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Cad=part

giantslayer
I am beginning to attempt to program off a cad model. I have a sample part, every time I press cad=part my alignment moves off my cad model. I am actually trying to program off of cad on a part I have a sample for before I make a program off a part that I have no sample for.
  • I can give you at least one example where this can be handy. If you program a part without CAD, and then wanted to add a CAD model after the fact, you would need to use CAD = PART. I suspect there might be another reason or two, but this is the first that comes to mind. I agree not everyone needs it, and it is often mis-understood, but it can still be handy on occasion.

    oh, and I do not consider this to make me far wiser than you, but as someone told me recently (so as not to call me old), I might have more experience.

    You can call me old. I remember running NC machines driven by tape, and inspecting the parts on a Cordax Wink
  • CAD Transform is a very good tool for CAD Assemblies. When a cad software is not available the CAD Assembly and CAD Transform is a good way to assemble the Part and Fixture components. Using the Translate and Create new coordinate system with the Cad Coordinate System Dialog window you can create a complete Part and Fixture setup. Also you can use the Quick Fixture Mode and the Part to Machine to place the complete Part and Fixture Assembly into a Virtual Machine.

    More info in the Help menu:
    Working with Assemblies of Parts
    Transforming a CAD Model
    Working with CAD Coordinate Systems
  • Nope, not true, not even CLOSE to true. You do NOT ever "need" to translate a model, not for any reason at all.

    AND OTHER RELATED GOOD INFO.

    Maybe NEED isnt the correct terminology. However, for someone asking this question, who is not familiar w C=P or might be prone to getting twisted around the part axis,

    would you recommend TRANSLATING the part in order to help someone visualize how the part is oriented on the table?

    I like to TRANSLATE the CAD model in the beginning just so that in case of an emergency if someone else needs to run the part they have a rough idea of how the part goes on the table.

    you're right you don't NEED to translate the part for C=P, but it sure helps eliminate some confusion. IMHO.
  • I have never translated a model, every model I've worked with (and we are 99.999995% CAD here) I've used AS IS.

    Using the 3-D rotate view, you rotate the model until it matches how it sits on the table. Then SAVE THE VIEW. Then F5 and set the machine axis to match the cad axis. All done.

    If someone needs to know how to put the part on the tabel, recall the SETUP view. All done. Something like this would have to be done no matter HOW you processed the entire thing since I seriously doubt that the screen view will never, ever, EVER get rotated to see something, and as soon as that happens, you no longer have your 'setup view', so they would either have to know how to open the 3D rotate view thing and know which axis needs to be "up" on the cube, OR, how to click on a drop-down list and click on SETUP (or whatever name you use for the saved view).
  • I have never translated a model, every model I've worked with (and we are 99.999995% CAD here) I've used AS IS.

    Using the 3-D rotate view, you rotate the model until it matches how it sits on the table. Then SAVE THE VIEW. Then F5 and set the machine axis to match the cad axis. All done.

    .
    Still a bit hazy on this one. when you do this will you see a visible shift in orientation of the axis on the cad?
  • Nope, no shift, no change, tri-thingie still in the same place. ALL IT DOES is 'reassigns' the axis inside the controller to new 'values', X will be Y, Z will be X, Y will be Z, or however you set it up. IF you move the jogbox in X (before you make an alignment) and you have the machine X axis equal to the Y CAD axis, you will see the numbers in Y change instead of the numbers in X on the probe position readout.
  • Nope, no shift, no change, tri-thingie still in the same place. ALL IT DOES is 'reassigns' the axis inside the controller to new 'values', X will be Y, Z will be X, Y will be Z, or however you set it up. IF you move the jogbox in X (before you make an alignment) and you have the machine X axis equal to the Y CAD axis, you will see the numbers in Y change instead of the numbers in X on the probe position readout.

    ahhh. do you ever get a tad confused from part to part?

    i like translating because it makes the cad axis match the machine axis every time with every part.
  • Nope, never had a problem getting confused. Since 90%+ of what I do can NOT sit so cad axis matches machine axis, and 100% of what I do MUST STAY in the native CAD position, 'swapping' machine axis means nothing at all to me. I will say that sometimes I wish I could have the rotate view cube on the screen without having the rotate view active, but that is ONLY when I have to go and make changes to an existing program, when programming a new part, I have to have the rotate view active to navigate around the part. I much prefer the CUBE over the trihedron since it gives a 'solid' view of the axis, there are times when the tri doesn't really tell you much since it has no 'faces', so is that 'X+' arrow pointing down and to the left or up and to the left? Much easier to see at a glance with the cube.

    AND, for people that get a cad model "way out in space" but want to program to PRINT values (which I never have to do), you can STILL do it following this method. After you get the CAD=PART alignment, you can make another alignment, where you simply set the axis origins to the features you want to be ZERO, do NOT do CAD=PART, and the cad data will now 'appear' to be zero where it once was Z1.5. This is another reason I say you don't 'need' to translate the cad model.
  • why does it HAVE to stay in the native cad system?

    who cares if you translate it to match the machine axis if the end result is the same?
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