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PC-DMIS vs. NX for programming offline

TheBradish
Hey, all! I have been reading this forum a lot this year, and this is my first post. Thanks for all the help so far!!!

So far my shop has no offline programming capability, and I am trying to make a presentation to the boss to show a need for it and explore our options. At this point I am very comfortable programming with PC-DMIS (using v4.2) and would be very happy to upgrade to the latest version with an offline seat.

Our engineering department, however, uses Siemens NX, and they are pushing to use their software for creating CMM programs. From what I understand, the two big selling points are:

  1. a button which automatically generates an inspection program checking all selected features - which they claim will be 80% to 90% complete
  2. the ability to utilize Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) - i.e. datum definitions, tolerances, etc. - which are built into the model. This is supposed to save time with entering the information manually, but also offers revision control: when the model is revised, the inspection program is revised automatically.


My question for the forum: Has anybody had experience using NX software to write a program, or used programs written by NX? Is it as fast/easy/wonderful as they say it is? Do later versions of PC-DMIS support the use of PMI? Any input would be immensely helpful.
Parents
  • -- When I previewed this software it was very young and had very few features integrated. If you were measuring anything other than circles and planes you were in for a lot of customization (you can write your own user defined features but its a lot of work if you haven't done it a lot before).

    One of the things I am really curious about is how efficient the NX-generated programs are. To save time on program execution I like using individual points to construct features, rather than using Auto-Circle for several concentric diameters. This takes longer to program, of course, but it keeps parts moving. I suspect that NX will not do this for me automatically.

    --To compare apples to apples you would need to look at PC-DMIS with the planner module and the NX direct CAD interface. This will allow you to work inside NX and will allow you to generate the code from the PMI. I think you will find that going with PC-DMIS with these two modules will be a better solution. The situation where the scales tip the other way is when you have a mixed CMM environment and you need to program in PC-DMIS, MODUS, and Metrolog (for example). In this type of situation the platform neutral approach makes a ton of sense. You write one program in NX and post it out to run in 3 different software packages.

    All of our machines are B&S Globals running PC-DMIS, so for that reason I would feel better with a Hexagon product. But is it really nessecary to use PC-DMIS Planner to take advantage of the PMI? Our engineering department is already using NX and Teamcenterfor CAD/CAM purposes, and it would be easy to add the CMM option. If we go with PC-DMIS Planner, how well can that be integrated with the NX/Teamcenter system? Does the PMI need to be created in Planner, or can it be imported?
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  • -- When I previewed this software it was very young and had very few features integrated. If you were measuring anything other than circles and planes you were in for a lot of customization (you can write your own user defined features but its a lot of work if you haven't done it a lot before).

    One of the things I am really curious about is how efficient the NX-generated programs are. To save time on program execution I like using individual points to construct features, rather than using Auto-Circle for several concentric diameters. This takes longer to program, of course, but it keeps parts moving. I suspect that NX will not do this for me automatically.

    --To compare apples to apples you would need to look at PC-DMIS with the planner module and the NX direct CAD interface. This will allow you to work inside NX and will allow you to generate the code from the PMI. I think you will find that going with PC-DMIS with these two modules will be a better solution. The situation where the scales tip the other way is when you have a mixed CMM environment and you need to program in PC-DMIS, MODUS, and Metrolog (for example). In this type of situation the platform neutral approach makes a ton of sense. You write one program in NX and post it out to run in 3 different software packages.

    All of our machines are B&S Globals running PC-DMIS, so for that reason I would feel better with a Hexagon product. But is it really nessecary to use PC-DMIS Planner to take advantage of the PMI? Our engineering department is already using NX and Teamcenterfor CAD/CAM purposes, and it would be easy to add the CMM option. If we go with PC-DMIS Planner, how well can that be integrated with the NX/Teamcenter system? Does the PMI need to be created in Planner, or can it be imported?
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