clear planes

[Tony.Hirotec.Aus]

I have noticed clear planes get a bad wrap. We use them all the time and dont have a problem with them. We were having problems with them but I was told by a Hexagon tech that if you restarted after an emergency stop then occasionally your clearplanes were ignored. We got a patch to fix the problem and since then we use them consistently without a problem. I have also been told that V4. 0 and after has had the bug fixed but I am still running V3.7 mr3 and it really does work a treat.

[JamesMannes]

I hear what you are saying. I use clearplanes almost exclusively. See this link for a nice document.

[#2#]

I use clearplanes sometimes and sometimes not. They have always worked fine for me. I prefer not to use them on parts where I will be using multiple tip angles. While I am sure they work just fine, I prefer using move points. Also, I don't like the way it inserts a clearplane move when you do an angle change. That could very easily wreck some hardware.

[Bill **********]

I find that CLEAR PLANES add a lot of excess cycle time to the part runs that I have to do. I almost never work on small flat parts and in order to have them work safely, I have to set the planes quite a distance above the part. I prefer move points because my programs run significantly faster using them. I have used them on several occasions for flat parts, but I never use them for complex parts.

Bill

[Jan d.]

I first had no clue what to do with them. But then a Hexagon app engineer showed me how to use tham and since then I have used them successfully. Sometimes though they do surprise me a little generating a path that I did not expect. Usually pilot error.


Jan.

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

I use them at the beginning of EVERY DCC program and, depending on WHAT and WHERE in the program, I use them elsewhere. Only time I ever had problems with them was in V3.5 (all) when it would 'forget' to run the one at the beginning of the program. Simple fix, us a 1mm incremental move before the first clearance plane, problem solved. AND, in V3.5, when programming DCC Features, it would (75% of the time or more) not do the 'up' move of the CP before doing the 'over' then the 'down' moves. Simple fix there as well, press the HOLD button on the joybox until it tries to move, then relese it and it is fine. It was like it was getting ahead of itself.

[Andrew Gardner]

Clearance planes have their place. On flat, square parts, they work great. On twisted aerospace parts, where the origin in out in space, they don't work so good.

I usually use a combination on CP's and move points.

[bw_bob]

Never....Nothing but a pain in the a$$

[JamesMannes]

Never....Nothing but a pain in the a$$

Come on Bob tell us how you really feel.

[bw_bob]

Come on Bob tell us how you really feel.

Ok.............

When I 1st learned the software some 12 years ago thats how i was taught clearance planes. If you have a confined part & tight fits you have to really think. No were near as many brain cells as i used to have. Give me a ctrl alt M
or print. Just my .02, same as brain cells

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

There is a time and a palce for everything. I use a LOT of move points, BUT I also use the clearance planes, when they will save me the worry about a crasg.

Like at the beginning of a program. When you write the program, you KNOW how high you need to be to clear EVERYTHING on the part/fixture and possibly the table too. So, you set your clearance plane to that height. Then, you use it for the first feature you check. This means you don't have to worry about you (or your monkey, in fact, go spank your monkey!) leaving the head on the wrong side of the part/fixture or too low or anything. The first thing it does is move straight up and clears everything. Then, you go and use the move points in the body of the program, unless the clearance plane will work better (it CAN happen). A combination of both types of moves (even the third, INCREMENTAL) are the best method to use.

I know a LOT of you out there have monkeys running your programs. How many times have the pranged the head/probe/tip because they started the program with the machine in the wrong location? The clearance plane WILL get you around that.

[T Miller]

I don't think it's the clear planes so much as the pass through ones.

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

I don't think it's the clear planes so much as the pass through ones.

I have NEVER used a PASS-THROUGH CP.

[elvis]

when i'm making big edits on a program, moving lots of stuff around
and changing the flow of things i always use them!

it's great you don't even worry about "wheres the next hit"

hey exactly what is a "passthrough plane" ?

[JamesMannes]

Go here for the "secret" to clearplanes.