Get Started with ESPRIT 2010 201 0
Get Started with ESPRIT 2010 Copyright © 2009 DP Technology Corp. All rights reserved. U.S. Patent No. 6,907,313. Other U.S. patents pending. Information is subject to change without notice. No part of this manual may be reproduced, transmitted, translated in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from DP Technology Corp. The software described in this document may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of the furnished license agreement and/or non-disclosure agreement. It is illegal to copy the software onto any medium except as specied in the t he license or non-disclosure agreement. All DP Technology Corporation software products contain integrated security programs and/or plug-in modules that are required for the software license to properly operate. It is a violation of the DP Technology Corporation copyrights and U.S. Copyright law to disable or attempt to disable or remove or otherwise operate the software without the security programs and/or modules installed. Any software not supplied by DP Technology Corporation which is intended to allow the operation of the software without the required plug-in security module and/or integrated security programs is a copyright violation. ESPRIT is a registered trademark of DP Technology Corp.
All brand or product names or proprietary le types mentioned in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Contact the appropriate companies for more information regarding regarding trademarks trademark s and registration. DP Technology Corp. 1150 Avenida Acaso Camarillo, California 93012 USA Tel: +1 805 388 6000 Fax: +1 805 388 3085 www.dptechnology.com Printed in the United States of America
Get Started with ESPRIT 2010 Copyright © 2009 DP Technology Corp. All rights reserved. U.S. Patent No. 6,907,313. Other U.S. patents pending. Information is subject to change without notice. No part of this manual may be reproduced, transmitted, translated in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from DP Technology Corp. The software described in this document may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of the furnished license agreement and/or non-disclosure agreement. It is illegal to copy the software onto any medium except as specied in the t he license or non-disclosure agreement. All DP Technology Corporation software products contain integrated security programs and/or plug-in modules that are required for the software license to properly operate. It is a violation of the DP Technology Corporation copyrights and U.S. Copyright law to disable or attempt to disable or remove or otherwise operate the software without the security programs and/or modules installed. Any software not supplied by DP Technology Corporation which is intended to allow the operation of the software without the required plug-in security module and/or integrated security programs is a copyright violation. ESPRIT is a registered trademark of DP Technology Corp.
All brand or product names or proprietary le types mentioned in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Contact the appropriate companies for more information regarding regarding trademarks trademark s and registration. DP Technology Corp. 1150 Avenida Acaso Camarillo, California 93012 USA Tel: +1 805 388 6000 Fax: +1 805 388 3085 www.dptechnology.com Printed in the United States of America
Contents Welcome to ES PRIT 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Inst alling ESPRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 ESPRIT Suppor t. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ESPRIT Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The ESPRIT Gr aphical User Inter face (GUI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Opening and Storing Files in ESPRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Selecting Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 15 Controlling the Display of Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 20 Working with Geometr y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 25 Geometr y commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 26 Work Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 28 Draw 2D Geometr y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 30 Working with Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 41 Types of Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 42 Creating and editing features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 43 Feature Proper ties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 45 Work Planes assigned to features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 46 Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 47 Impor t a CAD drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 47 Position the par t for machining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 50 Dr aw dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 51 Create 3D features from a 2D drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Milling on a Standard Mill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 SolidMill Machining Technolog y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 SolidMill Tr Traditional Machining Cy Cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 72
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 73
Open the part le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 73 Create a milling tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 74 Create milling features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 78 Create a stock model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 85 Remove excess material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 87 Cut the pockets and slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 94 Mill and drill the holes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Simulate milling operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1 05 Turning on a Standard Lathe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 109 SolidTurn Machining Technolog y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 SolidTurn Machining Cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Open the part le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Create a turning tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 12 0 Create turning features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Create lathe stock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Rough the face and the OD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Drill on the center line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Rough and nish the groove on the OD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 14 0 Contour the OD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 142 143 Rough and nish the ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Groove the ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 14 4 Thread the ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 145 Per form the cutof f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 146 Simulate turning oper ations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Burning on a 2-a xis Wire EDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 SolidWire Machining Technolog y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 SolidWire Gold Machining Cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 162 Open the part le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Set the EDM Machine Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Create EDM features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Create a stock model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Contour the group of holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Contour the die openings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Sort EDM operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Simulate wire EDM operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Using CAD les from other systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 AutoCAD les (*.dxf, *.dwg) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 IGES les (*.igs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 ACIS les (*.sat) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Parasolid les (*.x_t, *x_b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 SolidEdge les (*.par, *.psm) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 SolidWorks (*.sldprt, *.sldasm) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 STEP les (*.stp, *.step) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 STL les (*.stl) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 CATIA les (.model, .catpart, .exp, .dlv) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 UG les (*.prt) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Pro/E les (.prt.*, .prt, asm.*, .asm) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Inventor les (*.ipt, *.iam) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 ESPRIT Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Machining. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 File Locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Welcome to ESPRIT 2010 ESPRIT has all the power you need to machine any part... ESPRIT is a high-performance computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) system for a full range of machine tool applicaons. ESPRIT delivers powerful full-spectrum programming for 2-5 axis milling, 2-22 axis turning, 2-5 axis wire EDM, multasking mill-turn machining, and B-axis machine tools.
ESPRIT’s high-performance capabilies include machining any part geometry (solid, surface, or wireframe), universal post processing to format G-code for virtually any machine tool, and solid simulaon and vericaon with dry runs rendered in dynamic solids for opmal part quality and consistency.
Installing ESPRIT ............................... 2 ESPRIT 2010 System and Component Requirements .......................................... 2 Hardware Key ....... ................................... 2 Install ESPRIT from the DVD ........ 3 Use ESPRIT ................................................3
ESPRIT Support .................................. 4 Phone Support .......................................4 ESPRIT Help on the Web ............. .... 5 Software Maintenance Contract (SMC) .............................................................5
ESPRIT’s multasking component provides powerful capabilies for driving mill-turn machines, mul-axis lathes, and Swiss-style machine tools. ESPRIT provides synchronizaon of simultaneous cung cycles using any combinaon of turrets and spindles for milling or turning, factory-cered post processors for all the leading multasking machine tools, and dynamic solid simulaons for dry run vericaon of the machining processes. Get Started with ESPRIT will
teach you all the basics of how to machine your parts, plus show you advanced techniques to help you get the most out of ESPRIT.
Welcome to ESPRIT 2010
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Installing ESPRIT ESPRIT 2010 System and Component Requirements The installaon program veries all requirements before proceeding. If the system does not meet requirements, the installaon will abort unl the system complies. Exisng users should review their computer systems to be sure that they comply with the latest ESPRIT installaon an d system requirements. The following are minimum hardware requirements for ESPRIT 2010: • 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) processor or greater1 • RAM requirements of a minimum of 1 GB • 128 MB SVGA video card (1024 x 768) • 40 GB hard disk drive • 3 GB of free hard drive space • DVD-ROM drive • Parallel or USB port (required for ESPRIT security) ESPRIT requires certain operang system components to be installed to funcon properly. These are prerequisites of installing ESPRIT. These components must be inst alled prior to installing ESPRIT. Systems failing to meet these criteria will cause the ESPRIT installaon to fail. • Microso® Windows® XP SP323 or Windows® Vista™ or Windows® 73 • Microso® Internet Explorer version 6.0 or greater 1
Processor must support the SSE2 instrucon set. ESPRIT 2010 will be the last ver sion of ESPRIT supported on Microso® Windows® XP. 3 ESPRIT is compiled as an x32 bit applicaon. When run on an x64 OS ESPRIT will be run as x32 bit. 2
Hardware Key Plug your ESPRIT locking device, normally a hardware key (security dongle) provided by DP Technology, into the appropriate USB or parallel port on your computer. If you have a parallel port security dongle, plug it into the primary parallel por t (LPT1) at the back of your computer. Do not plug it into a serial port. ESPRIT will not funcon if the security dongle is not inserted correctly. Take special care to protect your security dongle from loss or damage. It is an integral component of the soware and your license. The only device you may aach to the back of a parallel securit y dongle is a parallel printer. Important: Do not plug any tape backup systems, portable CD-ROMs, DVD players or recorders,
Zip drives, mul-funcon oce systems (all-in-one printer/fax/scanner/copier devices) into a parallel security dongle. These will damage your hardware key. If your security dongle becomes damaged, your ESPRIT soware will not work unl a replacement security dongle and new password can be shipped to you at your expense. Security dongle replacement is not covered by Soware Maintenance Contracts. Lost or stolen security dongles are your responsibility. Please check with your insurance carrier to be sure your business insurance has them covered for the full value of your ESPRIT soware.
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Get Started with ESPRIT 2010
Install ESPRIT from the DVD Please set your computer’s date correctly before installing ESPRIT and do not change the date thereaer.
Important: An incorrect date can damage the security module and render ESPRIT inoperave. Your ESPRIT soware will not work again unl a replacement security module and new password can be shipped to you. 1. Download and install the latest Windows® service packs. 2. Disable any an-virus soware.
3. Open the le “ESPRIT_ReadThisFirst.pdf” on the DVD. 4. Follow the instrucons to perform a new installaon of ESPRIT 2010 or to upgrade from a previous version of ESPRIT.
Use ESPRIT ESPRIT is a single instance applicaon and does not support mulple instances. ESPRIT does not limit the number of instances running, but you may experience unexpected and undesirable results in choosing to run more than one instance of ESPRIT at the same me. Double-click the ESPRIT icon on your Windows desktop Or, From the Windows Start menu, select All Programs » DP Technology » ESPRIT.
Other ESPRIT menu items: NC Editor: NC le eding tool Sengs Manager: Saves the ESPRIT conguraon to allow it to be backed up or transferred to another machine. KnowledgeBase: Database setup and management
Welcome to ESPRIT 2010
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ESPRIT Support The DP Technology web site provides a wide variety of informaon about the company and its products. You can access the web site at: hp://www.dptechnology.com For support issues, please send an e-mail to:
[email protected]
Phone Support Contact your reseller rst. Resellers of ESPRIT give specialized informaon related to the custom soluon they provided to you. This is the best place to start. If you do not have a reseller, contact the nearest DP Technology oce. Corporate Ofces
1150 Avenida Acaso Camarillo, CA 93012 USA Tel: +1 805 388 6000 Fax: +1 805 388 3085 dptechnology.com Midwest USA
10275 West Higgins Road Suite 420Rosemont, IL 60018 USA Tel: +1 847 297 8100 Fax: +1 847 297 8107 dptechnology.com Eastern USA
8535 Cli Cameron Drive Suite 112 Charloe, NC 28269 USA Tel: +1 704 594 9551 Fax: +1 704 594 9802 dptechnology.com DP Japan
Level 28, Shinagawa InterCity Tower A 2-15-1 Konan, Minato-ku Tokyo 108-6028 Japan Tel: +81 3 6717 2896 Fax: +81 3 6717 4545 dptechnology.jp
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Get Started with ESPRIT 2010
DP China
458 North Fu Te Road Building No. 2, 1F Wai Gao Qiao F. T. Z. Shanghai 200131 China Tel: +86 21 5868 3696 Fax: +86 21 5868 2803 dptechnology.cn DP Europe
“Le Thèbes” 68 Allée de Mycénes 34000 Montpellier France Tel: +33 4 67 64 99 40 Fax: +33 4 67 64 99 41 dptechnology.fr DP Germany
Sommerleite 1 D-96 148 Baunach Germany Tel: +49 9544 98756- 0 Fax: +49 9544 98756-29 dptechnology.de DP Italy
Via Iacopo Nardi 2 50132 Florence Italy Tel: +39 055 2342286 Fax: +39 055 2347858 dptechnology.it
ESPRIT Help on the Web Get the most current informaon about ESPRIT, new product features and enhancements, latest releases, post processors, advanced ps, and creave soluons. The ESPRITWeb is a family of websites dedicated to serving the needs of the ESPRIT community. Register for the ESPRITWeb at: hp://www.dptechnology.com/ew • The ESPRITWeb home page is the central point for the ESPRIT online user community. It contains up-to-date informaon on all ESPRIT products and includes links to all other ESPRIT online areas. • Discussion is a discussion group that provides you with an open forum for discussion on any topic related to ESPRIT. Ask quesons and share your ideas, soluons, and exp eriences with other ESPRIT programmers. • Technical Bullens is a web-based librar y of technical informaon and ps about ESPRIT, including a librar y of ESPRIT@Work technical training guides for SolidMill, SolidTurn, SolidWire, Post Processor, and ESPRIT API. • SupportWeb is a web-based three-step technical support system. Start by using the Frequently Asked Quesons (FAQs) to nd a soluon to your problem. If your inial FAQ search does not answer your queson, search the soluon database for answers. Finally, if you have not found your soluon in either of these places, you can submit your queson to our technical support engineers directly from the web and subsequently via e-mail.File Library is a web-based library of post processors, macros, and other data les useful to ESPRIT programmers. The ESPRITWeb is only available to registered E SPRIT users who have an acve Soware Maintenance Contract (SMC). For more informaon on SMC, go to hp://www.dptechnology.com and click on the link to Professional Services. We look forward to hearing your c omments and suggesons on how we can improve the DP Technology website. Send your comments via e-mail to
[email protected] or even beer, post your message on the Discussion group.
Software Maintenance Contract (SMC ) Our goal is to build successful ESPRIT users. We believe the best way to do this is through the SMC program. Parcipants receive... • Unlimited phone support • Connuous ESPRIT soware and documentaon upgrades • ESPRIT de Corps Newsleer, our informave and technical newsleer • Opportunity to parcipate in and gain from cung edge eld tesng • 24-hour web access to the DP Help Center and FTP site • Invitaon to ESPRIT World Conference For more details on the DP Technology SMC, please call 1+ 805 388 600 0.
Welcome to ESPRIT 2010
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Get Started with ESPRIT 2010
ESPRIT Fundamentals Before you begin the lessons in this guide, you should familiarize yourself with how to work with par t les in ESPRIT. As a nave Windows-based applicaon, the ESPRIT interface and its menus and toolbars should look familiar to you.
This chapter introduces the ESPRIT work environment and explains how to work with ESPRIT part les.
The ESPRIT Graphical User Interface (GUI) ..................................... 8 Menus ...........................................................9 Default Toolbars ..................................10 The Smart Toolbar..............................10 Other Toolbars .......................................11 Displaying the XYZ Axis and the UVW Axis.....................................................11
Opening and Storing Files in ESPRIT ............................................. ......... 13 Creating a New File ................ .......... 13 Opening an Existing File ............... 14 Saving a File .............. ................ ............. 14
Selecting Elements .........................15 Selecting Elements in the Work Area ...............................................................15 The Group Command ........................15 Selection Modes...................................16 You will learn: • How to use ESPRIT menus and toolbars • How to open and store ESPRIT les • How to select, or group, elements using various selecon modes such as HI, SNAP, and SUB-ELEMENTS • How to control the display of elements with views, masks, and layers X Before beginning to use ESPRIT, you should have a working
knowledge of your computer, the Microso® Windows® operang system and its convenons. You should know how to use a mouse and standard menus and commands. To review these techniques, refer to the documenta on for Microso® Windows®.
