how do you move the origin on mastercam?

[juniormachinist]

how do you move the origin on mastercam?

is there such a way to flip the part but leave the origin in the same postion.

[Superman]

Do not move or copy any geometry...totally unnecessary.

Your first setup was TOP, correct ?

now you need to do the BOTTOM...open the "View Manager" and highlight BOTTOM, then copy it, you may want to renamen it to a more suitable name ie SETUP#2. In the right lower section of the view manager box is XYZ input area, you can put values or select the arrow to pick a point on-screen.

Now activate this WCS, as well as the T&C plane, and you will get blue crosshairs on the screen---this is the new origin,,,,the old brown crosshairs remain as they are the system origin and cannot be removed

You can do this to any view you create, set it as a WCS assign an origin point
-especially if the BOTTOM view is not suitable to be your actual setup

This new WCS is then used for any ops you create & used in this setup

[juniormachinist]

Originally Posted by Superman Do not move or copy any geometry...totally unnecessary. Your first setup was TOP, correct ? now you need to do the BOTTOM...open the "View Manager" and highlight BOTTOM, then copy it, you may want to renamen it to a more suitable name ie SETUP#2. In the right lower section of the view manager box is XYZ input area, you can put values or select the arrow to pick a point on-screen. Now activate this WCS, as well as the T&C plane, and you will get blue crosshairs on the screen---this is the new origin,,,,the old brown crosshairs remain as they are the system origin and cannot be removed You can do this to any view you create, set it as a WCS assign an origin point -especially if the BOTTOM view is not suitable to be your actual setup This new WCS is then used for any ops you create & used in this setup

im really confused im not sure to sure how to do it im using solidworks2010/mastercam x5

[Superman]

Originally Posted by juniormachinist im really confused im not sure to sure how to do it im using solidworks2010/mastercam x5

Let's have another go.
solidworks is not used, now that the solid is in Mastercam

1/ Mastercam has 6 set views, plus a couple of ISO views
picture a dice with numbers instead of dots, all sides are 1 click to view them.
any view can have the origin shifted away from the default system orign
you can also create a custom view ( but this depends if the machine can support moving the part into that view aspect. ie you can program to machine in the FRONT view, but you will get an error when posting if it is just a 3 xais machine )

2/ I, myself, don't like to play with the default views, I'd copy them and then move the oringn on the "new view", and then use any later ops to use these "new views"

3/ View #1 is TOP, #2 is FRONT origin is @ system X0,Y0,Z0
all the other views use this same origin point, so if you copy one of those views, and then adjust the origin, it would not affect any operation that has previously been created

4/ So if you have already programmed the 1st setup sequence, and now want to turn it over to finish it off

5/ In "view manager", select BOTTOM, and then copy it ( copy icon on L/H side of the listing table), it will make a new view called "COPY OF BOTTOM".

6/ Make this view the WCS, and also set the T/C planes to this view, now hit the arrow to enable picking a point on the screen as the new origin, it will show light blue origin lines after accepting and backing out of the View manager, ( it also should show the brown system origin lines )

7/ In Op Manager, create a new toolpath group ( to keep the differnet setups seperate,,,you could create another machine, but the tool listing may confuse you )

8/ now start programming the bottom

9/ this is the tricky bit,,, TOP view of the BOTTOM WCS is the BOTTOM view. ( duh ???? )
Take the dice, #1 was TOP in the 1st setup, we picked up the dice, turned it 180°, to now place the #6 at the top. And told Mastercam this is the SETUP#2, so TOP view of SETUP#2 has a #6 on its surface, Front view is #2 (upsidedown). Is this making sense ??

the numbers are a guide to you to highlight areas that you may need further, indepth explanations. But we'll see how we stand now

PS --the opposing faces of a dice add up to 7.

[barbter]

Superman - that's a great explanation of how views work.
It does take a bit to get your head around it, but once it is understood, mastercam becomes easy for this sort of thing (and then latterly rotary axis stuff).
I wish I could have read this a couple of years ago - it would have saved some pain!
I do wish mastercam could simplify this though. Perhaps removing the standard views as I think they do more harm than good or perhaps you should be forced to make a view (by geometry or whatever means) rather than copying and renaming???

Biggest bug-bear - you can't delete the standard views or rename them and if you don't use them anyway, what's the point of them?
Probably being able to rename them would be the best answer?
Just rambling

[juniormachinist]

Originally Posted by Superman Make this view the WCS, and also set the T/C planes to this view, now hit the arrow to enable picking a point on the screen as the new origin, it will show light blue origin lines after accepting and backing out of the View manager, ( it also should show the brown system origin lines )

not sure what to click on or do sorry

[emonje]

Hope this helps. More of a shortcut.

Sorry for the sloppy brush work.

[juniormachinist]

Originally Posted by emonje Hope this helps. More of a shortcut. Sorry for the sloppy brush work.

well it didnt really because my mastercam x5 is an add on program inside of solidworks so its not the same as yours

[gogego]

try using CTRL+1 - 7 to get the "named" views pay attention to your gview graphic view which gives you the perspective. Then pay attention to your Planes this is the construction plane you are drafing on XYZ axis look for the Gview Planes and WCS tools and just play with drafting simple shapes.
hope this helps
CHEERS!

[juniormachinist]

the zero point on the top view is the right way around and in the right postion
but on the bottom it is the wrong way around (making the programing code in the negative) but it is in the right postion

[Superman]

Your pics have just explained why there is problems

Everyone is explaining how to use Mastercam ( the proper version )
-but you have Solidworks with a bit of a Mastercam add-on. ( sorry, I've never used SW )

But looking at your BOTTOM view, and you are happy with the layout. Then there should be some way of naming the current view & re-setting it's origin
( strange, stand on your head and the axis arrows seem to point in the correct direction) your BOTTOM view is rotated 180° out for how I expect Mastercam (proper) to do it.

The View manager or the pink crosshair tab may be a good place to look
( what happens if you go into the view manager and then hit the ? ( or the Help button ) ?

[emonje]

Originally Posted by Superman Everyone is explaining how to use Mastercam ( the proper version ) -but you have Solidworks with a bit of a Mastercam add-on.

Yes, you should have told us earlier, or we should have asked.

Originally Posted by Superman The View manager or the pink crosshair tab may be a good place to look

Yes, that's the place. It's similar to the real MCX.