station verification

[SF Giants Fan]

I'm setting up a job that consists of a set of parts...a top and bottom....I'd like to take a set of matting parts out of the machine every cycle.

Op 1 - Vise 1 - Mill profile etc. of part A
OP 2 - Vise 2 - Flip part A and mill opo side.

Op 3 - Vise 3 - Mill profile etc. of part B
Op 4 - Vise 4 - Flip part B and mill opo side.

I'd like to save the verification of op 1 as an .stl and use it to verify op 2....but about 8 inches away in x (vise 2)

How do I save the stl so it is aligned properly for verification? (flipped over and moved to the second station)

I don't see how I can do this without using different Machine Groups to define stock. But using different machine groups posts 4 different nc programs.

How can I post operations from different machine groups in one post and better yet, post each tool sequentially?

Thanks for the input.

[txcncman]

I don't get the whole STL for verification thing. What I do is set one WCS for the top of part 1 and one WCS for the bottom of part 1. Then do the same for part 2. Yeah, I know, does not look the way it will look on the machine. But I am not so picky about that. Maybe my imagination is just better.

[John_B]

I've had to save the 1st Op STL, then open in another application and flip it, then resave as an STL so it's correctly oriented.

[cnc-king]

when saving stl set it to save in world view coordinates( can be set to default in the config file ) in the option menu. your stock set up should be set to top view for the stl to open in the correct view for verify. this is assuming you are using MasterCamX

[SF Giants Fan]

I'm curious how you organize your operaiton manager in this scenario?

A different machine group for each vice, a different machine group for each part?

When posting you get a different NC program for each machine group.

Is there a way to get mulitple machine groups to post as one nc program?

[txcncman]

Only one machine group. Can be multiple toolpath groups if you want. If all operations in one machine group have the same NC file name and program number, they will post out as one NC file. Make one WCS for top of part 1 on vise 1. Make one WCS for bottom of part 1 on vise 2. Make one WCS for top of part 2 on vise 3. Make one WCS for bottom of part 2 on vise 4. Select first WCS. Select the toolpaths and tools for top of part 1 on vise 1. Select second WCS. Select the toolpaths and tools for bottom of part 1 on vise 2. Repeat for third and fourth WCS' for the part 2 on vises 3 and 4. Highlight all operations. Right click and then sort. Sort by tool number. Tool 1 toolpaths will get grouped together and run on all parts. Same for all subsequent tools. Backplotting and verify might be a little confusing at first, but it should all be there. In the screen shots, first I made separate tool groups. Then picked toolpaths and tools for each side of part to be set in a different vise. Then I moved all operations to the first tool group and deleted the extra tool groups. Then I sorted the operations by tool number. Then I made sure program number and NC file name were the same for all operations.

[SF Giants Fan]

txcncman...thank you...I learned something today

I've been programming tool by tool instead of how you mentioned...all ops, then sort. Your way should save time going forward.

I think mastercams verification could be improved though..

Thanks again

[Joesph Jackman]

txcncman...thank you...I learned something today

I've been programming tool by tool instead of how you mentioned...all ops, then sort. Your way should save time going forward.

I think mastercams verification could be improved though..

Thanks again

i think what verification needs is the ability to automate flipping parts and that it should be an operation in the machining ops manager. is that where you think it should be improved?

[SF Giants Fan]

yes...and like in this case, the ability to verify completely different parts with different initial stock sizes in different stations....

[Joesph Jackman]

Only one machine group. Can be multiple toolpath groups if you want.

are there any drawbacks to what i do which is create an operation tool path group and then create sub tool path groups for each tool used? i would like to have part feature tool path sub groups and tool sub groups for each feature but i have not figured out an easy way to do this. hope this makes sense.

[Joesph Jackman]

yes...and like in this case, the ability to verify completely different parts with different initial stock sizes in different stations....

i think mastercam would need to create an interface to do that.

[txcncman]

are there any drawbacks to what i do which is create an operation tool path group and then create sub tool path groups for each tool used? i would like to have part feature tool path sub groups and tool sub groups for each feature but i have not figured out an easy way to do this. hope this makes sense.

Do you mean like this? (See attachment.)