Deselecting Elements.......................19 Selecting Items in the Project Manager ......................................................19
Controlling the Display of Elements ............................................... 20 Shaded and Wireframe Displays 20 Views .......................................................... 20 Pan, Zoom, and Rotate the View 21 Masks ..........................................................23 Layers .........................................................23
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The ESPRIT Graphical User Interface (GUI) Let’s start by taking a look at the ESPRIT screen. This window is displayed when you create a new le or open an exisng one. The ESPRIT window contains: 1. Menus and default toolbars along the top of the screen. You can select commands from the menus or from toolbars. 2. A graphic work area where you can view your work. T his is the largest area of the screen.
3. The Prompt area, at the boom le of the screen, displays prompts that tell you what to do next. Always pay aenon to what the prompt is telling you. 4. The Status area, at the boom of the ESPRIT screen, provides dynamic informaon about the current work environment. As you select commands or move the cursor, the informaon is constantly updated. 1
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ESPRIT also provides two specialized windows that provide addional informaon about the parts you are working on and provide an excellent way to manage your work. 5. The Project Manager consists of a tabbed set of windows that list every feature, every cung tool, and every operaon in the current session. The Project Manager lets you manage, sort, and reorder these items. To view the Project Manager, press the F2 key or click Project Manager on the View menu.
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Get Started with ESPRIT 2010
6. The Property Browser displays the specic properes of any item selected in the graphic work area or the Project Manager. The types of properes displayed depend on the type of item selected. You can view and change individual proper es for the selected item. To view the Property Browser, click Properes on the View menu or hold down the Alt key as you press Enter.
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Menus Commands are located on eight menus. Most of the menu commands are also available on the toolbars.
• File: Open an exisng le or create a new one. Save les that have changed. • Edit: Copy or delete items, move the origin point or change the orientaon of an imported model. • View: Set the display of the work environment. • Create: Draw new geometry and dimensions, create features, surfaces, or solids. • Machining: Set up the machine denion, create cung tools, create and simulate machining operaons. • Tools: Set the system unit, create macros, load add-in programs, and personalize ESPRIT. • Window: Create new windows and arrange the display of mulple windows. • Help: Access the online help les or learn about your current version of ESPRIT.
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Default Toolbars The default toolbars are located near the top of the ESPRIT screen.
1. The Standard toolbar has le management commands that let you create, open, save, and print les. This is also where you can nd the Copy command when you want to copy elements in the work area. 2. The View toolbar has several commands that let you control th e display in the work area, such as zooming and rotang the view plus commands that let you choose whether to display part s in shaded or wire frame modes.
3. The Edit toolbar gives you selecon tools that let you lter the types of elements that can be selected or automacally select (group) mulple elements from the selecon of a single element. 4. The Layers and Planes toolbar has commands for creang and selecng work planes, layers, and view planes. 1
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The Smar t Toolbar Use the Smart toolbar to quickly display and hide ESPRIT toolbars based on the type of work you want to do. The rst three icons on the toolbar relate to the machining modes in ESPRIT: milling, turning, and wire EDM.
If you click “Switch to SolidMill”, the toolbar is updated to display commands that let you create milling tools and operaons. If you click “Switch to SolidTurn”, the milling commands are hidden and new commands display that let you create turning and mill/turn operaons and tools.
If you want to create geometry, just click the Geometry ic on to acvate the Geometry group of toolbars.
If you click Milling Tools, the geometry toolbars are hidden and milling tool commands are displayed. All visible toolbars acvated from the Smart toolbar will always be shown in the s ame posion so you never have to hunt for a command.
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Other Toolbars In addion to the Smart toolbar, you can display other toolbars. To display other toolbars: • On the View menu, click Toolbars... and then select a toolbar from the list. Any toolbar that has a check mark next to the name is already displayed on the screen. • Right-click on any visible toolbar and select the toolbar you want to display • To show toolbars for machining operaons, select the machining type on the Machining menu, such as SolidMill Tradional, and then select the machining type again on the secondary menu. To hide a toolbar: • On the View menu, click Toolbars... and select a toolbar that has a check mark next to the name • Right-click on a toolbar and select the toolbar you want to hide • To hide a machining toolbar, right-click on the toolbar and select Hide To move a toolbar, place the cursor on the double line at the top or to the right of the toolbar and drag it to a new locaon. When you drag a toolbar near the edge of the screen, it will automacally snap to the edge.
Instrucons that describe how to create your own toolbars or customize exisng toolbars are available in ESPRIT Help. Press F1 to display the help and then click “Customize” in the index. If you would like to customize the Smart toolbar, click “Smart Toolbar Add-In” in the index .
Displaying the XYZ Axis and the UVW A xis You can display two types of axes in the work area: XYZ Axis: The global axis posioned at the global origin point UVW Axis: The local axis of the current work plane The display of the two axes is controlled on the View menu.
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The XYZ axis shows the posion of the part model in relaon to the global axis.
The UVW axis shows the origin and orientaon of the current work plane. You will learn more about work planes in the lesson “Working with Geometry”.
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Get Started with ESPRIT 2010
Opening and Storing Files in ESPRIT When you start a new session in ESPRIT or create a new le, you are given the choice of starng with a blank le or basing your new work session on a predened template.
The
opon opens a new le that uses the ESPRIT defaults. A template le contains user-dened elements and sengs for the way you machine parts at your company. You can create templates that include regularly used tools, machine setup c onguraons, simulaon sengs, repeated geometry, and KnowledgeBase sengs. A s you become more familiar with ESPRIT, you can create templates that make it easier and faster to work on similar types of jobs. As a new user, select and click OK. The commands on the File menu or the icons on the Standard toolbar (located near the upper le of the ESPRIT screen) are used to manage part les. The display of the template dialog is controlled by the “Display Template Dialog” opon on the Input page of the Opons dialog, available on the Tools menu. By default, the template dialog displays. For more informaon about how to create and use template les, please refer to th e ESPRIT help.
Creating a New File Clicking the New command closes the current le so that you can begin work on a new le. If changes have been made to the current le, ESPRIT will prompt you to save those changes before the le is closed.
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Opening an Existing File Clicking the Open command lets you open nave ESPRIT les (.esp extension), nave 2D and 3D les from other CAD systems such as SolidWorks or Pro/E, stereolithography (STL) les, and translated les such as IGES and STEP.
Since ESPRIT is based on the Parasolids kernel, it is adept at opening a variety of solid model les. Aer you click Open, you can use the “Files of type” pulldown to list only les with a specic extension. This makes it easier to browse for the le you want. If the le you’re looking for has an unlisted extension, select “All Files”.
X The list of available le formats is based on the licensed opons. For example, if your license
does not allow you to open CATIA les, this opon will not display in the “Files of Type” pulldown.
Saving a File Aer working in ESPRIT, you’ll want to save your work so you can retrieve it later. The Save command stores the current le as a nave ESPRIT le or as another t ype of CAD format. ESPRIT les are saved with a “.esp” le extension. If you want to convert the le to a di erent le format, select the “Save as type” pulldown and then select a le extension.
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Get Started with ESPRIT 2010
Selecting Elements One of the most important tasks in any CAD/CAM system is the ability to select a variety of elements in the part le. A single part le may include one or more solid models, wireframe geometry, surfaces, and toolpath. In addion, you must have the ability to select individual components of an element, such as edges on a solid model or the endpoint of a line.
Selecting Elements in the Work Area Elements in the work area can be selected individually, as a group or by t ype of element. • Use your mouse to select an individual element in the work area • To select more than on element, hold down the Ctrl key as you select elements or drag a selecon box over a group of elements • To select a group of connected elements, hold down the Shi key as you select an element Use the Selecon Filter to select elements by type. If Geometry is chosen, you will only be able to select geometry elements in the work area. When you are nished, remember to set the Selecon type back to All.
The Group Command If you want to select all elements that t specic selecon criteria, you can use the Group command on the Edit menu. The Group command lets you selec t all elements using the following criteria: • Element type • Color • Layer • Work Plane
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Aer you idenfy the selecon criteria, click OK to automacally select all elements that meet those criteria.
Selection Modes Five selecon modes are provided pr ovided in the status area at the lower right of the screen: • HI (highlight) (highlight) mode • SNAP mode • SUB-ELEMENTS mode • INT (intersecon) (intersecon) mode • GRID mode
When a mode is grayed out, that means the mode is disabled. Click on a mode to enable or disable it.
HI Mode When HI mode is enabled, ESPRIT always asks you to conrm element s elecons. This allows you to select from elements that are close to, or even on top of, each other. other. For example, you can use HI mode to select a solid model, an edge on that model, or feature created from a solid model.
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When HI mode is enabled, ESPRIT will prompt “Is this the correc t choice” and highlights an element near the selecon point.
If this is not the correct element, answer No by pressing the right mouse buon. ESPRIT will highlight the next closest element. In this example, you want to select the feature but a segment is highlighted instead. You would click the right mouse buon unl the feature highlights.
When the correct element is highlighted, answer Yes by pressing the le mouse buon.
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SNAP Mode When SNAP mode is enabled, the cursor curs or recognizes the midpoints and endpoints of lines and segments and the center points of circles and arcs as valid point selecons. With SNAP enabled, the cursor changes to: when you hover over the end of a segment or arc when you hover near the midpoint of a segment or arc when you hover over the center point of a circle or arc
SUB-ELEMENTS mode When SUB-ELEMENTS mode is enabled, you can select the individual sub-elements of solid models or features in the work area. For example, you can selec t the faces, faces loops, or edges of a solid model. You can also select the sub-elements of features. The selecon of sub-elements is extremely useful for selecng the individual faces on a solid model that you want to machine. The Grouping Properes command relies on the selecon of sub-elements to automacally group faces for several types of features: Holes, Pockets, Dra Feature Recognion, Turning Proles, and FreeForm features.
INT Mode When INT mode is enabled, the cursor recognizes the intersecons of segments, lines, arcs, and circles as valid point selecons. With INT set on, the cursor changes immediately to and remains as the INT cursor unl an intersecon is chosen. The cursor exits INT mode immediately aer an intersecon is chosen.
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Get Started with ESPRIT 2010
GRID Mode ESPRIT uses the grid conguraon sengs from the Opons dialog box (from the Tools menu, select Opons and then the Input tab). This lets you select from a dened invisible array of screen locaons in response to prompts for points, angles, distances, and so on. You may want to set the grid spacing to match your par t drawing values.
Deselecting Elements To deselect all items simply click anywhere in a blank area of the work area.
Selecting Items in the Project Manager Features and machining operaons can be selected directly in the Project Manager. Most of the me, this is much easier than selecng these items in the work area. When a feature or operaon is selected within the Project Manager, the same item highlights in the work area.
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Controlling the Display of Elements ESPRIT provides a variety of methods that let you control how your parts are displayed.
Shaded and Wireframe Displays For solids and surfaces, you can set the display to shaded or wireframe mode.
Shaded Wire: Creates a shaded image with wireframe. The display of the wireframe is light source dependent. Wireframes will appear in dierent colors and/or disappear depending on the part orientaon with respect to the light. Silhouees are not supported, only true edges. Shaded: Creates a shaded image. Has no eect on geometr y elements. You can also shade the simulaon of cung operaons.
Hidden Wireframe: Displays visible solids, surfaces, and geometry as wireframe depending on the orientaon of the part. Elements that would normally be hidden by a shaded view are not displayed.
Wireframe: Displays all solids, surfaces, and geometr y as wireframe.
Views ESPRIT provides several standard view orientaons.
When you change from one view plane to another, the display in the work area rotates to the new view orientaon and the display automacally zooms to t all elements within the sc reen. You can control the rotaon animaon speed on the Workspace tab of the Opons dialog (available on the Tools menu). 20 |
Get Started with ESPRIT 2010
You can also store your own view orientaons. Pan, rotate or zoom the view to the orientaon you prefer and then create a new view to store the view for later use.
Pan, Zoom, and Rotate the View Commands on the View toolbar let you t, zoom, pan and rotate the display of your part in the work area. However, it is faster to use the mouse and keyboard to modify the view.
Fast Rotate Hold down the Ctrl key and the middle mouse buon, or scroll wheel, and move the mouse to quickly rotate the view. If you hold the mouse buon down over an axis or geometry element, the view will rotate about that element. Alternaves
• Click the Rotate command on the View toolbar • Hold down the Ctrl key and press the up or down keys to rotate 15° around the horizontal axis • Hold down the Ctrl key and press the right or le arrow keys to rotate 15° around the vercal axis • Hold down the Alt key and press the right or le arrow keys to rotate 15° around the normal axis • Hold down Shi+Ctrl and press the up or down arrow keys to rotate 90° around the horizontal axis • Hold down Shi+Ctrl and press the right or le arrow keys to rotate 90° around the vercal axis
Zoom Spin the scroll wheel forward to zoom in. Spin the scroll wheel backwards to zoom out. T he zoom takes place from the locaon of the cursor on the screen. Alternaves
• Use the zoom commands on the View toolbar: Zoom, Zoom Previous, Zoom Dynamic • Hold down the Shi key and press the up or down arrow keys to zoom in or zoom out
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Smart Zoom Hold down the Shi key and the middle mouse buon, or scroll wheel, and move the mouse forward to zoom in or move backwards to zoom out. With Smart Zoom, the zoom takes place from the center of the model regardless of the posion of the mouse. That way, the model is always visible when you zoom.
Pan Hold down the middle mouse buon, or scroll wheel, and move the mouse right, le, forward, or backward to pan the view. Alternaves
• Click the Pan command on the View toolbar • Press the right, le, up, or down keys
Keyboard Shortcuts Press F5 to redraw the screen. Press F6 to t all visible graphic elements on the screen. Press F7 to switch to a top view. Press F8 to switch to an isometric view.
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Masks The Masks command on the View menu lets you hide the display of specic types of elements. Press Ctrl+M to display the dialog. Items with a chec k mark are displayed. Select any items you want to hide to remove the check mark. All elements of that type will be hidden in the work area. To display the elements again, select the item in the dialog.
Layers Layers are very useful for controlling the display of dierent types of elements in a complex part le. For example, you can set up dierent layers for machine components, the inial part stock or casng, the nished part, roughing tool paths and nishing tool paths, or any other type of geometry.
