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V3.7 MR3
Interesting information for all y'all about clearance planes. This is something that I just figured out in the last week (gee, always learning something!):
Where Pcdmis moves for a clearance plane will depend on WHERE in the program you have your cursor. Sounds pretty simple, eh? Well, get this (simply an example, but TRUE, hopefully you can understand my rambling):
I have a program that is 100% done and able to run all freaking day long. However, one day, an idiot (ie engineer) wants an axis added to one of the dimensions in the report. So, I find the dimension in the middle of the program, it's where the program is using a 90,0 tip to check the hole on the back of a detail. I go to the dimension and add the axis. Well, the program both STARTS and ENDS with the 0,0 tip. And, like I said, this program will run all day long. However, after I add the axis to the dimension, I go to execute the program so I can get a new report on a new part with the added axis (you know, CRTL-Q). This is a 100% DCC program, no manual alignment being done due to the fixturing of the part. BUT, my cursor is in the program where the TIP called out is 90,0, EVEN THOUGH the probe is rotated to 0,0 becuase it just got done running a part and ended at 0,0. Well, the first thing in the program in a clearance plane move ABOVE the part, with the 0,0 tip called up (that's what the program starts with, eh?), BUT, for some **** reason, Pcdmis 'sees' where the cursor is at and ASSUMES that the probe is at 90,0 even though it is at 0,0 and I am executing the entire program from the beginning. So, instead of moving to a height above the detail equal to the clearance plane height WHEN THE TIP IS AT 0,0, it moves to a height above the part S IF THE PROBE WAS AT 90,0. well, if the top of the part is at Z 150mm and I am using a 175mm clearance plane, this gives me 25mm of clearance between the probe and the top of the part. HOWEVER, since I am using a PH9 with a 50mm cart-ext and a TP2 and a 30x3mm probe, when it moves to the clearance plane height AS IF the probe was at 90,0, this places the center of the head at some distance BELOW the detail because the over-all length (probe tip of center of head) is around 150mm.
So, I think this might be what a lot of you 'see' as a bad clearance plane move and so have shied away from using them. Sure, this is a MAJOR screw-up, but no worse than any other Wilcox bug. SO, no matter what you are doing, make sure that you KNOW where you cursor is and it DOES matter, even if you are executing the entire program from the beginning.
Interesting information for all y'all about clearance planes. This is something that I just figured out in the last week (gee, always learning something!):
Where Pcdmis moves for a clearance plane will depend on WHERE in the program you have your cursor. Sounds pretty simple, eh? Well, get this (simply an example, but TRUE, hopefully you can understand my rambling):
I have a program that is 100% done and able to run all freaking day long. However, one day, an idiot (ie engineer) wants an axis added to one of the dimensions in the report. So, I find the dimension in the middle of the program, it's where the program is using a 90,0 tip to check the hole on the back of a detail. I go to the dimension and add the axis. Well, the program both STARTS and ENDS with the 0,0 tip. And, like I said, this program will run all day long. However, after I add the axis to the dimension, I go to execute the program so I can get a new report on a new part with the added axis (you know, CRTL-Q). This is a 100% DCC program, no manual alignment being done due to the fixturing of the part. BUT, my cursor is in the program where the TIP called out is 90,0, EVEN THOUGH the probe is rotated to 0,0 becuase it just got done running a part and ended at 0,0. Well, the first thing in the program in a clearance plane move ABOVE the part, with the 0,0 tip called up (that's what the program starts with, eh?), BUT, for some **** reason, Pcdmis 'sees' where the cursor is at and ASSUMES that the probe is at 90,0 even though it is at 0,0 and I am executing the entire program from the beginning. So, instead of moving to a height above the detail equal to the clearance plane height WHEN THE TIP IS AT 0,0, it moves to a height above the part S IF THE PROBE WAS AT 90,0. well, if the top of the part is at Z 150mm and I am using a 175mm clearance plane, this gives me 25mm of clearance between the probe and the top of the part. HOWEVER, since I am using a PH9 with a 50mm cart-ext and a TP2 and a 30x3mm probe, when it moves to the clearance plane height AS IF the probe was at 90,0, this places the center of the head at some distance BELOW the detail because the over-all length (probe tip of center of head) is around 150mm.
So, I think this might be what a lot of you 'see' as a bad clearance plane move and so have shied away from using them. Sure, this is a MAJOR screw-up, but no worse than any other Wilcox bug. SO, no matter what you are doing, make sure that you KNOW where you cursor is and it DOES matter, even if you are executing the entire program from the beginning.
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