Need Help!- Tombstone Machining-WCS ORIENTATION

[Cuchallin]

Can anyone advise me if my setup is correct for a Tombstone.

I bring my Solid (Tombstone etc) into Mastercam and set my Top WCS in the center of the tombstone. I then us WCS Front, Back etc to machine individual faces.

Thanks

[Limpan]

I think it will work the way you describe it, I have a horizontal OKK machine and I use Top view as WCS and then I create my T/C-planes perpendicular to Top plane. Are you having trouble with your settings?

[Cuchallin]

Thanks Limpan appreciate it. No problems machining etc. It's just been a long time since I did Tombstone work and I am an old fart. What is confusing me is a friend sent me a tutorial and the top view has Y up. In other words if your set WCS to top and look at the model the Z pointing towards you.

[Limpan]

Can you upload your tutorial MCX file (zipped)? I think I have to see it to understand how things are oriented...

[Superman]

Your WCS is ALWAYS set to TOP on every operation

your "normal" standard planes for general machining WILL be FRONT
- RIGHT side outputs B90
- LEFT is B270 or B-90

on a tombstone the planes you cannot use for C/T planes are TOP, BOTTOM
and if your toombstone is a solid block, BACK view as well.

Two options for setting the WCS origin are :-
1- around the B axis,,,,any repeat work MUST be placed back into this same setup ,,,,only one origin need be set for running the program
2- any othe point,,,,origins need to be set for each Tplane used unless your machine is TPC capable

Always check any new views you create, that it is as seen by the tool, that you look down the tool axis in the Z- direction at the part and that the table can rotate to that view

[Cuchallin]

Thank you superman. Whats confusing me is my initial origin when I bring the part in from Solidworks. The tombstone is on a pallet, and I am setting my origin in the middle of the pallet( Centerline) with Y facing up. So when I select Top view I get one of faces of the tombstone, If I select Front view I am actuall looking at the bottom of the pallet.

[Limpan]

Hi Cuchallin, now I think I understand what's happening. I have both SolidWorks and Mastercam and for some reason (I don't know why) there is a difference between the plane orientation in these two programs - the Front View in SolidWorks always appears as the Top View in Mastercam. That is the reason why your desired Front View will be seen from the bottom side in Mastercam.

Limpan

[Superman]

Easy fix

Draw/create the part in solidworks relative to the tombstone ( with the tombstone standing up ), TOP of the tombstone is TOP view for both systems

You can also design fixtures, clamps etc, even tooling design in solidworks and the info is inter-changable

[Cuchallin]

I finally figured it out, thank much Superman and Limpan. Yes I model all my fixtures tooling in Solidworks-even hardware. So it's prety neat when colission checking etc.

[Cuchallin]

One more thing. Limpan is correct, what I did was bring the part in from Solidworks, created a point on the bottom of the Pallet(Tombstone) and Xform move to origin.

Y is now facing up (the centerline) of the Tombstone. My first operation is WCS top and then what I did was use WCS rotate for each face!! In the operation manager I use Top for all the working coordinate systems and TC planes I use my new WCS- It seems to give me the correct code.