When new elements are created, they are placed on the acve layer. Layers can be turned on or o to hide or show the dierent aspects of your part. The elements are not deleted, just temporarily hidden. You can turn a layer back on at any me. Elements can be placed on a dierent layer by rst selecng one or more elements and then changing the “Layer” property in the Property Browser.
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Get Started with ESPRIT 2010
Working with Geometry A basic requirement of any CAD/CAM system is to provide funcons that allow the creaon of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional geometry. For machinists, the ability to create geometry to aid in the creaon of proper tool path is crical. ESPRIT provides funcons to create two types of geometry: unbounded and bounded. Unbounded geometry has no end point or start point, such as an innite line, or the start point and end point are the same, such as a circle or ellipse. Bounded geometry is limited to a start point and end point, such as a line segment or arc.
Geometry commands ................... 26 Unbounded Geometry .................... . ..................... 26 Bounded Geometry ............................27 ............................27 Entering Values ...................................27 Geometry creation modes ...........28 . ..........28
Work Planes ....................................... 28 Saving a work plane ........................29
Draw 2D Geometry ........................ 30
Some geometric elements are neither bounded or unbounded, such as points, rectangles, and polygons. In addion, ESPRIT lets you trim or ex tend geometry, or add llets and chamfers to corners.
The intent of this lesson is to teach you the basics of creang 2-dimensional geometry in ESPRIT.
You will learn: • About the commands commands for creang geometry • About work planes and how to modify their locaon and orientaon • How to draw lines, rectangles, points, and circles • How to trim geometry and llet corners • How to draw a hole paern from an array of points
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Geometry commands Geometry commands are available on two toolbars: Unbounded Geometry and Bounded Geometry.
Unbounded Geometry The Unbounded Geometry toolbar displays automacally when you click Geometry on the Smart toolbar.
Point: Creates a point using a reference element or entered values. The user can enter XYZ coordinate values, select grid points, p oints, or choose a reference element to create cr eate a point: on a Snap locaon (end point, midpoint, or center point), at the intersecon of t wo elements, at a specied distance along an element, or at a specied distance and angle from a reference locaon. Line 1: Creates a line from one reference element. The line c an be created through a point, tangent to a circle or arc, or parallel to another line, segment, or axis. Line 2: Creates a line from two reference elements. Th e line can be created bet ween two points, tangent to circles or arcs, or perpendicular to another line through a specied locaon. Circle 1: Creates a circle from one reference element. T he circle is centered at a specied locaon or created concentric to another circle. Circle 2: Creates a circle from two reference elements. The circle is created through or tangent to two elements or Snap locaons. Circle 3: Creates a circle from three reference elements. The circle is created through throu gh or tangent to three elements or Snap locaons. The radius is calculated from the three locaons. Ellipse 1: Creates an ellipse centered about a point or Snap locaon. The user is prompted for the center point, angle of major axis, major radius, and minor radius. Ellipse 3: Creates an ellipse from three points or Snap locaons. T he user is prompted for the center point, a point that denes the angle of the major axis and the major radius, and a point anywhere on the ellipse. Fillet/Chamfer: Creates an arc (llet) or segment (chamfer) between two Fillet/Chamfer: t wo reference elements. Depending on the selected geometry, the elements are either trimmed or extended to the end points of the llet or chamfer. Keep: Keeps the poron of an element between bet ween two reference elements and trims the rest. res t. This command can also be used to convert an arc to a circle, a segment to a line, or a bounded ellipse to an unbounded ellipse. Trim: Trims the poron of an element between two reference elements. Point Array: Creates mulple points at evenly spaced intervals. The user can specify the number of points to create in a linear array, arr ay, circular array, array, or grid array. In addion, the user can choose to automacally create a PTOP feature from those points at the same me. Horizontal/Vercal Line: Creates a line parallel to the X-axis (horizontal) or the Y-axis (vercal) at a specied distance.
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Rectangle: Creates a rectangle or cube from two points or Snap locaons. When the reference points lie on the same plane, a rectangle is created from four separate segments. When the reference points lie on dierent planes, a cube is created from twelve separate segments. Polygon: Creates a closed shape with any number of sides centered about a point or Snap locaon.
Bounded Geometry To display display the Bounded Geometry Geometr y tool bar, click ‘Bounded Geometry’ on the Create tool bar. Most of the commands are the same except that you can create segments instead of lines and arcs instead of circles.
Segment 1: Creates a segment from one reference element. The segment can be created cr eated through a point, tangent to a circle or arc, or parallel to another line, segment, or axis. The user species the length and angle. Segment 2: Creates a segment from two reference elements that dene the start and end points. The segment can be created between two points, tangent to circles or arcs, or perpendicular to another line, segment, or axis. Arc 1: Creates an arc from a center point, a radius value, and start and end angles. Arc 2: Creates an arc with a specied radius through or tangent to two reference elements. Arc 3: Creates an arc from three reference elements that dene the start point, a point on the arc, and the end point. Ellipse 1: Creates an open ellipse centered about a point or Snap locaon. The user is prompted for the center point, angle of major axis, major radius, minor radius, start angle, and end angle. Ellipse 3: Creates an ellipse from three points or Snap locaons. The user is prompted for the th e center point, a point that denes the angle of the major axis and the major radius, and an end point. The second point selected also denes the start point of the ellipse.
Entering Values Each geometry command displays a series of messages in the prompt area (located at the lower le corner of the screen). The messages typically prompt you to select a reference element in the work area, such as a center point for a circle or an end point p oint for a line, and then prompt you to input a value, such as a radius or distance.
You can accept the displayed value by pressing the Enter key or you c an type a new value. As soon as you begin typing on the keyboard, an input box displays.
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You can type the value or you can enter a mathemacal expression to calculate the value, such as SQR(PI*3) or 10/3.
Geometry creation modes When a geometry command is clicked c licked on the toolbar, its mode of geometry creaon is ac vated. The mode stays acve unl you press the Escape key or click another command. For example, if you click the Circle 1 command, you can create cr eate one circle aer another.
Work Planes When geometry is created, it is drawn on the current work plane. Work planes let you draw geometry on a plane other than the default XYZ plane. The locaon and orientaon of the current work plane is shown by the UVW axis. To display the UVW axis, click ‘UVW Axis’ on the View menu.
ESPRIT provides three work plane orientaons, all starng at the system origin point: • XYZ: U, V, and W share the same orientaon as X, Y, Y, and Z. Geometry is drawn on the XY plane. • ZXY: U, V, V, and W are aligned along Z, X, and Y respecvely. Geometry is drawn on the ZX plane. • YZX: U, V, and W are aligned along Y, Y, Z, and X respecvely. Geometry is drawn on the YZ plane. In ESPRIT, ESPRIT, the tool axis is always aligned along the W, or Z, axis.
Users have the ability to create their own work planes in any or ientaon and locaon using the commands on the ‘Modify Work Plane’ tool bar. This tool bar displays automacally when ‘Geometry’ is clicked on the Smart tool bar.
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Work Plane from Geometry: Creates a work plane from selec ted elements that dene a plane. Any of the following can be selected: two intersecng lines or edges of a surface or solid, a line and a point not on that line, three points not on the same line, a circle. Th e rst element selected denes the U axis, the second element denes the V. Parallel Work Plane: Moves the UVW axis incrementally according to the U, V, and W values you enter. Follow the prompts at the lower le of the screen. If the UVW has the same orientaon as the XYZ axis, Parallel Work Plane works the same as Translate Work Plane. Translate Work Plane: Moves the UVW axis incrementally according to the X, Y, and Z values you enter and according to the orientaon of the XYZ axis. Follow the prompts at the lower le of the screen. Rotate Work Plane: Rotates the UVW axis any angle about a s elected line or segment. Rotate UVW: Rotates the UVW axis any angle about the U, V, and W axis. Symmetry Work Plane: Moves the UVW axis symmetrically with respec t to a selected plane. You can select elements to dene the mirror plane (see Work Plane from Geometry) or use an exisng plane as the mirror plane. To do so, type the word “name” and then enter the name of the plane you want to use. X Aer a work plane is reposioned, you can us e it immediately. The posion of the elements you
create will be based on the new locaon and orientaon of the UVW axis.
Saving a work plane To save the current posion of the UVW, open the Work Planes dialog (press F10) and click New. Enter a name for the new plane and click OK .
When “Include View” is checked, the same name and orientaon is added to the list of View Planes so you can change to that view at any me. Th e view is created with the ‘W’ of the UVW axis poinng out towards you so that you can create elements on the UV (or XY) plane. An asterisk (*) displays aer the new plane name in list for b oth Work Planes and View Planes to indicate that the work plane includes a view.
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Draw 2D Geometry In this lesson you will learn to draw points, lines, and circles and become familiar with how to trim elements.
You will draw the geometry using the dimensions in this drawing. All dimensions are in millimeters.
Create a new ESPRIT document You will start with a new document that does not have any geometry at all. Open ESPRIT or, if ESPRIT is already running , click New.
Make sure System Unit, on the Tools menu, is set to Metric.
Set the view to ‘Top’.
Make sure SNAP mode and HI mode are acve.
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Draw the part boundary as a rectangle The outer boundary of the part is the perfect shape for using the Rectangle command. The Rectangle command requires the entry of two point locaons that dene the opposite corners of the shape. You will learn how to enter a point locaon when no points exist in the document.
On the Smart tool bar, click Geometry.
• Click Rectangle
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• You are prompted to “Select First Reference Point”. Select the origin point located in the middle of the screen. • You are prompted to “Select Second Reference Point”. You do not have a second point, but you do know that the part boundary measures 120 mm wide by 90 mm high. • Type the leer N to indicate there is no point and press the Enter key. • You are prompted to “Enter X Value”. Type the number 120 and press Enter. • You are prompted to “Enter Y Value”. Type the number 90 and press Enter. X You could also enter all the values for a point locaon in the inpu t box as a single string. For
example, n;120;90.
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Draw the boundary lines for the pocket The edges of the pocket are oset from the part boundary by 5 mm. Now that you have the boundary geometry, you can use it as a reference for addional geometr y. You will use the segments in the boundary to create parallel lines. • Press F6 to t the rectangle in the window. • Click Line 1
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• You are prompted to “Select Reference Element”. Select one of the segments. • You are prompted to “Enter Distance”. Type 5 and press Enter. • You are prompted to select an oset direc on of “Up, Down, Le, or Right”. Digize inside the boundary.
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• You are again prompted to select a reference element. Select another segment in the boundary. • This me the distance defaults to 5, so just press Enter. • Again digize inside the boundary. • Follow the prompts to create the next two lines for the pocket.
Trim the pocket boundary • Click Keep
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• Select a line by digizing it inside the pocket boundary since this is the por on of the line you want to keep. • Digize the other three lines in the same way so that all the lines are trimmed.
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Add more detail to the pocket The upper poron of the pocket is 35 mm across. There is also an angled line that starts 45 mm above the boom of the part boundary. • Click Line 1
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• Select the le pocket segment and enter a distance of 35. • Digize to the right of the selected segment. • Select the boom segment of the part boundary and enter a distance of 45. • Digize above the selected segment.
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Draw the angled line With Line 1 sll acve, click INT mode to acvate it.
• Move the cursor over the intersecon of the two lines you just created and click to select the intersecon. • You are prompted to “Enter Angle”. Type -10 and press Enter. • Click ‘Select’ and then select the horizontal line. Press the Delete key since you do not need this line anymore.
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Fillet the pocket corners All the corners of the pocket have a 6 mm llet except for the intersecon of the angled line, which is sharp. • Click Fillet/Chamfer
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• In the dialog, set the Radius to 6. • Select the segments at each corner, digizing on the side of the segment that is inside the pocket boundary. • Change the Radius to 0. • Select the angled segment to the right of the intersecon. • Select the vercal segment above the intersecon.
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Draw the first point for the hole pattern From the drawing, you know that one circle is posioned 8 mm away from the top right corner of the part boundary. You also know the width and height of the part, so you c an calculate the locaon for the rst circle. Click Point
.
In the dialog, select ‘Cartesian/Center’. For the X value, enter 120-8 (width minus the oset). For the Y value, enter 90-8 (height minus the oset). Set Z to 0 and click Apply to create the rst point.
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Draw an array of points The holes in the hole paern are evenly spaced 64 mm horizontally and 30 mm vercally. The easiest way to create a hole paern is to use the Point Array command to create the center points. • Click Point Array
.
• In the dialog, select ‘Grid’. • Set ‘Number’ to 2 horizontally and 2 vercally. • Set ‘Distance’ to -64 horizontally and -30 vercally. Negave values are used because you want to create the array below and to the le of the point you just created. • Set ‘Angle’ to 0 horizontally and 90 vercally. • Select the rst point of the hole paern.
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Draw the hole pattern The last step is to draw the 7 mm diameter holes using the points you created. • Click Circle 1
.
• Select a point. • You are prompted to “Enter Radius”. Type 7/2 and press Enter. • Select another point and press Enter to accept the default radius. Create the other two circles in the same way. • Press the Escape key to exit the Circle 1 command.
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Working with Features Features are an integral component to the machining funcons in ESPRIT and serve several purposes: • They describe the shape of the parts you want to machine. ESPRIT uses standard manufacturing terms for features such as pocket, hole, prole, face, and so on. In this way, a set of features can describe the shape of an enre part. • Features contain machining properes that control where material removal should occur. These properes include cung depths, dra angles, cut direcon, entry and exit points, and lead-in/lead-out points to name a few. • When a feature (or features) is selected before a machining command is clicked, ESPRIT will automacally load the machining properes from the selected feature onto the operaon technology page. This saves me and prevents the errors caused by entering values manually. • Features help automate machining processes because they provide a single source of informaon about how to cut a part. Any number of machining operaons can be associated with a single feature. Associated tool paths are easily updated whenever a feature is modied. The intent of this lesson is to introduce the user to the importance of features in machining operaons and to provide an introductory lesson on how to create 2-dimensional features from the geometry in a drawing and modify those features to add 3-dimensional properes for machining.
Types of Features ...........................42 Chain Feature .............. ................ .........42 PTOP Feature .........................................42 Feature Set ............... ................ .............. 42 Custom Object ......................................42
Creating and editing features 43 Creating features .............. ............... ..43 Editing features ..................................44
Feature Properties ........................45 Work Planes assigned to features 46 Prerequisites.............. ........................47 Import a CAD drawing .................47 Position the part for machining 50 Draw dimensions .............................. 51 Create 3D features from a 2D drawing ..................................................53
You will learn: • About the dierent types of features • Commands for creang and eding features • Properes assigned to features • Work planes assigned to features • How to create 3-dimensional features from a 2D drawing
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Types of Features When a feature is created, it is classied as one of the following:
Chain Feature An individual feature is considered to be a chain feature. A chain feature could be the boundary around a part, a simple pocket, or a path constructed of wire frame geometry. A chain feature denes the start locaon, direcon, and end locaon for a cung path.
