Part/Machine feature

[kiddo]

Hello friends:

What does this Part/Machine feature do. I am having problems visualizing that... I was checking a part which comes in with all googy co-ordinate system. z+ on model is z- on machine, x+ is y+ on machine. The question is when I do the alignment what should I use? If I have a plane at Z0 how should I level it ? is it Z+ (because I took the hit normal to the plane from above) or Z- since the model z+ runs thru the table... Should I even use the Part/Machine feature ... I am using CAD=PART alignment so don't I have to match the model co-ord. system first............. can somebody help... I am a new user. After a weeks training I thougt It was easy but now I am pulling my hair......

Thanks...

[Paul Sarrach]

Part/Machine is a feature that tells your computer what orentation your part is sitting on. I feel this is a great function. I always use this feature. I use it at setup. Its the very second thing I do. I start out with 3 views. 1 big on the left two to the right. This will give a visual on how its sitting. You will know you did it correctly (Part/Machine) when you click on a feature and the probe orentation looks correct. If you are using a fixture, you must plug in the correct vectors that corespond with the cad.

This little endevour will save you many headaches. Some people never use it. Because once you get the alignment it all comes together. I like it because it elimanates many alignment issues I may accure. If the probe looks correct on the screen, I feel better comfortable, I know I can start, and not worry about alignment issues and crashes. Just my way. There are as many ways as there are Programmers on this board.


Find Yours
Paul

[Perry Fisher]

Paul,

I'm running version 3.207 Beta on a Mistral. I have tried to use the Part/Machine function with no success. I had Cad models with axes that did not match machine axes and zero out in space somewhere.

What steps do you go through starting a new program, importing cad using Part/ Machine?

Thanks

[Paul Sarrach]

Hey Perry,

3.2063 was my favorite release.

The zero out in space it the front and center of the car. Its Z could vary from center of axel or earth itself.

Check your email. I sent you something. By the way, I tried to go to your company's web site, but a think your address is wrong. Let me know...

[Perry Fisher]

Hello Paul

Thanks Paul,

Two of us are working today. Me and IT guy. Our servers crashed Thursday. That's why you cannot get on our site or send me an email. Send me an email to [email protected].

Oh and what to do while working on Saturday? Watch IT guy pull what's left of his hair out working on a dead server!

Perry

[John Kugler]

Maybe I'm just stupid or too burned out from a long week that is not getting any shorter, but what is this Part/Machine function?

I probably know it, but I just can't seem to find it.

[Wes Cisco]

Hang in there

... can somebody help... I am a new user. After a weeks training I thougt It was easy but now I am pulling my hair......

Thanks...

Kiddo, this is tough stuff. I ran programs written by others for over a year, and had experience programming in other CMM software, before I went to class. I still snarled and gnashed teeth almost continually for a month when, 2 weeks after my class *the* programmer left and I became *the* programmer. Take a deep breathe or 10, get up walk around, get some more coffee and try again. You will get there eventually. One day it will start to get easier. There are many knowledgable and helpful people on this board who will do all they can to get you there.

There is another way to orient the CAD model, but it is rather involved. When you import the model, a window comes up. Choose "process" then choose "make 3D". A new window will appear and a wireframe of your model. Place your cursor off of one corner of the model and drag a rectangle around the entire model. Now next to file in the top left corner you will see "level" it pulls down, select "create". Your model will be redrawn again. Now you can pull down "level" again to select " position". A new window appears that allows you to select a few elements from the model and orient them. The top, down, left, right, etc stuff is clear as mud, but if you play with it some you will get there. After you have selected an element or two you can click the "position" button just under the "top,down, etc" window. This opens yet another window where you can rotate and flip the model. Using these manipulations it is possible to re-orient the trihedron to match the way you set the part on your table. When you have it correct select "file" and pull down to select "save and exit". Now your CAD trihedron should match your machine's and everything is hunkydory. HTH GOOD LUCK

[Paul Sarrach]

Good Monday Morning John K,

Hope you are well rested after your day off.


