working w/ iges file

[tom@wave-l]

I have a newbie question about working with IGES files in mastercam. I am working with mastercam V9.0 and when I import an IGES file from Solidworks CAD I cannot select entities to generate a toolpath for contouring, pocketing, drilling, etc. Is there some conversion that needs to be performed or I am I just missing something else?

[psychomill]

Can you post the iges here?

And go to "screen > statistics" and see what MC says you have for entities.

I have a couple of guesses. One, was the original file a solid? When the solid gets converted to an iges file, it turns into surfaces (or maybe it was only surfaces to begin with) . So when you translate the iges file for Mastercam, you have surfaces. But you can't cut anything unless you do surfacing to pick the entities. Now, if you want to cut the part by being able to just pick 'entities' like lines, arcs and such, you need to convert the surfaces.

Change your level to a new level as the main, leaving the original level of the part visible. Even change colors if you'd like at this point. Then click on " create > curve > all edges > all > surfaces " then " done > do it ". You should now have lines, splines, arcs etc.

Also, when you convert, be sure that you check the " masking" and that all of boxes are check marked. If the original file did contain arcs and lines, but the 'masking' was unchecked for lines and arcs, the converter won't bring in the lines and arcs.


HTH

[tom@wave-l]

Thanks psychomill, using your suggestions I am now better able to work with IGES files. You were correct MC imported all surfaces, so I converted them to curves, worked pretty good. I posted the file here anyway. Should I be able to contour the outer perimeter of the piece using surfaces? I tried and the toolpath did not seem right. I will probably have more questions as I familarize myself with the software.

[dmealer]

Tom,
Another option is, when you save your file as a iges, click the options button in the save as iges dialouge box. The put a check next to iges wireframe 3d curves option and choose B-Splines in the drop down box.
When you save like this, the file you import into MC will already be pickable geometry and surfaces. Same result, diffrent proccess. Just thought I would mention it as a option.
Regards,
Dalen

[ObrienDave]

Greetings,

Another thing to remember is, when saving from SolidWorks to an IGES file, make sure MASTERCAM is selected in the "Surface representation/System preference" drop-down box under Options after you "Save As..."

Good Luck,
David

[Davidimurray]

Hi

I've found that Parasolid Binary files are much better for getting SW files into MC. Depending on the ver of MC you may need to set the options up in SW to save as a parasolid binary V13 file, all other settings should be ok. Simply save and then use the converters in MC. I looked down the IGES route and had problems, tired of Parasolid files and I've never looked back.

Hope that's some help

Cheers

Dave

[ObrienDave]

Greetings,

Actually, Mcam 9.1 MR0105 will read Parasolids from SW up to V14.1.
I am currently working with a mold with 10000 surfaces.
Using parasolids, I usually get an error stating,

"Parasolid Kernal Interface Error:"
"KI error code 15-"
"distance is zero or negative"

OR:

"Parasolid Kernal Interface Error:"
"KI error code 22-"
"tag is invalid or dead"

HUH??? Zero or negative??? Invalid or dead???

Don't we work with negative directions and distances all the time?
Invalid or dead tells me, parasolids did not export all of the information.
Then I have to hold the ESC or ENTER key for what seems like an eternity
to clear the error windows only to find missing surfaces and or wireframe entities.
It seems to me that Parasolids does NOT support splines very well.
And it does not matter if it is ASCII or binary, I get the same errors.

I prefer, ACIS solids V8 or less. They have a .sat extension.
I don't think I have ever seen that error message from an ACIS solid file.
I get nice a CLEAN model. No wild or missing surfaces and ALL of the splines.
And most importanly to me, ONE (1) edge curve between surfaces.

If you CREATE, CURVE, ALL EDGES, ALL, SURFACES, DONE, DO IT, then you get
TWO (2) edge curves between adjacent surfaces, one for each edge.
Then, if you need to use that geometry to pocket or contour a profile then you have
to either remove the excess curves or pick a single entity one-at-a-time to finish the
chain.

WHAT A PAIN IN THE BUTT!

Furthermore, if you look at what is happening when you import a "solid" file into Mcam
or Solidworks, you will see that they BOTH process trimmed surfaces first, THEN they
create the solid, THEN they delete the trimmed surfaces.
Then, when you actually get to machine the "solid" using ANY surface technique, Mcam re-creates and blanks the trimmed surfaces anyway in the current level.

So, therefore, you do NOT actually machine the solid model.

I do use solids to actually make models. It makes life so much easier to do fillets, and
cavities with draft angles and just about everything else. GRAVY TIME!
But, for actual machining, I use surfaces.

Sorry for the rant.

ObrienDave
MasterCam programmer since V6