Chain features are quite simple and are used when you want the cuer to follow a dened path. Typically, these are contouring or proling operaons. In most cases, the tool can be centered on the chain feature or oset to the right or le.
PTOP Feature A PTOP (point-to-point) feature denes a path connecng a series of holes or points. PTOP features are typically used for drilling operaons and can also be used for manual milling. The tool will follow this path to drill each hole. PTOP features contain informaon about the depth and diameter of holes along the path as well as informaon about chamfers and counter bores.
Feature Set A collecon of individual features that comprise an area to be machined is considered a feature set. Feature sets are represented by a folder in the Feature Manager. A feature set is typically a Pocket feature that has sub-pockets or islands or it can be a Part feature containing all features found within a part boundary.
Custom Object All EDM features created with the Dra Feature Recognion command are custom objects. Custom Objects also have an associated Feature Type that designates the feature as a Dra Conic Feature (2axis) or Ruled Feature (4-axis).
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Creating and editing features Features are created using the commands on the Features toolbar. To display the toolbar, click Features on the Smart tool bar.
Two toolbars display: Create Features and Edit Features.
Creating features Features are created from commands on the Create Features toolbar.
Manual Chain: Creates a chain feature from manually selected elements or point loc aons. This command can also be used to re-open a chain for eding. Auto Chain: Creates a chain feature automacally from elements that form a closed or open shape. The feature can be created from grouped elements or a manually selected start point, the next element in the chain, and an end point. Manual PTOP: Creates a PTOP feature from grouped or manually selected circles or point locaons. Holes: Automacally recognizes holes on a solid model using criteria that denes the allowable range of diameter values. Face Proles: Creates a prole feature from any combinaon of solid faces, face loops, solid edges, or wire frame geometry. Face Proles also processes any holes within the s elected face like the Holes command, using the allowable range of hole diameters dened in Feature Parameters. Pocket: Recognizes pockets, and any internal islands, found within a closed boundary and creates features on them. A Pocket feature can be created from a solid model, a face or face loop on a solid model, or a chain feature. Feature Parameters: Denes the parameters used for automac hole recognion in the Holes and Face Proles commands and the recognion of milled holes in the Pocket command. An addional seng controls the creaon of mulple pockets when the Pocket funcon is used. Part Prole: Creates geometry or, oponally, a chain feature at the intersec on of the UV plane of the UVW axis and a selected solid, NURB surface, or composite. For solid models, a cross-secon is created at the UV plane. For NURB surfaces and composites, the geometry marks the silhouee of the part projected along the W axis onto the UV plane. Turning Proles: Analyzes a part to nd OD, ID, or face projecon proles and generates a prole for use in turning operaons. A turning prole can be created from a solid model, solid faces, surfaces, surface composite, or STL model. The calculated prole can be created as a chain feature or as individual geometric elements. Dra Feature Recognion: Creates a 2-axis or 4-axis EDM feature automacally from a solid model, grouped wire frame geometry, or solid faces. This command is only available when the machining mode is set to SolidWire. Gear: Creates a chain feature of an inner or outer involute gear from specied gear data.
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Cam: Creates a chain feature of a cam prole based on values provided by the user.
Editing features The Features tool bar also displays commands you can use to edit features.
Insert Point: Inserts a point in an exisng PTOP feature. New Start: Changes the start locaon on a chain feature to any element dened in the original chain. Remove from PTOP Feature: Removes a point from a PTOP feature. Move Back: Removes any number of elements, from last to rst, on an exisng chain or PTOP feature. This command is available only when the Manual Chain funcon is acve. Modify Sharp Corner: Places arcs on corners (non-tangent juncons) of a chain feature. Arcs can be applied to the enre chain or any poron of a chain. Modify Internal/External Corners: Analyzes a chain or EDM feature to nd and idenfy all corners, then automacally applies a user-dened corner style to those corners. A corner style can be applied to all corners, internal corner s only, external corners only, clockwise corners, or counter clockwise corners. Find Shortest Path: Opmizes the travel distance between points in a PTOP or Hole feature. Reverse: Reverses the direcon of a cur ve, chain feature, or PTOP feature.
Commands to edit EDM features Several commands on the Edit Features toolbar are designed specic ally for EDM features. Taper Change - Inserts a pivot or gradual taper change into a dra conic feature. Add Match Line - Adds a new synchronizaon line to a 4-axis ruled feature. Remove Match Line - Deletes a synchronizaon line from a 4 -axis ruled feature. Add Slug Retenon Prole - Adds small slots or gr ooves to an EDM die feature to prevent a slug from staying in the die during a punching operaon. Remove Slug Retenon Prole - Removes slug retenon proles from EDM die features. Add Extra Cut-o - Adds an extra break point to an exisng EDM feature at a user-dened locaon and distance. Remove Extra Cut-o - Removes an extra break point that was previously added to an EDM feature.
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Feature Properties The Property Browser displays all the properes of a selected item. These include general properes such as color, layer, and element type plus any machining properes. Features always have machining properes. To display the Property Browser, hold down the Alt key as you press the Enter key (Alt+Enter) or select Properes on the View menu. In addion to properes for the enre feature, each feature also has properes for each subelement such as the posion of each point in a PTOP feature, the length of segment s in a chain feature, plus aributes that show whether an edge is open or closed. You can highlight subelements in a selected feature using HI mode. To edit a feature property, click on the value to the right of the property and make your change. In this way, you can create a feature from 2D geometry and quickly give it 3D prop eres by adding depth and dra angles.
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Work Planes assigned to features Each me a new feature is created, a work plane is as signed to it automacally. The assigned work plane property aects the orientaon of the tool for milling and turning operaons placed on that feature. It has no eect on the orientaon of the wire in EDM operaons. You can view the work plane property in the Property Browser. ESPRIT assigns only one work plane to each feature, regardless of the complexity of the feature. If you try to delete a work plane associated with an exisng feature, ESPRIT protects you from accidentally deleng the work plane by displaying a warning that your acon is not allowed.
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Prerequisites The les for this lesson are available on the ESPRIT DVD in the ‘Get Started’ folder. The les are also available for download from ESPRITWeb » File Library » ESPRIT 2010. All dimensions in this lesson are in millimeters. Make sure “System Unit” on the Tools menu is set to “Metric”. If you would like to review and simulate the machining operaons from this lesson, the completed ESPRIT le is available in the folder “completed_parts”.
Import a CAD drawing You will start by opening an AutoC AD le in ESPRIT. This drawing has part geometry that you will use to create features. There is other geometry that you do not need, such as the drawing border and tle secon. You will control the display of the geometry with layers. On the Standard toolbar, click Open.
Browse and select the following le: drawing.dxf In the dialog, click Opons and make sure ‘File Unit’ is Metric. Click OK to close the Opons dialog. Click Open.
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If the Feature Manager is not displayed, press F2. If the Property Browser is not displayed, press Alt+Enter (if necessary, drag the Property Browser below the Feature Manager).
Turn off layers to hide elemen ts This drawing already has layers that were created in AutoC AD. When you imported the drawing, you imported the layers as well. Layers let you hide and show dierent aspects of your drawing. When elements of any type are placed on a layer, you can turn o that layer to hide all elements on that layer. The elements are temporarily hidden, not deleted. You can turn the layer back on at any me to show the elements. The CAD drawing has elements that you do not need for machining operaons, such as the drawing border and tle box. You can hide these elements so you only see the geometry for the part. On the ‘Layers and Planes’ toolbar, click the Layers icon.
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Uncheck all layers except ‘Default ’, ‘Visible (ISO)’, and ‘Hidden (ISO)’.
Create and activate a new layer You need to create a new layer for the features you will create. The acve layer is displayed with a red box around it. All new elements are created on the acve layer. When a new layer is created, it is automacally set as the acve layer. • In the Layers dialog, click New • For the layer name, type ‘Features’ and click OK • Close the dialog
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Position the part for machining The origin point in the AutoC AD drawing is not located on the part geometry. To make this part easier to machine, you will move the origin point to the lower le corner of the part b oundary since this is a good touch-o locaon for the machinist. ESPRIT makes it easy to change the origin point without moving the part itself. • On the Edit menu, click ‘Move Origin Point’ • You are prompted to “Select New Origin Point” • Select the snap locaon at the lower le corner of the part boundary
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Draw dimensions This drawing does not have any dimensions. You will draw some dimensions on the top view of the part to see the depths of the pockets and the holes. You can then use those values to add depth to the features you create. On the Tools menu, click Dimensioning.
• Click the Text tab • Make sure ‘Length Unit’ is set to ‘Metric’ • Click the Font buon and set the font size to 12 • Click OK to close the Font dialog • Click OK to close the Parameters dialog
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On the Smart toolbar, click Dimensioning.
• Click Dimension • In the Status area, select SNAP mode to turn it o • Select a segment on the top and the boom of the top view • The system displays a preview of the dimension that moves with your cursor • Move the cursor to the le of the geometry and click to place the dimension
• Select a segment on the top and a segment at the boom of a drilled hole • Place the dimension to the right of the geometry
• In the same way, add dimensions for the depths of the pockets • Press the ESC key to exit Dimension mode • In the Status area, enable SNAP mode
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Create 3D features from a 2D drawing When a machine shop receives a drawing from a customer, it is useful to be able to use the geometry in the drawing to create 3-dimensional features that can be machined. ESPRIT lets you create features on 2-dimensional geometry and add 3-dimensional properes to them.
Create a hole feature On the Smart toolbar, click Features.
Click Holes.
• Click the arrow buon next to ‘Max Diameter’ and select an inner circle from one of the drilled holes • Click OK to create a hole feature that connects all the drilled holes
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Edit the hole feature These holes have a depth of 15 mm and a countersink with a total angle of 90 degrees. Change the view to ‘Isometric’ so you can see the updates to the feature as you add machining properes.
• In the Project Manager, select the Hole feature • In the Property Browser, select the value for the ‘Depth’ property • Enter a value of 15 and press Enter • Select the value for ‘Chamfer Diameter’ • Click the arrow buon next to the value and then select an outer circle from one of the drilled holes • Change the value for ‘Chamfer Angle’ to 90
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Create chain features for the pocket You will create three features for the pocket: one for the closed boundary of the pocket, one for the rectangular island, and one for the circular island. For features that dene a pocket, the cung side is important because it controls where material is removed (on the inside or outside of the chain). Cung side is based on the direc on of the feature and can be set to Le, Right, or Center. • Change the view back to ‘Top’ • Hold down the Shi key and select a single element in the pocket prole • All connected elements are grouped automacally • Click Auto Chain • The start point for the chain is created in the middle of the longest segment and has a counterclockwise direcon
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• Hold down the Shi key and select a single segment of the rectangular island • Click Auto Chain • Select the circle inside the pocket and click Auto Chain
• Select the feature ‘1 Chain’ in the Feature Manager • In the Property Browser, change ‘Cung Side’ to ‘Le’ and press Enter • Noce that ‘Material Removal’ changes to ‘Inside’ • Select the feature ‘2 Chain’ and change the property for ‘Cung Side’ to ‘Right’ and press Enter • ‘Material Removal’ for the island feature is ‘Outside’ • Select the feature ‘3 Chain’ and change ‘Cung Side’ to ‘Right’
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Add depth to the chain features When several elements are selected, only the properes that are common to all the elements can be edited in the Property Browser. Since the features for the pocket all share the same depth, you can update the depth for all three features at one me. • In the Feature Manager, select the three chain features • Change the property for ‘Depth’ to 18 and press Enter
Create a chain feature for the open pocket The area located at the upper right of the part is dened as an ‘open’ pocket because it denes a closed boundary that has some edges along a wall and other edges that are open. You can edit the sub-elements of a feature to dene edges as open or closed. • Hold down the Ctrl key and select the segments and arcs that dene the boundar y of the open pocket (the CTRL key lets you connue adding elements to a group) • Click Auto Chain • Change the cung side of the feature to Le • Change the depth of the feature to 24
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• On the View menu, click Masks • Select ‘Geometry’ to hide the display of the geometric elements (do not close the dialog yet)
• In the work area, select an outer edge of the feature • When the enre chain highlights, press the right mouse buon to highlight only the edge of the chain • Press the le mouse buon to accept this choice • In the Property Browser, change the aribute for ‘Open Edge’ to ‘True’ • In the same way, select the other sub-elements on the outer edge and c hange the ‘Open Edge’ aribute to ‘True’
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• Change the view to ‘Isometric’ • You can see that the open edges are displayed as dashed lines • In the Masks dialog, select ‘Geometry’ to show the geometric elements and close the dialog
Create a chain feature on the inside edge Features along the edges of a part are useful for contouring operaons. This chain denes an open prole with the start point and the end point in dierent locaons. Aer you select the end point of the prole, you need to click the Cycle Stop command to let ESPRIT know that you are nished selecng elements for the chain. • Click Auto Chain • Select the start point shown • Select the angled segment to the le of the start point • Select the end point shown • On the Edit toolbar, click Cycle Stop to create the feature • Change the cung side to Right • Change the depth to 24
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Create a manual chain on the outer boundary A chain around the boundary of the part can be used for facing and contouring operaons. • Click Manual Chain • Use SNAP mode to select the four corners of the part boundary (be sure to select the corners in order) • Change the cung side so that material removal is on the outside of the boundary • Change the depth of the feature to 30 X To see the features more clearly you can mask the geometry.
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Milling on a Standard Mill ESPRIT has very strong capabilies in 2.5D milling, providing both ease-of-use and a high level of control over every aspect of a milling operaon. The intent of this project is to teach you the process for creang standard milling operaons using the standard milling technology in ESPRIT.
For this project, you will learn how to use the commands on the SolidMill Tradional toolbar to mill a par t on a 2-1/2 axis mill.