Part/Machine is a feature that tells your computer what orentation your part is sitting on. You can find it under Edit, Setup, Part/CMM. Depends on the version, on how to get there. Is there any questions?

[Paul Sarrach]

Wes, I been doing this a long time, after reading yours I am pulling my hair. Its sounds complicated but I know its not. Anything new make me pull my hair out, and I only have 3 left if you go by my picture. lol I will have to try that. Because when I get cad that is 45 degrees to the world. It is very diffulcult to do in the part/cmm way. I always have to have the cad guys take it our of body. And if I read you correctly, what you wrote is the way for me to take it out of body.

[J Temmen]

I might be missing something but i've never used machine/part button. If I am using CAD I let the iterative alignment set my AXIS,
if i'm going to a print and CAD then I do the same and then rotate and translate to print afterwards.

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

Since V3.5, if you are doing a 3-2-1 alignment (NOT iterative), you need to set the cad=machine axis AND the workplane to the current cad to machine setup or when you go back later and run it again it will be a mess. Now, I have not tried this since I started using V3.7, so maybe it has been fixed, but the cad=machine did NOT need to be done in V3.2063, and I never used it at all. With V3.5, if you didn't set the CAD to MACHINE so that the machine thinks that Y+ is UP instead of Z+ (to match part as it sits on the machine), it would not solve the plane the next time you opened and ran the program. After you aligned it, it knew that the plance was Y+, so when you opened the program and tried to measure it, it was looking for something that matched the Y+ axis of the MACHINE, not the alignment.

There was a lot of alignment stuff that happened with V3.5 and up. One other thing was that the features appear to be tied back to the MACHINE numbers and the alignment values instead of just being code of X10, Y14, Z15. It is like they are all variables now instead of solid, hard numbers. This is what is making the values CHANGE when you copy from one program to another when the alignments are different. Pre-V3.5, you could copy ANY feature from ANY program and paste it into ANY other program and the nominals and vectors would stay the same. Not with V3.5! Search the sites and you will find a LOT of postings about the nominals changing when copy/paste was used from one program to another. All of these deal with V3.5 and up, NONE with V3.2063, V3.25, etc.

So, if you have the part sitting on the table so that the CAD data for the part has Y+ pointing to the Z+ machine axis, and the Z+ pointing to the machine Y- and the X+ to the X+, you have to tell it so with the cad to machine axis settings. Then, to measure the 'face' of the fixture, you have to set the workplane to Y+, then measure it, if you leave the cad=machine setting at X+=X+, Y+=Y+ and Z+=Z+ then the plane is in the MACHINE Z+ direction. Then you use it to level the Y+ axis, the next time you run the program, it gets confused and will not solve the plane, let alone the alignment.

[kiddo]

Thanks guys

Thank you very much guys

You guys are great and thanks for the support. Wes, as you said this stuff is getting more clear day by day.

[John Kugler]

Yep, I was too tired...

I knew that....





Thanks for the help.

[mnurhussein]

Good Monday Morning John K,

Hope you are well rested after your day off.


Part/Machine is a feature that tells your computer what orentation your part is sitting on. You can find it under Edit, Setup, Part/CMM. Depends on the version, on how to get there. Is there any questions?

Hey Paul,

I don't know when to use this Part/Machine tab or F5. I import my CAD model transform to the way it looks on the granite. Get alignment from the granite and hit the CAD= PART. That is all I do and continue programming. I see my virtual probe is sync with the actual probe. So when do I use this Part/Machine tab? Or is it a different way of transforming my part? Thanks,

Nuru

[NinjaBadger]

Hey Paul,

I don't know when to use this Part/Machine tab or F5. I import my CAD model transform to the way it looks on the granite. Get alignment from the granite and hit the CAD= PART. That is all I do and continue programming. I see my virtual probe is sync with the actual probe. So when do I use this Part/Machine tab? Or is it a different way of transforming my part? Thanks,

Nuru

If you transform your CAD it's not necessary.

Often in aerospace and automotive work, parts are kept in car-align (that is I could measure a hole in say a brake light assembly and it's xyz would be reported to centre of the front axel).

It becomes useful then!