Solid import question

[glovebox20]

Hello

Let's say I imported a solid in to Gibbs cam with a surface that needs to be 3D. Unfortunately, There is no Flat surface perpendicular to Z axis to set the coordinate system up. How would you Rotate the CS to the correct position. All I know is you can right click on the face a select "Aline to CS", but I'm lost after that.

Thanks

glovebox20

[pdoherty]

I always orient the model in Solidworks before I import to get the desired plane orientation and origin location. My Gibbs reseller walked me through how to do it in GibbsCam once and it just seemed way easier to do it in Solidworks.

[cadman]

Originally Posted by glovebox20 Hello Let's say I imported a solid in to Gibbs cam with a surface that needs to be 3D. Unfortunately, There is no Flat surface perpendicular to Z axis to set the coordinate system up. How would you Rotate the CS to the correct position. All I know is you can right click on the face a select "Aline to CS", but I'm lost after that. Thanks glovebox20

You can either rotate the part or create a new CS to machine from. Personally, I rotate the part.

Using Align to CS rotates the part to the CS. May or may not give you the desired results you want with faces that are curved.

New CS from View. Right clicking the CS palette and selecting New CS from View will create a new CS normal to the current view you are in. Depending on what curves the faces of you part has, this may be the better choice. Using the Trackball, just rotate the part to a view that would be how the part is machined, then create the CS as mentioned.

Rotating the part just involves creating CSs and rotating the part as you go. The Solids Aligment plug-in works with cylinders but not curved faces, so you may not be able to use this.

Creating a new CS to machine from is self explanatory, Align to CS & New CS from View are a couple methods. Just make sure you select the correct CS in
the Process tile.

[glovebox20]

Thanks for the help.

I used cadman method (create New CS from View) and it works alright.

It sure beats creating a extra boss on the part to orient off of.

glovebox20