SolidMill Machining Technology 56 Saving Machining Technology . 60 Feeds and Speeds .............................60 Milling Clearances.... ........................ 62 Depths of Cut ............... ................ ........ 64
SolidMill Traditional Machining Cycles ..................................................... 66 Prerequisites......................................67 Open the part file ..........................67 Create a milling tool ................... 68 The Tool Manager .............................68
Create milling features...............72 Create a stock model .................. 79 Remove excess material..............81 Cut the pockets and slot .......... 88 Mill and drill the holes ............. 95 You will learn: • About SolidMill Tradional machining technology and machining cycles • How to create a milling tool • How to create features for milling operaons • How to create a stock model • Techniques to quickly remove stock material • Two pockeng techniques: high-speed and standard • Drilling techniques for hole paerns and a milled hole • Simulaon with Stock Automaon
Simulate milling operations ... 99
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SolidMill Machining Technology ESPRIT has machining technology that is designed specically for 2-axis through 5-axis mills. This technology is called SolidMill. SolidMill technology lets you dene the physical properes of your milling machine, create milling tools and stock models, create specialized milling features with automac feature recognion, create milling operaons and simulate them. The technology for SolidMill machining cycles is displayed on a tab in the Project Manager. This makes it easy to enter machining parameters and view the par t model at the same me. The user can also click on any of the other tabs in the Project Manager to make it easier to selec t features or create new cung tools.
The technology for a machining cycle will not open unless a valid feature is selected rst. The way that machining parameters are organized for all SolidMill machining cycles is consistent to make it easy to learn and use the technolog y.
The interface is organized in three main areas: • Toolbar area • Vercal tabs • Parameters area
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The Toolbar area contains commands to validate (OK) and close (Cancel) the current technology as well as a Help buon to open the help le for the current technolog y. The drop-down buon displays the context menu for the technology. The icon reects the last command used by the user.
The vercal tabs are arranged to save space. Parameters are grouped on the tabs in a “top down” approach, where you dene the most general informaon about the cung cycle on the General tab, then move to the Strategy tab to dene a bit more detail such as the cung strategy or depths, moving down each tab to add more detail about your machining operaon.
The display of some tabs is controlled by a parameter seng. For example, if the parameter ‘Finish Pass’ on the Strategy tab is set to ‘Yes’, the Finish tab will display to let you dene parameters for a nal nishing pass. If ‘Finish Pass’ is set to ‘No’, the tab is hidden.
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The Parameters area displays the machining parameters for the current technology. Parameters are grouped by category and each group control can be collapsed or expanded for visualizaon purposes.
As parameters are selected, the interface updates to show only the parameters you need. Opons that are not used are hidden. If the user changes a parameter, the interface updates to show or hide a dierent set of parameters. 64 |
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For example, if the user sets ‘ Trochoidal Move’ to ‘Yes’ for high-speed tool path, all the par ameters to dene the trochoidal movement are displayed.
Otherwise, they are hidden.
When an arrow buon displays nex t to a parameter, you can click the arrow and select an element in the work area to load a value.
Features can also be loaded from the Features tab. Click inside the parameter eld, click the Features tab, select a feature from the list, and then click the technology tab. If the value for a parameter is invalid or missing, an error displays next to the parameter. If you hover your mouse over the error icon, a descr ipon of the error displays so that it can be corrected.
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Saving Machini ng Technology Machining technology sengs can be easily saved as a separate *.prc (process) le and used over and over for the machining of similar parts. To save the technology for a machining cycle, click Save on the drop-down menu. Enter a name for the le, browse to the locaon where you want to save the le, and click Save.
Aer a technology le has been saved, it can be loaded in a technology page. Click ‘Open’ on the drop-down menu, browse to the le, and click Op en. X The type of technology in the le must match the machining cycle. For example, you can only
load Pockeng technology into a Pockeng cycle. For this reason, it is important to name the saved technology le with the type of technology in the le.
Feeds and Speeds The sengs for feed rates and spindle speed are set on the General tab and displayed in two columns that are interacve. The column on the le is for actual feed and speed values, while the column on the right is used for chip load programming. If you enter a value in one column, the value in the next column is automacally calculated. This allows you to “ne tune” your feed and speed values.
Cut Speed You can use ‘Cut Speed RPM’ (Revoluons Per Minute) or ‘Cut Speed SPM’ (Surfac e feet/meters Per Minute). Cut speed is dened as the distance in feet or meters that the edge of the rotang tool travels per minute. Cut speed is aected by the tool diameter. At a xed number of RPMs, a larger tool diameter results in a greater cung speed.
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When a value is entered in ‘Cut Speed Sp eed RPM’, RPM’, the system takes that value and the tool diameter and calculates and displays the value for ‘Cut Speed SPM’ SPM’.. The relaonship of RPM to SPM is based on the following formula: SPM in Inch = RPM * PI * Tool Diameter / 12 SPM in Metric = RPM * PI * Tool Diameter / 1000 You can also go in the opposite direcon. If you s et Cut Speed SPM, the system takes t akes that value and the tool diameter and calculates the Cut Cu t Speed RPM. The system uses us es the following formula: RPM in Inch = (12 * SPM) / (PI * Tool Diameter) RPM in Metric = (1000 * SPM) / (PI * Tool Diameter)
XY Feedrate PM, PT These values are also interac ve. Feed rate is dened as units unit s (inch/millimeter) (inch/millimeter) per minute (PM) or per tooth (PT). In general terms, the feed rate is the speed at which the cuer moves with respect to the work material. XY Feedrate allows you to specif y the feed rate for movement in the XY XY plane. To calculate the feed rate PT (per tooth) from the feed rate r ate PM (per minute), the system uses the following formula:
PT = PM / (Number of Flutes * RPM) Going the other way, the system uses the following formula: PM = PT * Number of Flutes * RPM X The Tool Diameter Diameter and Number of Flutes are set on the tool page.
There are three types of moves possible in the XY plane. These moves are represented by the following examples of NC code. The value you enter for XY Feedrate determines the feed rate for these three types of moves. Type 1: N15 G01 X_ Y_ Type 2: N15 G01 X_ Type 3: N15 G01 Y_
Z Feedrate PM, PT Z Feedrate allows you to specify the feed rate for moves that involve the Z-axis. These moves are represented by the following examples of NC code. The value you enter for Z Feedrate determines the feed rate for these four types of moves. Type 1: N15 G01 X_ Y_ Z_ Type 2: N15 N15 G01 X_ Z_ Type 3: N15 G01 Y_ Z_ Type 4: N15 G01 Z_
Constant Removal Rate This opon can be b e set to Yes or No. When set to Yes, the feed rate is adjusted on arcs to maintain the feed rate at the edge of the tool where it contacts the material. The feed rate increases around exterior arcs and decreases around interior arcs in the NC code output. The Max Feedrate seng is used to limit the increase in feed rate. Milling on a Standard Mill
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Max Feedrate PM, PT
Max Feedrate is used to place a limit on the feed rate increase around exterior arcs when Constant Removal Rate is set to Yes.
Use Feed and Speed KB This opon can be set to Yes or No. When set to Yes, feed and speed values from the KnowledgeBase will be inserted inser ted automacally. Before seng this opon to Yes, you must: • Have speed and feed data set up in the Speed Feeds Manager in the KnowledgeBase • Select a Speeds Feeds Standard and Material Class in KnowledgeBase Document Setup (on the Common Machining tool bar) • Select a tool in Tool ID • Select a Type of Cut (the Type Type of Cut opon displays only when Use Feed and Speed KB is set to Yes) ESPRIT will combine the Speeds Feeds standard and material selected in KnowledgeBase Document Setup with the tool and technology sengs on the operaon page to provide acceptable cung speeds and feed rates. The inserted speeds and feeds are aected by the “Tool Material” and “Number of Flutes” specied on the tool page of the same Tool ID. The Type Type of Cut selected on the operaon page also aects the inserted speed and feed values.
Milling Clearances Parameters that control tool clearances during milling are located on the Links tab. Clearances dene how you want to posion the tool when it makes a rapid move from one locaon to another.
ESPRIT lets you dene two separate distances dis tances for retract retrac t moves: Clearance and Full Clearance. Once you dene the two distances, you can use them to control the heights of retract moves. • Full Clearance: This is an absolute value, value, measured from the origin of the coordinate system. ESPRIT supports two types of coordinate systems: global (system default) and local (user dened). • Clearance: This is a relave value, measured measured from the top of the feature or the starng depth. This is usually the top of the workpiece, but other situ aons may apply. Somemes the top of the feature is below the top of the work piece (for example, holes in the oor of a p ocket). The only me that clearance is not measured from the top of the feature is if the starng depth is a 68 |
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negave (-) value. In that case, clearance is measured from the star ng depth since it is above the feature. Both methods of measurement have advantages. When you know the heights of specic obstacles on the work table, such as clamps and xtures, you can use u se Full Clearance to make the tool retract to a safe height that will always avoid those obstacles. To save me, you can set a minimum retract height in Clearance that keeps the tool as close to the work piece as possible. In addion to the retract distances, ESPRIT lets you control the behavior of the tool between separate machining operaons and between secons of a single operaon. • Return Plane: This seng establishes the plane posion of the tool as it rapids to the beginning of an operaon and rapids rapid s away at the end of an operaon. • Retract Plane: This seng establishes the plane posion of the tool as it rapids between two secons of a cung cu ng operaon (for example, when the tool needs to move between t wo pocket areas in a Pockeng operaon). Return Plane and Retract Plane share the same four opons. However, However, you can use a dierent opon for each. X The Return Plane is always used. Whether the Retract Plane is used depends d epends on the areas that are being machined. If you are not sure about when the retract plane is used, it is a good idea
to set the retract plane and return plane to the same opon.
Options for Return Plane and Retract Plane Clearance: The tool retracts to the Clearance distance, measured from the Starng Depth. See “Depths of Cut”. When the tool will encounter no obstacles during reposioning, this is a good choice.
Inial Clearance: The value for Inial Clearance is speci ed on the tool page for the selec ted tool. The distance is an absolute value, always measured from ESPRIT origin P0. When the tool must avoid all obstacles (such as xtures x tures and clamps) while moving to the next p osion, this is a good choice.
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Full Clearance: The tool retracts to the distance entered in Full Clearance. If you are outpung from World coordinates, this value is measured from P0. If you are outpung from a local coordinate system, this value is measured from the origin of the Work Coordinate used. When the tool must avoid vercal obstacles on the work piece between operaons, this is a good choice.
Paral Depth: The tool retracts to the Clearance distance measured from the tool locaon at the me of the retract. When you know the tool will be reposioning to a lower plane, this is a good choice.
Depths of Cut The depths of cung passes are controlled by the Depth sengs on the Strategy tab. The depth sengs let you control the z-level where the tool will start cung, the depth of each incremental pass, and the depth of the nal cung pass.
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• Total Depth: This value establishes the boom Z level for cung passes. This value is measured from the selected feature. A posive value cuts below the selected feature, a negave value cuts above. • Incremental Depth: This value controls the distance between each Z-level cung pass. The values for Total Depth and Incremental Depth are used to determine the number of depth passes. The depth of the last incremental pass may be adjusted depending on the value for Total Depth and any stock allowance applied to the oors . • Starng Depth: This value establishes the top Z level for cung passes, measured from the selected feature. The rst incremental depth pass is measured from this top Z level. A posive value cuts below the selected feature, a negave value cuts above. • Retract for IDepth: This value controls the retract posion of the tool before and aer each incremental pass. Since this seng controls a tool retract distance, it shares the Full Clearance, Inial Clearance, and Paral Depth opons that are used for clearances. You can also use the None opon to have the tool feed between incremental passes without retracng. The Surface Clearance opon is similar to the Clearance opon except that the retract is either the clearance distance above the feature or the clearance distance above the starng depth, whichever is higher. • Retract Between Cuts (Contouring only): This value controls the retract posion before and aer each lateral contouring pass. If the contour does not have lateral steps, this seng d oes not apply. • Through Depth (Pockeng only): This value is used only when a pocket has no oor. Enter a value beyond the depth of the pocket so the tool can cut completely through. When a value is entered, the operaon cuts to the total depth plus the distance for the through depth.
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SolidMill Traditional Machining Cycles All SolidMill Tradional machining cycles are displayed on the SolidMill Tradional toolbar and on the Machining menu under SolidMill Tradional. To display the SolidMill Tradional toolbar, click ‘Switch to SolidMill’ on the Smart toolbar and then click SolidMill Tradional.
Facing - Removes a at poron of stock material based on a feature that matches the stock perimeter. SolidMill Facing quickly removes material at the depth (or depths) you specify with simple linear passes followed by a nal contouring pass around any islands to p rovide a uniform amount of stock on wall areas. The linear and contouring passes are combined into a single operaon to save you me and to guarantee a consistent amount of stock on oors and walls. Pockeng - Removes material inside a closed boundary. Within a single pockeng op eraon, you have the opon to create separately denable phases for r oughing, wall nishing, and oor nishing passes that each let you use a dierent tool. When a pocket or face prole feature is chosen, the operaon automacally nds any subordinate islands within the feature boundary. Trochoidal Pockeng - Removes material inside a closed boundary using the fastest possible feed rates. Trochoidal Pockeng quickly roughs parts at a constant material removal rate and provides mulple levels of control over tool moon paern, feed rates, and cuer load. Although developed for high-speed machining, Trochoidal Pockeng brings benet s to any type of machine by providing a more constant tool load and a beer surface nish. Contouring - Creates vercal or tapered cuts along the contour of a selected prole. Within a single contouring operaon, you have the opon to c reate separately denable phases for roughing and nishing. The same tool is used for both roughing and nishing, although you can dene dierent incremental depths for nishing pass es as well as dierent speeds and feeds. Rest Machining - Creates an operaon to remove material remaining from previous operaons. A rest machining operaon can be applied to any exisng SolidMill Tradional operaon. The previous operaon becomes the “parent” operaon and the rest machining operaon applied to it becomes the “child” operaon. The child operaon inherits many of the sengs from the parent operaon. The parent operaon is used as the basis for calculang the areas to machine. Drilling - Creates a drilling operaon. Several types of drilling cycles are supported, including canned cycles. Spiraling - Creates either spiral or helical cung passes based on the selecon of a feature with a circular shape or a PTOP feature. Threading - Creates a standard threading or single-point threading operaon using basic milling technology. Manual Milling - Creates rapid or feed moves based on manually selected elements or coordinate locaons. Manual Milling creates a tool path on the centerline of the tool without compensaon.
Wire Frame Milling - Creates a milling operaon based on wire fr ame geometry. This command lets you create a simple freeform milling operaon from planar geometry. Two separate proles are used. One prole is swept along the other to create a 3-dimensional shape for the toolpath.
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Prerequisites The les for this lesson are available on the ESPRIT DVD in the ‘Get Started’ folder. The les are also available for download from ESPRITWeb » File Library » ESPRIT 2010. All dimensions in this lesson are in millimeters. Make sure “System Unit” on the Tools menu is set to “Metric”. If you would like to review and simulate the machining operaons from this lesson, the completed ESPRIT le is available in the folder “completed_parts”.
