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?
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.
What seems to be working (at least offline) is using "Attach Measurment Routine". I am constructing new planes from the hits in the 1st program. Constructing widths from those opposing planes. Then using the widths for my datum definitions. The Geometric Tolerance dialog box seems to be accepting these newly constructed datums from the 1st program. Next step is to try this online.
I am able to get to all 700 features in the same setup. I just want to break it down to smaller programs, but not have to rerun all the different datums the part has.
What seems to be working (at least offline) is using "Attach Measurment Routine". I am constructing new planes from the hits in the 1st program. Constructing widths from those opposing planes. Then using the widths for my datum definitions. The Geometric Tolerance dialog box seems to be accepting these newly constructed datums from the 1st program. Next step is to try this online.
I am able to get to all 700 features in the same setup. I just want to break it down to smaller programs, but not have to rerun all the different datums the part has.
