I have a part that I need to do a FAI on that has over 700 dimensions. I was planning on splitting it up into several smaller programs. I believe I can get most of the features in 1 setup, so I was going to use external alignments. What I need help on is, a lot of the dimensions needed have modifiers on the datums. How can I get the datum features from a previous program into a current program so I can take advantage of the bonus available on the datum features?
Do you need to make it into multiple programs because you cannot reach all of the features you need to measure or is the program just too big for your computer? If you cannot reach all of the features, I would use the help document I have linked for an equate alignment. This should help you with your datum bonus issues as long as you can snap the new alignment to the previous alignments same position and orientation. Otherwise, there Is a way to create groupings within the program to help with programs that are bogging down a computer.
I can get almost all the features in 1 setup. I guess I would prefer to run several smaller programs instead of 1 larger one. I do know about groups and will be using them in my programming.
There is an option to insert data from one measuring routine into another measuring routine (Insert - Attach Measuring Routine). That would give you access to the datum's position and size for MMB. I have played with it a bit, but it is a little limited and I haven't had the right application to use it. However, that it sounds perfect for what you are proposing.
The challenge is that the imported features are not visible in the graphics display window. You can only refer to them when reporting dimensions, but I think that is all you need. Just be sure to give your datum features some easy to recognize names.
The only thing I'm not sure about is how to use the Attach Measuring Routine option in conjunction with an externally recalled alignment. There is probably a way to make it work with a bit of fussing. If that doesn't work, you can just start each of the programs with the same alignment process before attaching the measuring routine that contains your datum features.
Thanks Cris.
I have been playing with "Attach Measurment Routine" a bit. It seems to have a lot of potential. I can access all the features from another program, but it will not allow me to create Datums from them for my FCF's. Have you played with it enough to know if that is possible?
I may have to do what you said about starting each program creating my Datums, but this part has so many Datum's that would be very time consuming,
That's a bummer about the software not letting you define datums from the imported features. Sorry, I don't have experience with that to know if it is possible. If you find a way to make it work, please let us know.
Can you construct features or create variables from the datums in your attached measurement routine? You may be able to re-create your datums that way.
Trying that now JesseB413.
I thinking I need to do (PLNA.TX, PLNA.TY, PLNA.TZ , PLNA.TI, PLNA.TJ, PLNA.TK)
(PLNA.X, PLNA.Y, PLNA.Z , PLNA.I, PLNA.J, PLNA.K)
Something like that I'm guessing.
Need to create top plane, bottom plane, then construct a WIDTH for my datum!
I don't know if this will be possible. I'm not sure how you would be able to get PC-DMIS to evaluate the Simultaneous Tolerance requirement for features from different programs. The datum shift needs to be the same across the board, and if you have these split into different programs, each program will shift a different amount based on the features within it.
Theoretically: (if using fixtures to control form, freestate evaluations will cause erroneous data)
Setup 1:
Datum part in setup as defined by print.
Select plane/diameter/tertiary that is measurable in all setups. (Report all print features as needed)
Measure/Align to plane/diameter/tertiary.
Report individual hit data (XYZ/IJK) for Print Datum features. (Write them to external file also an option)
Setup 2:
Measure/Align to plane/diameter/tertiary as previous with hits matching original programming.
Create generic features to pass the original Datum data into, be sure to 'flip' the +/-XYZ to have the correct shift (ijk's matter too)
Construct features and set Datdef commands.
Measure Datum features available in this flip and align.
Measure/Report all print features with MMC/MMB as applicable.
There is also equate alignment that could work using the alternative setup but to obtain your MMB you would still need to pass the Datum data into the program.
IMO this would require 4 programs: 2 to capture the datum information, 2 with the feature measurements for each flip state.
I would advise if attempting this to use the individual hit data for points to be constructed rather than try to capture the constructed feature data, especially if using Geo-Tol reporting.