Open the part file On the Standard toolbar, click Open.
Browse and select the following le: milled_part.esp. Set the view to ‘Isometric’.
If the Project Manager is not displayed, press F2.
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Create a milling tool This le already contains several types of tools, such as end mills, drills, and even a custom mill for cung the milled hole. You will learn how to create a face mill that will be us ed to remove the stock at the top of the part. Milling tools can be created from the Tool Manager or from commands on the Milling Tools toolbar.
ESPRIT provides an extensive list of pre-dened milling tools. If you use a very specic type of tool that is not on the list, you can create a Custom Mill from geometry you dene. Instrucons on how to create a custom mill are provided in E SPRIT Help.
The Tool Manage r All cung tools are managed on the Tools tab of the Project Manager. The Tool Manager lets you create, edit, copy, rename, and delete tools. You can also transfer tools between the Tool Manager and the KnowledgeBase. The Tool Manager displays all the available tools in the current document. Tools are grouped by where they are mounted on the machine: on a milling head or a lathe turret (for a mill-turn machine).
Tools in the list can be sorted on any column and the user can choose which columns to display using the Field Chooser. These opons are available by right-clicking on any column heading. 74 |
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Create a face mill tool You will create a new face mill tool with a diameter of 60 mm. This face mill has 6 cung inserts that have a rectangular shape. On the Smart toolbar, click Milling Tools.
Click Face Mill.
On the General tab: • Set ‘Tool ID’ to ‘FM 60’ • Set ‘Tool Number’ to 1
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On the Machine tab: • Set ‘Movement X, Y, Z’ to ‘Home’ for all three posions • Set ‘Turret Name’ to ‘Head’
On the Holder tab: • Set ‘Holder Diameter’ to 60 • Set ‘Overall Length’ to 100 • Set ‘Tool Length’ to 80
On the Shank tab: • Set ‘Type’ to ‘Cylindrical’ • Set ‘Shank Diameter’ to 30 • Set ‘Cung Length’ to 1.5
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On the Cuer tab: • Set ‘Tool Diameter’ to 60 • Set ‘Boom Clearance’ to 10 • Set ‘Number of Inserts’ to 6 • Set ‘Insert Type’ to ‘Rectangular’ • Set ‘Corner Radius’ to 1 • Set ‘Insert Width’ to 30 • Set ‘Insert Height’ to 10. Click OK to add the new tool to the Tool Manager.
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Create milling features Milling features have machining properes that help to automate milling operaons. These properes include depth, dra, cung side, and whether material is removed on the inside or outside of the feature. These properes assist the user because SolidMill technology is designed to use these properes each me a milling operaon is created. If the feature is modied to change any of the machining properes, such as a change in the depth property, any milling technology that is applied to that feature can be updated quickly by simply rebuilding the operaon. When features are created on a solid model, ESPRIT uses au tomac feature recognion to analyze the part geometry and automacally create the appropriate features for milling operaons. The user is not limited to selecng only the solid model. The user can also select sub-elements of a solid model, such as faces and face loops, to create features on a specic poron of the solid model.
Set the work plane When automac feature recognion is used, the direc on of the W axis of the ac ve work plane controls the direcon of feature recognion. This allows you to create features automacally on dierent sides of a part. Make sure the work plane is set to ‘X YZ’.
Recognize the pockets In the status area, make sure HI mode and SUB-ELEMENTS mode are acve.
On the Smart toolbar, click Create Features.
Pocket Feature Recognion uses the ‘Maximum Diameter’ parameter located in the Feature Parameters dialog to recognize cylindrical pockets. Any cylinder with a diameter greater than the ‘Maximum Diameter’ will be recognized as a pocket.
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Click Feature Parameters.
• Click the arrow buon next to ‘Max Diameter’ and use HI mode to select the edge of a hole on the corner of the part • Click OK
• Select the solid model • Click Pocket
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Rename the pocket features Features for the pockets and island were created automacally and placed in a folder in the Feature Manager. It is helpful to give descripve names to features. T his makes it easier to select the correct feature when you want to apply a machining operaon and it is extremely helpful to other users if they need to modify operaons at a later me. • Click the Features tab in the Project Manager • Right-click on the feature for the pocket in the middle of the part • Select ‘Rename’ • Rename the feature to ‘Medium Pocket’ and press Enter
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• In the same way, select the feature for the slot and rename it ‘Slot’ • Rename the small pocket ‘Small Pocket’ • Rename the cylindrical pocket ‘Milled Hole - Upper’
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Recognize the boundary • Click Face Proles • Use HI mode to select the face loop around the top of the part • Click OK
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Recognize the drilled holes • Click Holes • The value for ‘Max Diameter’ is already set to the diameter of the hole you selected for the pocket features • Click OK • Rename the group of large holes ‘Counterbore’ • Rename the group of small holes ‘Countersink’
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Create a hole feature for the milled hole It is more ecient to pre-drill the milled hole before applying a milling operaon. To do this, you can create a simple Hole feature that matches the size of your largest dr ill. • Change the view back to ‘Isometric’ • Click Holes • Set ‘Max Diameter’ and ‘Min Diameter’ to 42 • Click OK • Press Alt+Enter to display the Property Browser • In the Feature Manager, select the new hole feature • In the Property Browser, change the value for the Depth property to 38.1 • Change the value for the Diameter property to 30 and press Enter • Close the Property Browser
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Create a stock model Stock models for milling operaons are created in Simulaon Parameters on the Simulaon toolbar. Stock models are created as solid models that aid in the visualizaon of material removal during the simulaon process. Stock models can be dened in a variety of ways: from an exisng solid model, from a feature, from an external le, and from points that dene a block. In this lesson, you will create the stock model fr om a chain feature that denes the shape of the boundary. On the Smart toolbar, click Simulaon.
Click Simulaon Parameters.
• Click the Solids tab • Set ‘Type’ to ‘Stock’ and set ‘Create From’ to ‘Extrusion’
• Click the arrow buon and select the feature ‘Stock Prole’ in the work area • Set ‘Z+’ to 1 • Set ‘Z-’ to 53.1
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• Set ‘Indexing’ to ‘None’ • Click Add • Click OK • To view the new stock model, click Single Step • Click Stop to exit simulaon mode
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Remove excess material In this project, the part is cut from standard rectangular stock. The rst thing you need to do is remove the excess material from the top and around the sides of the part. To do this, you will rst create a facing operaon to quickly remove as much stock as possible from the top of the part. Then you will create a 3D contour around the island on the top face. You will nish by roughing and nishing the outer prole of the part.
Face the top of the part For this facing operaon, there is an island on the face that must be avoided. The Facing command lets you select and avoid islands and pocketed areas. This operaon will start slightly below the selected feature and cut at incremental depths of 8mm in a simple back and for th tool moon. A stock allowance of 0.5 mm will remain on the walls of the island aer the operaon is complete. No stoc k allowance will remain on the oors. X As you enter values on the technology page you can use the Tab key to move from one
parameter to the next. Be careful not to press the Enter key. Pressing the Enter key will apply the current sengs to the selected feature. In the Feature Manager, select the feature ‘Stock Prole’. On the Smart toolbar, click SolidMill Tradional.
Click Facing.
• On the dropdown menu, click ‘System Default All’ to reset all the technology parameters to the system default sengs
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• Under ‘Operaon Name’, type Facing • Select the tool ‘FM 60’ for ‘Tool ID’
• Click the Strategy tab • Set ‘Overhang Direcon’ to ‘One Way’ • For detailed informaon about this seng, click Help. • Set ‘Include Islands’ to ‘Yes’ • Set ‘Stock Allowance Walls’ to 0.5 • Set ‘Total Depth’ to 15 • Set ‘Incremental Depth’ to 8 • Set ‘Starng Depth’ to -1
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• Click the Islands tab • Click inside ‘Island Features’ and then select the island feature in the work area
• Click the Links tab • Set ‘Entry Mode’ to ‘Rapid Down, Feed Over’ • Set ‘Exit Mode’ to ‘Feed Over, Rapid Up’ • Click OK
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Create a simple 3D milling operation For this operaon, you will use two exisng features. The ‘Wireframe Drive Curve’ denes the curved prole for the walls around the island on the face. The ‘Wireframe Basic Curve’ feature is located on the top face of the island and denes the path the prole will follow. • Select the feature ‘Wireframe Basic Curve’ • Click Wire Frame Milling • On the drop-down menu, click Open • Open the following technology le: Processes\M1-Wire_Frame_Milling.prc • Click the Wire Frame tab • Click the arrow buon next to ‘Drive Curve’ and selec t the drive curve feature in the work area
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• Noce that ‘Machine Along’ is set to ‘Basic’ so that the ow lines of the tool path will follow the shape of the basic curve • Click OK
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Rough and finish the outer profile To cut the external prole of the part, you will rst rough the prole with a 30mm end mill that will leave 0.5 mm stock on the walls and then nish with a 20mm end mill. Because the roughing and nishing operaons use very dierent sengs, you will create two separate Contouring operaons. • Select the prole feature on the boundary of the part • Click Contouring • Open the le: M2-Contour_Rough.prc • Click the Strategy tab • Noce that there will be 1 rough pass and no nish pass. ‘Stock Allowance Walls’ is set to 0.5 and ‘Incremental Depth’ is set the same as the diameter of the tool. • Click OK
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• With the same feature selected, click Contouring • Open the le: M3-Contour_Finish.prc • On the Strategy tab, 1 rough pass is generated with no stock allowance • Click OK
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Cut the pockets and slot The part in this project contains two pockets and a slot. ESPRIT oers two types of pockeng operaons that you will use to cut each pocket: Trochoidal and Tradional.
Rough the medium pocket To mill the medium pocket, you will rst remove as much material as possible as quickly as possible with a Trochoidal Pockeng operaon. A stock allowance of 0.5mm will remain on the walls and oors of the pocket. • Inside the ‘Pocket’ feature group, select the feature ‘Medium Pocket’ • Click Trochoidal Pockeng • Open the le: M4-Rough_Pocket.prc • On the Strategy tab, noce that ‘Trochoid’ tool moon is used and that the trochoid step over is set to 25% of the tool diameter when ESPRIT detects that the tool is fully engaged in the material. • For details on trochoidal tool moon, click the Help buon • Click OK
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Noce that the tool path starts in the largest area of the pocket and spirals outward unl it reaches an obstacle. Then the tool path changes to adjustable curves that adapt to the shape of the pocket.
Finish the medium pocket You will use a tradional Pockeng operaon to rst nish the walls and then the oors of the pocket. • Select the feature ‘Medium Pocket’ • Click Pockeng • Open the le: M5-Finish_Pocket.prc • On the Strategy tab, noce that ‘Rough Pass’ is set to ‘No’ and both ‘Wall Finish Pass’ and ‘Floor Finish Pass’ are set to ‘Yes’
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• Click the Wall Finish tab • A single contouring pass will be applied to the walls with a stock allowance of 0.2 mm
• Click the Floor Finish tab • The oor of the pocket will be nished with a constant step over of 2.5 mm and no stock allowance
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• Click the Links tab • ‘Passes Order’ is set to ‘R | AW | AF’. This means that any roughing passes will be applied rst. ‘AW’ means that All Walls will be cut nex t. ‘AF’ means that All Floors will be cut last. • Click OK
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Remove material in the corners To remove any material remaining in the corners, you will apply a Rest Mac hining operaon. • Select the feature ‘Medium Pocket’ • Click Rest Machining • Open the le: M6-Corner_Finish.prc • On the Strategy tab, noce that the tool moon for area clearing is set to ‘Concentric In’. Area clearing is applied when an area has more than one exposed edge of material (for example, between a wall and an island). Corner clearing is applied when there is only one exposed edge (corners). • Click OK
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Rough and finish the small pocket You will use a single pockeng operaon to rough th e pocket and then nish the walls using a dierent tool. • Select the feature ‘Small Pocket’ • Click Pockeng • Open the le: M7-Small_Pocket.prc • Click OK
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Cut the slot To cut the slot, you will use a tradional Pockeng operaon using a tool with a diameter the same width as the slot. The tool will enter the material using a ramping move and then cut the slot with a single pass. • Select the feature ‘Slot’ • Click Pockeng • Open the le: M8-Slot.prc • Click the Rough tab and noce that ‘Entry Mode’ is set to ‘Ramp Along Pass’. The tool will enter the slot with a long ramping pass at a 10 degree angle. • Click OK
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Mill and drill the holes This part has dierent types of holes, including a milled hole. For this project, you will create drilling and spiraling operaons depending on the type and size of the hole.
Pre-drill and mill the large hole The milled hole has a diameter of 42 mm. You will cut this hole in two steps. First, you will drill the hole with a 30mm drill. Then, you will create a Spir aling operaon to mill the upper diameter to a depth of 30mm. • Select the Hole feature for the milled hole • Click Drilling • Open the le: M9-Drill_Milled_Hole.prc • Click OK
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• In the ‘Pocket’ feature group, select the feature ‘Milled Hole - Upper’ • Click Spiraling • Open the le: M10-Spiral.prc • On the Strategy tab, noce that ‘Strategy’ is set to ‘ Tangent Arcs’. The tool path will be created as arcs that are tangent to one another. • Click OK
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Drill the holes • In the Feature Manager, right-click on the feature ‘Counterbore’ and select File > Open Process • Open the le: M10-Counterbore.prc • Again, right-click on the feature ‘Counterbore’ and open the le: M11-Drill_Counterbore.prc
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• Right-click on the feature ‘Countersink’ • Open the le: M12-Countersink.prc M12-Countersink.prc • Again, right-click on the feature ‘Countersink’ and open the le: M11-Drill_Countersink.prc M11-Drill_Countersink.prc • To view the sengs for any of these operaons, double-click on an operaon to open the technology page
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Simulatee milling operations Simulat ope rations Operaons are simulated in the same order as they are listed in the Operaon Manager. On the Smart Smar t toolbar, click Simulaon.
• • • •
Click ‘Run’ to to start the simulaon . Click ‘Pause’ to temporarily temporarily stop the simulaon . Click ‘Run’ again to restart the simulaon . When the simulaon is nished, click ‘Stop’
.
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Simulate with Stock Automation When you simulated the operaons, you simulated all of them from the beginning and the simulaon started with the inial stock dened in Simulaon Parameters. But what if you want to simulate only one operaon without simulang all the operaons before them? In that case, you can use Stock Automaon. Stock Automaon will star t the simulaon of one or more operaons with the previous stock already removed. Stock Automaon also displays icons next to each operaon in the Operaon Manager to let you know whether the stock has been calculated. • Click the Operaons tab in the Project Manager to display the Operaon Manager. Manager. • Right-click on a heading and select Advanced > Field Chooser from the menu. • Select ‘Stock’ and click OK.
