CAM for multiple faces

[Woody242]

Greetings all,

I am shopping for a CAM package for my CNC mill and Lathe. Dolphin is one of my top choices but I have a question regarding generating CAM for a part with multiple features on multiple faces that must be repositioned using a fixture. For example a 6 sided die. I could make 6 different programs which would be simple but for a more complex part I would like to optimize jobs using a fixture and rotating the part where I may want to break up operations on the same face and simulate this ultimately simulating the entire part from the block.

How would one go about this in Dolphin without being able to rotate the fixture.

Rodney is trying to explain this to me and said I can associate different contours with faces but I have not figured this out.

I am new to CNC so this may be very obvious. I was able to do it with Vector by translating and rotating the origin but the sim was not correct although the tool path look like what I would expect.

Thanks a lot,
Woody

[dblox]

Hi, I regularly program & machine six sided parts using a function which I think is called "repeat" and "translate".
It has a function which allows you to shift the toolpath output in X and Y the amount that you tell it to.
Maybe there is a different way to do it, but I've never read the manual or anything, I just play with it until it does what I want.
In the CAD side, I set the origin for one face, then define the contours etc for that face. Then I shift the zero to the next face, and define etc etc until all six are done.
All features, once loaded into the CAM side, look like they overlap.
Then I define my machining operations for the first face in my fixture with the "repeat" offsets which match my fixture, add an optional stop to reposition the work and then carry on defining the ops for the second face, which might have a different "translate" offset.
Not sure how else to describe it... I could post an example program and a picture of my softjaws, but if you dont have Dolphin installed its not going to help you!
I guess what I mean is, its pretty easy if you are familiar with Dolphin, but nowhere near as straighforward as a CAM package costing 100 times the price.

Edit: forget about having it simulate correctly. I dont see how this is possible. All it will do is draw the toolpaths with the programmed translate offsets, so if you have ops which are in the same part of the fixture for two different faces they will overlap in the simulation.

[ftech]

I'm very new to this program too but I'll add my $0.02 worth anyway.
It seems to me that, in the CAD side, you should be able to create each set of operations on a grid. For example, if the die you mention was 1/2" square on each side you could use a 1 inch grid. Then when you go to CAM, at the same point where you insert a stop or manual tool change, you just insert a G52 temporary coordinate offset to make each set of operations line up with the original part origin.

Just a thought.