I can not believe you made those promises without talking to us on the board.

 

Buy the way Step is an add-on to MC.

So I would see if they take Parasolid.

[cadcam]

oops Double post.

 

[ 12-30-2003, 10:39 PM: Message edited by: cadcam ]

[crazy^millman]

Well Murlin what I do is Export all PRT files as STEP. I then go into Solidworks and then Export them as Paralsoilds. Wehn ever possible I ask for the Natives and do al lthe Translations myself. I liek to go nito the tree on Pro and Solidworks and turn stuff off that is sometimes not needed for Machining to make the models simpler and more functional for Machining. The tree that I think you were thinking of is Solidworks and I have not used it as a direct thing in Solidworks so not sure there. I just always use parasolids and go from there. I was just back to my customer and tell them that the level of tree indefication is not supprot by Mastercam it is only a Dumb solid user program for other Cad programs. The need for a tree is there but it would be one that is used in a Solid model used inside of Mastercam. The exchange of tree data is so different from each of the Major Cad programs that to supoort the mall is very costly and the tree you were referecne would require them to spend $10,000 on their own seat of Mastercam with soild which really not needed. (ps that last little bit is BS but soemtimes you got to put the ball back in there court) I learned along time ago that you make stick ye old foot in thy mouth but to recover from it just takes a little BS. I think as long as you can show them you are making a honest effort and give them good work it will all be water under the bridge.

 

Crazy Millman

 

[ 12-30-2003, 11:56 PM: Message edited by: Millman^Crazy ]

[pronc]

Murlin,

 

if they're using pro/man they don't need a solid to create a toolpath. if they still want a solid they can create one from the surface file you provide. if there is any gap they should know how to "heal" it. i haven't seen a proe station that didn't have step read-in option.

[Müřlıń®]

Yes Jay, sometimes my mouth gets me in trouble I should have checked her first before I opened my yap.

 

Mill you are right, I think I can BS my way out of this. These guys are really in dire need of some experienced help. They just went out on a limb and leased 3 brand new HAUSS verticals. And then lost their only design engineer. The other guys are having to struggle to learn how to do the drawing. So if I can give them something to work with, I think they will be happy.

 

I should receive the STEP access codes in a couple days and so I think I'm going to shoot them over a parasolid file and see if they can read that in the mean time.

 

BTW, Mill you must have every cad system there is at your desposal Must be nice. I am a poor boy and only have one seat of Mastercam.

So I must work with what I have, even though I am somewhat at a disadvantage.

 

quote:

---

i haven't seen a proe station that didn't have step read-in option.

---

This is good news I'll bet the other guys chair was probly 10 years old and he never stayed current on his maintence so maybe that's why he couldnt read a STEP.

 

I know for a fact that these new guys obtained their seats just a few years ago.

 

Murlin teh "Do it all with Mastercam"

 

[ 12-31-2003, 02:24 AM: Message edited by: Murlin ]

[Saultspics]

quote:

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The other guys are having to struggle to learn how to do the drawing.

---

It will take a long time for them to get up to speed. Pro-e has steep learning curve pro nc will take more time. If you can help them it will probably be a good job for you to get your foot in the door.

 

GOOD LUCK!!

[mayday]

Murlin, I would be glad to help you out if I can. I can convert thru Solidworks for you if you need it. step or parasolid and even a pro-e .prt file. let me know rather see ya eating steak instead of crow

[pronc]

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i should receive the STEP access codes in a couple days and so I think I'm going to shoot them over a parasolid file and see if they can read that in the mean time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

i'm sure they can read parasolid from mastercam. i do it all the time.

[Müřlıń®]

Thanks for the encouragement pronc and ssaults.

Do you know if you have to purchase the assembly module to do design in PROE ? I hadn't even considered buying and learning PROE. But if that is what it is going to take to keep my family fed, I will do it.....somehow.....

 

There arent that many jobs that require Mastercam in my area and there is no way I am relocating, I am dug in too deep here....

 

Mayday U da man :)I will be e-mailing you when I get the details worked out.

 

Man, I couldn't sleep at all last nite.....

 

This is very encouraging indeed......

 

Many thanks guys.....

 

Murlin

[gcode]

I don't know what kind of work you will be doing,

but you might want to look into SolidWorks 2004

with a ProE translator addon. Its cheaper,

easier to learn and much more user friendly!

[Müřlıń®]

Well gcode, Solidworks would also be my first choice in purchasing another CAD package.

 

But it's kind like this.

 

The Forgeing industry is a tight-nit little group.

 

Baker-Huges(now Christien/Huges I think)started the ball rolling about 10 years ago by meeting with all the forgers who supplied them with parts and persuaded them to get PROE by holding the work over their heads.

Kinda a shotgun wedding if you will.

Millions of dollars were up for grabs.

Funny how money makes all the rules.....

So this trickeled down to all the vendors and most of them went ahead and jumped on the band-wagon in order to secure work for their shops.

 

I saw that the maching part of PROE, was shall we say, rather lacking. So being the non-conformist that I am, I went with Mastercam. It would do more at 1/3 the cost.

Now it seams that the shotgun might just be pointed in my direction.....so, oh well.....

 

But yes I would rather have Solidworks if it were up to me. I'm just not sure it's going to be up to me this time.

 

 

Murlin

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Hey Murlin, there's a solution for you I'm sure. We just have to find it.

 

I'll keep my eyes peeled.

 

Happy New Year.

 

Fight On!!!!

[gcode]

I just opened an assembly I built in SW 2004 and

exported it as a ProE assembly.

SW2004 wrote a *.prt.1 file for each part in the

assembly and a *.asm.1 assembly file.

I don't know anyone rich enough to own ProE

so I can't open them and see how good the translation was though

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

quote:

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I don't know anyone rich enough to own ProE...

---

LOL!!!!!!

 

[pronc]

you can purchase a student edition package for around $300 and take a course or 2 at your local university.

 

your customer request proe for a good reason. let say you get a proe model, design you fixture or whatever reference that model. spend hours on designing and detailing. right before you are about to hand over the work they tell you there is a new rev. do you want to see your design and drawing update after bring in the new model with minimal or no work at all? or do you want to start over again? well almost always. most of the time any references to a non native file won't regenerate if that file is changed.

[Müřlıń®]

I just went to the PROE website and checked out their products.

 

Man they want to take over the world, they are huge.

 

I got the feeling of being in a candle store. When I got done paying for a candle, someone was going to stop me on the way out the door and sell me some wicks to make my candle work......

 

These guys are going to get a BUNCH of anyone's money that wants to use any of their "solutions".

 

Maybe I will win the lottery.....

 

Murlin