• On the Tools Tools menu, click Opons. • On the Machining tab, select ‘Enable Stock Automaon’ and click OK. • Noce that the display in the Operaon Manager changes to show the status of the stock for each turning operaon. For details det ails on what each icon means, open ESPRIT Help (press F1) and look for ‘Stock Automaon’ in the index.
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• Select any operaon in the Operaon Manager and click click Run. • The simulaon starts with the calculated stock from all previous operaons. • Click Stop to exit the simulaon.
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Turning on a Standard Lathe A standard lathe permits movement within a single plane dened by the Z and X axes—the Z axis being parallel to the stock and the X axis perpendicular. In order for ESPRIT to accommodate both standard milling and standard turning operaons, the global axis labeled “X” is the spindle axis (the Z axis). The global axis labeled “Y” is the lathe X axis.
SolidTurn Machining Technology 104
The intent of this project is to teach you the process for creang basic lathe operaons using the lathe machining technology in ESPRIT.
SolidTurn Machining Cycles ..... 111
In this lesson you will create machining operaons to cut a part on a standard 2-axis lathe.
Saving Machining Technology 107 Feeds and Speeds ............................107 Feature Extensions..........................1 10 Commands for part transfers ...112 Commands for machine-specific functions ..................................................112
Prerequisites...................................... 113 Open the part file ..........................113 Create a turning tool ...................114 The Tool Manager .............. ................ 114
Create turning features ..............117 Create lathe stock ........................ 127 Rough the face and the OD ... 129 Drill on the center line .............133 You will learn: • About SolidTurn machining technology and machining cycles • How to create a turning tool • How to create features for turning operaons • How to create lathe stock • Roughing techniques on the face, OD, and ID of the part • Center drilling • Grooving on the OD and the ID • Finish contouring • Threading on the ID • Simulaon with Stock Automaon
Rough and finish the groove on the OD ....................................................134 Contour the OD .............................. 136 Rough and finish the ID ............137 Groove the ID ................................... 138 Thread the ID ................................... 139 Perform the cutoff ....................... 140 Simulate turning operations. 142
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SolidTurn Machining Technology ESPRIT has machining technology that is designed specically for lathes. This technology is called SolidTurn. SolidTurn technology lets you dene the physical pr operes of your lathe machine, create turning tools and lathe stock, create specialized turning features and turning operaons, and simulate turning operaons with sec on views that let you see the simulaon on the inside as well as the outside of the turning stock. The technology for SolidTurn machining cycles is displayed on a tab in the Project Manager. This makes it easy to enter machining parameters and view the par t model at the same me. The user can also click on any of the other tabs in the Project Manager to make it easier to selec t features or create new cung tools.
X The technology for a machining cycle will not open unless a valid feature is selected rst.
The way that machining parameters are organized for all SolidTurn machining cycles is consistent to make it easy to learn and use the technolog y.
The interface is organized in three main areas: • Toolbar area • Vercal tabs • Parameters area
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The Toolbar area contains commands to validate (OK) and close (Cancel) the current technology as well as a Help buon to open the help le for the current technolog y. The drop-down buon displays the context menu for the technology. The icon reects the last command used by the user.
The vercal tabs are arranged to save space. Parameters are grouped on the tabs in a “top down” approach, where you dene the most general informaon about the cung cycle on the General tab, then move to the Strategy tab to dene a bit more detail such as the cung strategy or entry and exit moves, moving down each tab to add more detail about your machining operaon.
The display of some tabs is controlled by a parameter seng. For example, if the parameter ‘Finish Passes’ on the Strategy tab is set to ‘No’, the Finish tab will not display because those parameters are unnecessary for the operaon.
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The Parameters area displays the machining parameters for the current technology. Parameters are grouped by category and each group control can be collapsed or expanded for visualizaon purposes.
As parameters are selected, the interface updates to show only the parameters you need. Opons that are not used are hidden. If the user changes a parameter, the interface updates to show or hide a dierent set of parameters. For example, if the stock type for a roughing operaon is changed from ‘Automaon’ to ‘Diameter’, the parameter ‘Stock Diameter’ displays to let the user dene the diameter.
X When an arrow buon displays nex t to a parameter, you can click the arrow and selec t an
element in the work area to load a value. If the value for a parameter is invalid or missing, an error displays next to the parameter. If you hover your mouse over the error icon, a descrip on of the error displays so that it can be corrected.
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Saving Machining Technology Machining technology sengs can be easily saved as a separate *.prc (process) le and used over and over for the machining of similar part s. To save the technology for a machining cycle, click Save on the drop-down menu. Enter a name for the le, browse to the locaon where you want to save the le, and click Save.
Aer a technology le has been saved, it can be loaded in a technology page. Click Open on the drop-down menu, browse to the le, and click Open. X The type of technology in the le must match the machining cycle. For example, you can only
load Roughing technology into a Roughing cycle. For this reason, it is important to name the saved technology le with the type of technology in the le.
Feeds and Speeds The sengs for feed rates and spindle speed are set on the General tab and displayed in two columns that are interacve. If you enter a value in one column, the value in the nex t column is automacally calculated. This allows you to “ne tune” your feed and speed values.
Speed You can use Speed RPM (Revoluons Per Minute) or Speed CSS (constant surface speed) to control the speed of the spindle.
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When a value is entered in ‘Speed RPM’, the system takes that value and the reference diameter and calculates and displays the value for ‘ Speed CSS’ (in surface feet/meters per minute). The relaonship of RPM to CSS is based on the following formula: CSS in Inch = RPM * Reference Diameter * PI / 12 CSS in Metric = RPM * Reference Diameter * PI / 1000 You can also go in the opposite direcon. If you set Speed CSS, the system takes that value and the reference diameter and calculates the Speed RPM (in revoluons per minute). The system uses the following formula: RPM in Inch = (12 * CSS) / (PI * Reference Diameter) RPM in Metric = (1000 * CSS) / (PI * Reference Diameter)
Feedrate PM, PR These values are also interacve. Feed rate is dened as units (inch/millimeter) per minute (PM) or per revoluon (PR). In general terms, the feed rate is the speed at which the cuer moves with respect to the work material. To calculate the feed rate PR (per revoluon) from the feed rate PM (per minute), the system uses the following formula: PR = PM / RPM Going the other way, the system uses the following formula: PM = PR * RPM
Reference Diameter This value is used by ESPRIT to automacally calculate the spindle speed. By default, this value is set to the value of ‘Bar Diameter’ in Machine Setup. If you are machining a constant diameter, enter the approximate diameter at the machini ng locaon. For diameters that are not constant, enter an average diameter.
Speed Unit Speed Unit controls whether the value for Speed RPM or Speed CSS is used.
Feed Unit Feed Unit controls whether the value for Feedrate PM or Feedrate PR is us ed. ‘Per Minute’ uses the value for Feedrate PM. ‘Per Revoluon’ uses the value for Feedrate PR.
Transverse Feedrate % This seng is available only for Roughing, Balanced Roughing, and Contouring operaons. The percentage value is used to reduce or increase the feed rate for any tool movement that is not parallel to the main cut direcon. Tool movement in the main cut direcon uses the programmed feed rate.
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When ‘Type of Work’ on the Strategy tab is set to ‘ID’ or ‘OD’: • Vx = F * Transverse Feedrate % • Vz = F When ‘Type of Work’ is set to ‘Face’: • Vx = F • Vz = F * Transverse Feedrate % X If a feed rate change is inserted into the tool path manually, it will be overwrien at the next
slope angle change if the transverse feed rate is not 100%. The transverse feed rate is always calculated using the inial feed rate. It does not use the feed rate the user has inserted.
Maximum RPM This value is applied only when Speed Unit is set to CSS. By default, this value is the same as the ‘Max RPM’ that is dened for the spindle in Machine Setup.
This value controls the maximum revoluons per minute allowed for the spindle. A machining operaon will not be allowed to exceed this limit.
Spindle Range This seng is used for RPM cung. In general, set Spindle Range to ‘O’ for CSS cung. The opons represent dierent levels of spindle ranges and vary depending on your machine.
Spindle Priority This seng is used only for mul-turret applicaons where two or more turning operaons are synchronized. For synced operaons, you can specify which operaon controls the spindle speed. You can set spindle priority for more than one operaon. Spindle priority can also be set on the operaon page.
Use Feed and Speed KB This opon can be set to Yes or No. When set to Yes, feed and speed values from the KnowledgeBase will be inserted automacally. Before seng this opon to Yes, you must: • Have speed and feed data set up in the Speed Feeds Manager in the KnowledgeBase • Select a Speeds Feeds Standard and Material Class in KnowledgeBase Document Setup (on the Common Machining tool bar) • Select a tool in Tool Selecon • Select a Type of Cut (the Type of Cut opon displays only when Use Feed and Speed KB is set to Yes) ESPRIT will combine the Speeds Feeds standard and material selected in KnowledgeBase Document Setup with the tool and technology sengs on the operaon page to provide
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acceptable cung speeds and feed rates. The inserted speeds and feeds are aected by the “Tool Material” specied on the tool page of the same Tool ID. The Type of Cut selected on the operaon page also aects the inserted speed and feed values.
Feature Extensions When features are created for turning operaons, they are created on the prole of the nished part. However, there are many mes when the tool needs to be posioned outside the feature to avoid stock material that has not been removed yet. There are also mes when the user wants the tool to connue cung past the end point of a feature. In ESPRIT, there is no need to modify the features to obtain the correct tool path. Opons are available that let the user automacally extend the start point or end point of the selected prole feature so that machining can begin or end outside the feature. The feature itself is not modied, only the reference path for the tool path.
A distance can be entered to extend the starng element or ending element of the feature. The start or end point is extended tangent to the feature. A posive or negave value can be entered. Entering a negave value has the same eect as making the feature shor ter. X When a canned cycle is used, lead-in and lead-out moves are disabled. In this case, you can use
the Feature Extension sengs to extend the prole for the canned cycle for a safe start.
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SolidTurn Machining Cycles All SolidTurn machining cycles are displayed on the SolidTurn toolbar and on the Machining menu under SolidTurn. To display the SolidTurn toolbar, click ‘Switch to SolidTurn’ on the Smart toolbar and then click SolidTurn.
Roughing - Creates a roughing operaon containing roughing passes and, oponally, a nish pass. Within a single operaon, the Roughing cycle supports a variety of stock shapes, roughing paerns, and part proles with ease. Independent rough and nish passes use separate feeds and speeds and lead-in/lead-out moves. Depth of cut calculaons opmize material removal during roughing and automac safe transion movements between rough and nish cuts guard against collisions. Balanced Roughing - Creates two separate roughing operaons using two tools, each on a dierent turret. Balanced Roughing performs a roughing operaon about twice as fast as a normal roughing operaon by using two tools mounted on separate turrets. The two tools can cut simultaneously or one tool can lead and the other trail behind by a specied distance. When the two tools cut simultaneously, the feed rate can be doubled while maintaining the same tool load. Contouring - Creates a single contouring pass along a prole. SolidTurn Contouring creates a single pass along a selected feature in either a forward or reverse direcon. Contouring passes can be created on the OD, ID, or face of a part with or without a stock allowance. B-Axis Contouring - Creates a single contouring pass that connuously rotates the tool about the B-axis while cung. Proles that normally require a series of turning tools can be cut with just one operaon, resulng in a smoother surface. The B-axis can be mounted on the turret or on the spindle. Grooving - Creates a grooving operaon. Within a single operaon, you can create separate roughing and nishing passes. When roughing and nishing passes are combined, ESPRIT lets you dene exactly when and where the nishing passes will be created in relaon to the roughing passes. Drilling - Creates a drilling operaon aligned with the spindle axis. In SolidTurn Drilling, the par t is spinning and the tool is xed. Several types of drilling cycles are supported, including canned cycles. Threading - Creates a threading operaon. A threading operaon is used to create internal threads on the ID of a part, external threads on the OD of a part, or to cut a spiral on the face of a part. SolidTurn Threading includes a thread database that allows the selecon of industry-standard threads (UN, UNR, UNC, M Prole, UNF,...) or user-dened threads. Manual Turning - Creates a manual turning operaon from selected points, lines, arcs, or features.
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Commands for part transfers Four commands are available that let you remove the nished part from the machine or transfer the part to another spindle for addional machining. Cuto - Creates a cuto operaon to separate a machined part from the stock so that it can be removed from the machine or transferred to a sub-spindle for addional processing. A Pickup operaon is typically performed before a Cuto operaon to prevent the part from dropping aer it is separated from the stock. Bar Feed - Creates a bar feed or stock reposioning operaon. A bar feed can be performed using another spindle or a stock stop tool. A bar feed can be performed at the beginning or end of operaons. Pickup - Creates an operaon to pick up a part using either the turret spindle or a sub-spindle. Release - Creates an operaon to release a part. When a Release operaon is performed aer a Pickup, the same spindle and reference locaon must be used.
Commands for machine-specific functions Two commands let you control components added to your machine.
Steady Rest - Creates a steady rest operaon from manually selected points to support long or heavy stock. The Steady Rest operaon controls the movement of the steady r est as well as the opening and closing of the clamps, dwells, and stops. A steady rest can be mounted independently on the machine or mounted on a turret. Steady rest properes are dened in SolidTurn Machine Setup. Tailstock - Creates a tailstock operaon to support long stock. Tailstock can be mounted independently on the machine or mounted on a turret. Tailstock properes are dened in SolidTurn Machine Setup.
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Prerequisites The les for this lesson are available on the ESPRIT DVD in the ‘Get Started’ folder. The les are also available for download from ESPRITWeb » File Library » ESPRIT 2010. All dimensions in this lesson are in millimeters. Make sure “System Unit” on the Tools menu is set to “Metric”. If you would like to review and simulate the machining operaons from this lesson, the completed ESPRIT le is available in the folder “completed_parts”.
Open the part file On the Standard toolbar, click Open.
Browse and select the following le: turned_part.esp. Click Open. If the Project Manager is not displayed, press F2.
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Create a turning tool This le already contains several tools for turning and drilling. You will learn how to create a grooving insert that will be used to cut the groove on the OD of the part. Turning tools can be created from the Tool Manager or from commands on the Turning Tools toolbar. SolidTurn users can create both milling tools (for drilling and mill-turn work) and turning tools.
When a tool is created in the Tool Manager, you can select the tool staon where you want to mount the tool before the tool is created.
The Tool Manage r All cung tools are managed on the Tools tab of the Project Manager. The Tool Manager lets you create, edit, copy, rename, and delete tools. You can also transfer tools between the Tool Manager and the KnowledgeBase. The Tool Manager displays all the available tools in the current document. Tools are grouped by turret.
