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How would you model a ball surface tangent to a free form surface ?


pullo
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Well something good came out of this  ;)  . First time I noticed  the Surface point projection in Project..

1) Surface Offset and  2) Project point seems quicker than  , 1) Create Line , 2)  Toolpath project  the line ,  3) backplot and save the toolpath to geometry

After which I  merge a file of a ball with  all the wireframe needed to pick off the qudrant of the ball surface for my drill op/ probing cycle.

Thanx !

 

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We often run BIG threads that I make "reference drawings" to check the threads with gage balls and mic from top of gage ball to top of thread.  This is similar to that but different.  I think I would go to a perpendicular plane, create a curve from center of first ball to center of next ball, trim the curve, create an arc on resulting curve and surface revolve or solid revolve.  I've never had to do this and I'm going to do it to see how I would do it.

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Just to be different or think out of the box you could also just do a toolpath like a Project toolpath and backplot a ball endmill on the surface, then use backplots Save Tool Geometry button. That would be quick and easy and would be as accurate as the cut tolerance / stock to leave in the toolpath i expect.

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5 minutes ago, JoshC said:

Just to be different or think out of the box you could also just do a toolpath like a Project toolpath and backplot a ball endmill on the surface, then use backplots Save Tool Geometry button. That would be quick and easy and would be as accurate as the cut tolerance / stock to leave in the toolpath i expect.

i just tested this and seems to work nicely, just had to revolve some wireframe into a surface once done saving the tool geo

image.jpg

Edit: i pointed to the wrong button in backplot but oh well, its the button left of where my arrow is pointing

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You know what, I had seen that but never used it.  I'm going to play with that some.

My method assumes you have some predetermined reference angle for the tangent point as I usually do these things mathematically and then in CAD to check my math.

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JoshC , if you think like I think , we're back in the box :) It was my first go to  solution, toolpath projection. 

Colin's  solution is the general one , an offset surface is a set of all the points where the center of the  ball can reside

CGI & gcode ,  I think Pierce will be the quickest solution.

4D Rich ,  Wireframe line normal does not have a surface point as input ..... or am I wrong ?

Thanx guys for the input/output  :)

 

Gracjan

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4 hours ago, pullo said:

 

4D Rich ,  Wireframe line normal does not have a surface point as input ..... or am I wrong ?

 

 

 

I'm not quite sure exactly what you mean by "surface point" but:

1) this command will let you select a surface or a solid, and

2) if you have wireframe point already placed on a surface you can select it - you just have to select the surface first and then you can snap on the point.

Hope this helps.

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My  bad  Rich,  I found it under "Line Closest"  and from there "Line normal "!  It's like Verisruf  Pierce , only easier to use . I thought you were talking about "Line Perpendicular" , that is a function that  works only with wireframe elements.  By "surface point" I meant a point lying on a surface i.e. the function must be able to interact with surfs , which is what "Line Normal" does but "Line Perpendicular" does not . 

Gracjan

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Ok , so Rich,  your  nudge was the best here . My in-process measurement changed overnight . I was into 2d projection and drawing etc and that covered only measuring

a flat inclined plane .  Now I can prepare a probe cycle for any point lying on a freeform surface:

1.  With line normal I create a line at the end of which my probing ball will be situated (it's D4 /R2 mm , but you have to use the compensated value  of D1.86/R1.93 for geometry)

pic1.thumb.png.b7a464229c9ffaa97b4084e29dd0d191.png

2   I merge a ball of R1.86 and it's center at the end of the normal line

 

pic2.thumb.png.e27a25fea2013982c1e30c58ef9b9b70.png

 

3.  I make a probing (drill ) cycle  to the quadrant point of my ball ....

pic3.thumb.png.00af6bd7c113f19afc83b292afa432b8.png

and the output of the probing cycle on the Heidenhain: 

 

pic4.thumb.png.0c2f55d7eafb7a64f51771fa922527e5.png

 

So now it takes about 40 seconds in Mastercam  and this solution is now universal in terms of application

Gracjan

 

 

 

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Gracjan,

Point Dynamic will let you create a Point anywhere on the surface, using a dynamic arrow. I think Line Normal will essentially do the same thing, and might save you a step in the process, if you don't need the Point entity itself. I like the Point Dynamic, since sometimes I want to be able to measure "point to point" first, before I create the Normal Lines.

Just another tool in the toolbox. I wasn't sure if you knew about Point Dynamic, which will let you interact with a surface, while you are creating Points. Also, Point Dynamic should show you a "Normal" dynamic arrow, which gives you an idea of how the normal line will "look", since you can see how the Dynamic Arrow is pointing away from the surface as you drag the dynamic arrow around.

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I need the point at the end of the perpendicular line to "hang" my xmas ball from , so "Line normal" gives me everything . I can ask for points at the end of the line etc. ...

It was actually 37 seconds  using the "Line normal" and  1min 37 : create surface from solid , offset it  , create a dynamic point , project it normal to surf ....and I had not even merged my xmas ball.  If it takes a long time it will discourage you from using this actively as  an analytic tool .

Try it Colin , it's fast as I described it.

Gracjan

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