Singing the 'Auto High Point' Blues...

[kthompson]

OK Sorry... weird title... middle of the night on the downward spiral of a long sleepy week (sounds like the lyrics to a Tom Waits tune)...

anyways.

Is it just me? the late hours? or does the PC-DMIS v3.5 Reference Manual not explain well how to use the Auto High Point Feature? I've tried and I've tried and I keep getting the 'execution mode options' popup telling me 'hit 0 of 0' and the only thing I can do that does anything is to cancel. I just wanna make the probe move... don't care if it crashes... at this point if it moved I'd feel it was a victory of some kind (my supervisor uses this board.. no brad, I really do care if it crashes...we don't want that!)

so can someone tell me slow so even I can understand what I need to do to find the high point of the camel hump I have on this part in my hands here? What do you need to know from me? Anything? I've fiddled with the "Increment, Tolerance, Width and Length" properties but nothing I do makes a difference... ???

(Unless someone answers before 4:30am CT Friday, I'll be off work until 4:00pm Monday and won't be able to try anything.. probably not the best time to ask for help, but working this shift is not the best time for alot of things, but I like this shift alot...

Thanks guys! again and again!


Kevin

[speedwagonfan]

Go to the Help FILE Index > High Point > Sheet Metal and it defines the necessary steps for this.

Personally I've never used it and don't have time to play with it yet.

[kthompson]

OK. I tried the steps in the help file. They are the same as in the manual. And it still does nothing... ??? anyone?

[mchough1]

High Point Help

Kevin,

I don't know if you still need help, I just noticed your post, anyway I have found the trick to understanding the high point feature is that it only works normal to your axis/coordinate system and the high point is found only in the current working plane.

For example if you want to find the high point in the Z+ working plane (part on table Z pointing up) you have to imagine a cross section of the hump or whatever the feature is. the center point is is just that the center of the search area. The target point works best if it is different than the center point, while it will work if they are the same I have found it's better if they are at least slightly different, now if you are doing a cross section or a line search the length that you set will determine how far the probe will search in the major axis, in this case the Z+ working plane, X is the major axis. if you set this to .2" for example it will probe back forth along the X axis .1" on each side of the center point looking for the high point. If set the width it searches in the minor axis direction (Y) just as described before, remember it only searches normal to your part coordinate system. The box or radius settings work the same except it searches in both directions according to increment you set, .2" would be .1" in X+, X-, Y+, Y- based on your center point. I would try just using the single axis method until you get the feel as to how this function works with different settings. keep it simple at first and use larger increments so you can visually see what the probe is doing during the search. I have used this function a lot in past and it really is slick once you get used to how the settings work.

Hope this helps, let me know how it comes out

Mike

[kthompson]

Mike,

thank you. I will look at trying just a 'line' approach when I get back to work and see what that does. until then, just to make we are on the same plane here <cough>... Imagine I am trying to find the highest point (furthest UP on the Z axis, or top-dead-center) of a 2" ball bearing... I was setting the working plane to Z+. Is that correct? I opened the auto high point feature, took one hit with the probe just slightly off-center (probe tip is A0B0), raised the probe up about an inch, and then set (going from memory here) X = .2", Y = .2", Increment = .01", Tolerance = .001", made certain the "Measure" (Measured?) checkbox was checked, and clicked [Create]. When I did that, the CMM never moved. I don't mean took one hit and stopped, it NEVER MOVED. I got the popup box telling you how many hits to take, but it said "hit 0 of 0". Clicking [continue] did nothing, clicking [stop] did nothing, clicking [cancel] cancelled and then asked if it was ok to not create the code (whatever actual wording it uses). Just flippin' weird. Didn't know what else to try.

From that description of events, does it sound like I was doing something wrong?

Thanks for your time on this one. I'll retry all this Monday when I get back to work, and I'll leave the Y equal to 0 and see if that makes any difference.

[kthompson]

OK. I'm back at work...

Tried the auto-high point again, with just using a single-line scan area. Still the probe never even moves! I don't know what else to think... I have no ideas.

Thanks!

[kthompson]

OK... update...

I've been trying to do this manually, with the "measured" checkbox checked. and it hasn't worked. the manual says if the checkbox is checked, it will measure the feature right away... NOT! so I just had it generate the code, then ran it in dcc mode and that works..... so I guess it works now, just not what I expected from reading the manual.

knt

[kthompson]

(in Joe Pesci voice..) OK OK OK

here's what was going on.... I was manually measuring features on a part when I started all this headache. So when I went to do the auto-highpoint, it was in manual mode, so even tho the 'measure' checkbox was checked, it would run the scan regardless of the parameters specified. Once I put it into DCC mode, then it will run the scan in the program (obvious) but also when the measure checkbox is checked, it will do it immediately then. I see now the very first paragraph in the "Creating Auto Features" chapter mentions creating any type of DCC feature using the Auto Feature dialog box.

Oops!