DXF CAD DRAWING

[Aguayo]

Does any body programming with Dxf cad drawings? I'm been programming on-line & and my boss told,that he was going to send me to school for off-line
now he said that a lot of people is learning off-line by themselfes, and my class was cancel,because I was the only one in class,I'm been reading the manual every day and yesterday I gave it a shoot with Dxf drawing cad, the progran run but I can see I need a lot of pratice,they did not have IGES solid model which is better,Please give me your opinion do you think Off-line is simple to learn without taking the class?.

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

If you can program ON-LINE, you can program OFF-LINE as well. The principle is the same, however, I have found that reality never matches theory when programming off-line. There will be moves, tips, etc. that have to be tweaked when you get on-line.

[bw_bob]

Anytime i've programmed off-line it has been with an iges model. Like anything else it just takes time and alot of practice. Not sure why they would send you to school for off-line anyway.

[Robert Davis]

Simple? No.

Offline is just an extension of online programming without the ability to check/tweak the program at the machine as you create it. This can be very dangerous. Offline will let you program things that will crash your machine when you actually run the program if your not very careful. It does what you tell it. If you tell it the wrong thing, it will do it at your expense.

In a nutshell, it's no more simple than online programming with added risks. Run slow and check your programs carefully.

HTH,
Robert

[Ravenmaniac]

Offline progrmming

Read your query.....I've been programming offline for quite a time now as we have offline seats as well as as at the cmm machines. Of course the advantage is that your cmms are free for part verfication and not tied up with a programmer tapping keys. And yes, unfortunately, alot of customers don't use any iges or solid modeling to augment their part files. So alot of times I'm pulling my hair out dealing with dxf or drawing files. First is the process of after importing you have to clean up any random crap like "witness" or dimension lines or your cmm will read them as some sort of feature. Make friends with your edit CAD menus and Delte Cad keys...you'll need them. Fortunately, being a large company (I work for General Dynamics) we are privy to all the latest softwares that are being used in the engineering field. We favor Pro-E because of both its engineering power and its ability to translate and use other types of files to our liking with Cad-Cam softwares such as Mastercam. And yes, I personally like iges files with surfaces as the best to program to. But as you'll learn with Dxf, you'll have no depth perception at all so you always need to know where your probe tips are in your "z" axis. I just attended a personal seminar with some of the Wilcox & B&S people on the future of offline programming and if you read some of the past threads you'll find alitttle "fear factor" on some of the comments. To me, personally, I find it exciting and challenging. Some others perceive it as job threatening. The future is going to be a "smart"pcdmis version that basically will read a Pro-E, Catia or other engineering type models and pull the Geometric Tolerancing right out of the model. They are really trying to go that fantasy land where paperless (no prints needed) inspection exists. The part will almost program itself. It is coming and I welcome it. Need for our QC abilities will always be there but it is coming. For the moment though, we will have to go through the manual pain of evaluating "dirty" models because all the worlds customers are not going to grab up this transition overnight. If you need a quick help on dxf programming offline, send out a yell...we're all here listening.

-B-

[Tested]

General Dynamics? I THOUGHT THEY WERE NOW L3

[Don Ruggieri]

Programming off-line vs Learning on-line

I agree with Matthew and Robert, but I think there is an assumption here. When you say you program on-line, are you using a CAD model or are you hitting the part with the probe to learn the touch locations?

If you are not using a CAD model on-line, then off-line is VERY different. Sure, the dimensioning is the same and the constructions are the same, but there is a lot to mouse techniques when programming from CAD both on-line and off-line.

Yes, people learn it on their own but it takes much longer. Also, there are some things which they'll never learn unless they hear it from someone else. If you must go this route, be sure to read the posts here frequently for advice.

[Big Al]

I learned offline programming when pcdmis was in dos. before windows and the capabelties to tool change. Offline is not that hard. There will be so eitding you will have to do online when you first start programing. but after a while you know like when to move to clearace planes. I perfer offline programing to online programming.

[randy z]

never tryed dxf

[Devaney]

DXF is not so bad just more steps to accomplish the same thing. IGES is good. You have any friends in engineering? They should be able to help you out. If you've been programming for a while the class will be to long and will bore you.

I have the CAD++ book from the class if you want to review it to help with the decision.

[Ravenmaniac]

L3!!!!!!!?????

L3!!!!!!Oh what you said!!!!!

(Actually we are doing alot of work for L3 and L3 space.....)

Hey what can I say? They need the help!

Lord...I can hear the Navy hit squads breakin in my office door as we speak.....

-B-

[djayne]

I prefer off-line programming because I can sit here in my nice clean office with air conditioning - Also, I think it's just as easy if you were already using cad models on-line - which it sounds like you weren't. I'm used to programming off-line in a word editor for LKDMIS - alot of times I wish I could just type in the code that I want without PCDMIS messing with the rest of the program. I have the most luck with STEP files when it comes to solid models. Good luck - I think you will find alot of advantages to off-line programming.

[craiger_ny]

I'm curious, what are the prices for off-line packages? I will probably end up having our distributor quote for me but just wondering if anyone knew off-hand.

Craig

[Don Ruggieri]

One more thing. . .

One more thing about DXF files. More often than not they are 2D drawings. They are not 3D models. This means the extra step up-front to use MakeCAD3D to get it into a form which is easier to program with. It simulates a 2 1/2 D model by connecting the faces together.

[Aguayo]

Thanks

Thank you guys for your advice,I will keep asking questions,I only been using PC DMIS 3.7 MR2 for 3 months and on-Line without Cad only with the parts & drawings,but I will keep working hard until I become a good proggrammer,just like some of you guys.



Thanks