Hey folks,

I am having trouble getting Mastercam to recognize the surface I lofted in Mechanical desktop. It is a smooth contoured airplane wing surface (not solid). When I go to create my toolpath (-surface-rough-flowline) it will not allow me to pick my surface as the drive surface. I also just installed Tahlcam, but haven't figured out how to use it yet. Any suggestions? Do I need a solid to cut a freeform surface in Mastercam?

I would appreciate any help, comments, suggestions. Thanks

Originally posted by wingman
Hey folks,

I am having trouble getting Mastercam to recognize the surface I lofted in Mechanical desktop. It is a smooth contoured airplane wing surface (not solid). When I go to create my toolpath (-surface-rough-flowline) it will not allow me to pick my surface as the drive surface. I also just installed Tahlcam, but haven't figured out how to use it yet. Any suggestions? Do I need a solid to cut a freeform surface in Mastercam?

I would appreciate any help, comments, suggestions. Thanks

You shouldn't need solids. If you want to post the file here we can take a look at it. Otherwise it's going to be hard to diagnose the problem.

'Rekd

Wingman, if you needed just post on the FTP just the lofted surface. I am sure we can figure out what is happening to you.

Thanks Jay

Here's the piece. The point of interest is really just the wing surface, the rest is fluff. I intend to mill this out of foam, and then use the piece as a mold for a carbon fiber wing.

Thanks for the quick replies. I am probably making some obvious rookie mistake...just started using this software.

I couldn't attach the file, so I posted at

http://plaza.ufl.edu/jcocquyt/wing/

These dont come in as surfaces. They are lines and splines.

Are thay actual surfaces in AMD ????

If so the MC help says ......

Use this procedure to read Mechanical Desktop entities. This procedure explodes Mechanical Desktop entities into their component pieces which, when saved as AutoCAD® entities, can be converted to MC9.

1. Open the drawing in Mechanical Desktop.

2. Click on Modify and then on Explode.

3. Click on the Mechanical Desktop entities you want to convert.

4. Save the file under a different name (with a DWG extension) so that the original file is not overwritten.

5. Convert the file containing the exploded entities.

Note: This same procedure can be used to convert files from other AutoCAD packages that create proxy entities..

The only other option is to re-surface in mastercam.

1. Press Alt Z
2. Make Level (#6 Wing Surface) active by clicking on the "6"
3. Turn off all levels except (#2 Wing & #6 Wing Surface)
5. Click OK
4. In the main menu: Create/Surface/Loft/Window
6. Window select all the cross section curves
7. click a search start point (pick the end of the first curve)

A surface will be created that can be toolpathed

CAM

Originally posted by CAMmando
These dont come in as surfaces. They are lines and splines.

Are thay actual surfaces in AMD ????

If so the MC help says ......



The only other option is to re-surface in mastercam.

1. Press Alt Z
2. Make Level (#6 Wing Surface) active by clicking on the "6"
3. Turn off all levels except (#2 Wing & #6 Wing Surface)
5. Click OK
4. In the main menu: Create/Surface/Loft/Window
6. Window select all the cross section curves
7. click a search start point (pick the end of the first curve)

A surface will be created that can be toolpathed

CAM

CAMmando,

You ever have problems with norms using window to select entities to create surfaces??

You can reverse normals using modify / normals.

If thats what you mean.

Thanks CAM. I ended up surfacing it in Mastercam, and was able to generate a toolpath. I don't know why the surfaces disappeared in the translation. I used (_amloftuv) command to create them.
Someone decided to recoat the floors in our machineshop, so I am unable to mill this week, but I'll be sure to post some pics of the results when I get it to work.

Thanks again,

Wingman

Here's some results. The tool is high density foam. I made the wing out of carbon fiber in our autoclave.

http://plaza.ufl.edu/jcocquyt/wing/