The user can choose which columns to display using the Field Chooser. Right-click on any column heading and then select Field Chooser to view a list of opons. Tools can also be unmounted or moved from one turret to another. To move or copy a tool, rightclick on the tool and select Copy To or Move To. If you choose Unassigned, the tool is unmounted from its current locaon.
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Create a groove tool In the Project Manager, click the Tools tab. Right-click on Staon 6 and click New > Turning Tools > Grooving Insert.
Use the Tab key to move to the following sengs and set the values: • Shape = Groove • Nose Angle (NA) = 90 • Nose Radius (NR) = 1 • Thickness = 4 • Width (W) = 4 • Size (S) = 4 • E = 40 • Hand = Right
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Click the Holder tab. • Holder Type = Grooving • Style = AS Side Mount • Shank AxB = 20 - 20.00 x 20.00 • Clamp Style = S Screw • Hand of Tool = Right Enter the following dimensions for the holder:
• A = 20 • B = 20 • C = 90 • D = 40 • E = 50 • F = 20
Click the General tab. • Tool ID = Groove W4 • Tool Number = 1 • Orientaon = 3V Make sure each seng for ‘Movement X, Y, Z’ is set to ‘Home’. Set ‘Tool Shi X, Z, Y’ to -30, 10, 0. Click OK to create the new tool in Staon 6.
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Create turning features Standard turning operaons use chain features and PTOPs to dene the cuer path. For simple 2-axis work, you only need to create chain features on the inner and outer part proles. For mulple-axis work, you must create chain features on the upper and lower sides of the par t prole because they correspond to upper and lower turrets. In this project, you will use the Turning Proles command to create features for turning operaons. The Turning Proles command analyzes the shape of a selected solid model, sur face, or STL model to nd internal and external proles. ESPRIT rotates the part around the x-axis to nd the OD prole, ID prole or projecons of the front fa ce or back face. The calculated prole can be created as a chain feature or as individual geometric elements.
Create turning profiles on the front face and back face You will start by creang turned proles from selected faces on the solid model. The Turning Proles command lets you select solid models or solid faces. Set the view to ‘Front Isometric’.
In the status area, make sure HI mode and SUB-ELEMENTS mode are acve.
On the Smart toolbar, click Create Features.
Click Turning Proles.
Use HI mode to select the front face of the part (when you rst click on the part, the enre solid model highlights. Right-click to select the next available element. When the face highlights, click the le mouse buon to conrm the selecon).
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Set ‘Prole Type’ to ‘Front Face’. Set ‘Create’ to ‘Feature’. Set ‘Prole Locaon’ to ‘Top’. Click OK.
Set the view to ‘Back Isometric’. Again, click Turning Proles. Use HI mode to select the back face. Set ‘Prole Type’ to ‘Back Face’ and click OK.
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Rename the features It is helpful to give descripve names to features. T his makes it easier to select the correct feature when you want to apply a machining operaon and it is extremely helpful to other users if they need to modify operaons at a later me. • Click the Features tab in the Project Manager. • Right-click on ‘1 Chain’ and select Rename. • Rename the feature ‘Front Face’ and press Enter. • In the same way, rename ‘2 Chain’ to ‘Back Face’.
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Create a profile on the OD groove This me you will create a prole of geometry so that you can create several chain features from the same geometry. • Click Turning Proles
.
• Select the solid model. • Set ‘Prole Type’ to ‘Full (solids only)’. • Set ‘Create’ to ‘Geometry’. • Click OK.
On the View menu, click Masks to display the Masks dialog. Select ‘Solid’ to remove the check mark and close the dialog.
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Change the view to ‘Top’ and zoom the view so that you can select the elements that form the groove on the OD. Click Auto Chain.
Select end point (1) as the starng element. Select segment (2) as the next element in the chain (be careful to select the segment, not the midpoint).
Select end point (3) as the ending element. Click Cycle Stop (when a chain is created with an open shape, Cycle Stop must be used to end the selecon process).
Rename ‘3 Chain’ to ‘OD Groove’. 1
2
3
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Create a profile on the undercut area Click Auto Chain
.
Select end point (1). Select segment (2) to the le of the end point. Select midpoint (3) to end the chain in the middle of the segment. Click Cycle Stop
.
Rename ‘4 Chain’ to ‘OD Undercut ’.
1
2
3
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Create a contouring profile You will create this chain feature using a combinaon of the Manual Chain and Auto Chain commands. This prole will go over the groove on the OD, since the groove and the OD will be cut with dierent machining operaons. • Click Manual Chain
.
• Select end point (1). • Select the end point on the other side of the groove (2). • Click Auto Chain
.
• Select the segment shown (3). • Select the end point on the front face (4). Feature selecon reverts back to Manual Chain because the start point, direcon, and end point for Auto Chain have been dened. • Click Cycle Stop
.
• Rename ‘5 Chain’ to ‘OD Finish’.
1
2
3
4
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Create a roughing profile on the OD Press Ctrl+M and select ‘Solid’ to show the solid model again. Click Turning Proles
.
Select the solid model.
Set ‘Prole Type’ to ‘OD’. Set ‘Create’ to ‘Feature’ and click OK. Rename ‘6 Chain’ to ‘OD Rough’.
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Create a drilling feature You will create a PTOP feature for the drilled hole on the front face of the par t. • Mask the display of the solid. You do not need the solid model for the rest of the lesson. • Click Manual PTOP.
• Select the point at the origin. • Click Cycle Stop
.
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Create profiles on the ID When the Auto Chain command is used, the geometry that denes the chain can be selected before or aer the command is run. When the geometry is selected rst, you do not need to click Cycle Stop. The chain is created automacally. • Select all the geometry of the ID groove and click Auto Chain
.
• Rename the chain ‘ID Groove’. • Select all the geometry at the front of the ID and click Auto Chain
.
• Rename the chain ‘ID Rough and Finish’. • Use HI mode to select the line segment beneath the ID chain and click Auto Chain • Rename the chain ‘ID Thread’.
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.
Create lathe stock A solid stock model can be created for automac calculaon of the stock as turning operaons are created and for simulaon purposes. Stock models for turning operaons can be created in Simulaon Parameters or dened in Machine Setup. Th e stock model in SolidTurn Machine Setup can be dened as a solid bar, a tube, or as a casng.
Display the lathe stock Lathe Stock Automaon maintains awareness of the state of lathe s tock at any moment during the machining process. The current operaon calculates the stock material based on any previous turning operaons or the inial stock dened in Machine Setup or Simulaon. Aer any turning operaon is created, ESPRIT updates the knowledge of the stock. That knowledge can then be used to calculate the stock for any subsequent turning operaons. The visibility of the lathe stock on the screen is controlled through the Masks dialog. • Press Ctrl+M to display the Masks dialog. • Click the Details tab. • Select ‘Lathe Stock’ and close the dialog.
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Define the bar stock in Machine Setup You can see that the diameter of the default stock is too small. You will dene the stock in Machine Setup as a solid bar with a diameter of 60 mm. The length of the bar stock and the part stock are the same. On the Smart toolbar, click Common Machining.
Click Machine Setup.
• Set ‘Stock Type’ to ‘Bar’. • Set ‘Bar Diameter’ to 60. • Set ‘Total Bar Length’ to 81. • Set ‘Part Stock Length’ to 81. • Click OK.
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Rough the face and the OD You will start by removing the excess material on the front face and the OD of the part. You will use two roughing operaons on the OD: the rst to rough the prole and the second to remove material in the undercut area.
Rough the face In the Feature Manager, select ‘Front Face’. On the Smart toolbar, click SolidTurn.
Click Roughing.
• On the drop-down menu, click Open. • Open the following technology le: Processes\T1-Face_Rough.prc.
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Click the Strategy tab. Noce that ‘Type of Work’ is set to ‘Face’ and that ‘Finish Pass’ is set to ‘No’. Only rough passes will be generated. Also noce that feature ex tensions are added to the feature so that the tool starts outside the bar stock and ends at the center line. Click the Rough tab. Noce that Stock Type is set to Automaon to allow the system to automacally calculate the stock for you. Under ‘Passes’ you can see that this operaon uses a constant depth of cut of 2 mm. For detailed informaon on all the sengs for Roughing, click Help.
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Click OK. Noce that the lathe stock is automacally updated. Each me an operaon is applied, the stock is updated so that the next operaon will not create cung passes in areas where material has already been removed.
Rough the OD Select the feature ‘OD Rough’ and click Roughing
.
On the drop-down menu, click Open. In the same Processes folder, open the le: T2-OD_Rough.prc. The OD Rough operaon uses the same roughing tool as the Face Rough operaon. ‘Type of Work’ is now set to OD. On the Rough tab, Depth Variaon is now set to ‘Even Steps’ instead of a constant depth of cut. Click OK.
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Rough the undercut area on the OD Select the feature ‘OD Undercut’ and click Roughing
.
Open the le: T3-OD_Rough_Undercut.prc. On the Strategy tab, noce that ‘Undercung Mode’ is set to ‘Below’. ESPRIT will recognize and cut any undercut areas located below the tool. Any undercut areas in front of the tool will be ignored. On the Rough tab, a constant depth of cut of 0.5 mm is used for this operaon. Click OK.
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Drill on the center line Select the PTOP feature and click Drilling.
Open the le: T4-Center_Drill.prc. This is a standard drilling cycle that uses a 21 mm drill to a depth of 52 mm. Click OK.
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Rough and finish the groove on the OD Select the feature ‘OD Groove’ and click Grooving.
Open the le: T5-OD_Groove.prc. On the Strategy tab, noce that a rough pass and a nish pass will be created in the same operaon.
On the Rough tab, the groove will be cut with mulple plunge moves using the ‘Smart ’ step over mode. For more informaon on these sengs, click Help.
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On the Finish tab, the ‘Finish Mode’ will create 2 nish passes, s tarng at each side of the groove and retracng at the middle. Click OK.
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Contour the OD Select the feature ‘OD Finish’ and click Contouring.
Open the le: T6-OD_Finish.prc. Click OK. The OD of the part is now complete and you are ready to start working on the ID.
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Rough and finish the ID When you roughed the OD of the par t, you created only roughing passes. Now you will create a single roughing operaon that includes roughing passes followed by a single nishing pass. The same tool is used for all cung passes. Select the feature ‘ID Chain’ and click Roughing
.
Open the le: T7-ID_RoughFinish.prc. On the Strategy tab, ‘Type of Work’ is now set to ‘ID’ and the Finish tab displays because ‘Finish Pass’ is set to ‘Yes’. On the Rough tab, the rough passes are created as even steps with a maximum depth of 2 mm. On the Finish tab, the feeds and speeds and the lead-in/lead-out are dierent for the nish pass. Click OK.
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Groove the ID This operaon is almost the same as the OD grooving operaon except that the grooving tool for the ID uses a round inser t and the approach/exit moves have been changed to cut on the ID. Right-click on the feature ‘ID Groove’ and click File > Process File. Select the le ‘T8-ID_Groove.prc’ and click Open.
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Thread the ID Select the feature ‘ID Thread’ and click Threading.
Open the le: T9-ID_Thread. On the Thread tab, ‘Thread Denion’ is set to ‘From Prole’ so that th e threads will follow the selected chain feature. The system automacally gets the ‘Major Diameter’ of the ID thread from the locaon of the feature. When ‘Thread Denion’ is set to ‘From Database’, the thread parameters are imported from a database. Click OK.
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Perform the cutoff Select the feature ‘Back Face’ and click Cuto.
On the drop-down menu, click ‘System Default All’ to set all the parameters to the system defaults. • Type Cuto in ‘Operaon Name’. • Set ‘Tool’ to ‘Cuto Tool’. • Set ‘Speed RPM’ to 1910 and press the Tab key to update the CSS speed. • Set ‘Feedrate PM’ to 191 and press the Tab key to update the PR feed rate.
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Click the Strategy tab. • Set ‘Entry Mode’ to ‘X Only’ and then enter a value of 30 for the X movement (you are not allowed to enter a value for Z). • Set ‘Exit Mode’ to ‘X Only’ and also set the X value to 30. Click the Rough tab. • Set Stock ‘Type’ to ‘Automaon’. • Set ‘Rough to Diameter’ to -1 so that the tool will cut slightly below the center line. Click OK.
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Simulate turning operations The details of the machine, including spindles and tur rets, are already dened in Machine Setup. You can now simulate the complete movement of the operaons, the par t and the machine to see how the operaons you just created work together. Operaons are simulated in the same order as they are listed in the Operaon Manager. On the Smart toolbar, click Simulaon.
• Click ‘Run’ to start the simulaon
.
• Click ‘Pause’ to temporarily stop the simulaon
.
• Click ‘3/4 Secon’ so that you can see the simulaon on the inside of the stock • Click ‘Run’ again to restart the simulaon • When the simulaon is nished, click ‘Stop’
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. .
.
Simulate with Stock Automation When you simulated the turning operaons, you simulated all of them from the b eginning and the simulaon started with the inial bar stock dened in Machine Setup. But what if you want to simulate only one operaon without simulang all the operaons before them? In that case, you can use Stock Automaon. Stock Automaon will star t the simulaon of one or more operaons with the previous stock already removed. Stock Automaon also displays icons next to each operaon in the Operaon Manager to let you know whether the stock has been calculated. X Stock Automaon is dierent than Lathe Stock Automaon because it only aects the display
of the stock when turning operaons are simulated. • Click the Operaons tab in the Project Manager to display the Operaon Manager. • Right-click on a heading and select Advanced > Field Chooser from the menu. • Select ‘Stock’ and click OK.
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• On the Tools menu, click Opons. • On the Machining tab, select ‘Enable Stock Automaon’ and click OK. • Noce that the display in the Operaon Manager changes to show the status of the stock for each turning operaon. For details on what each icon means, open ESPRIT Help (press F1) and look for ‘Stock Automaon’ in the index.
• Select any operaon in the Operaon Manager and click Run. • The simulaon starts with the calculated stock from all previous operaons. • Click Stop to exit the simulaon.
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Burning on a 2-axis Wire EDM ESPRIT oers a complete tool set for a range of wire EDM machines. The unique cung technology and methodologies for each manufacturer are integrated into specialized technology pages. This gives you full control over the advanced features and unique funconality of the leading machines on the market.
SolidWire Machining Technology 146 Saving Machining Technology 150 EDM Machine Types .............. ...........151
The intent of this project is to teach you the process for creang 2-axis wire EDM (Electrical Discharge Machine) operaons using the standard wire EDM technology in ESPRIT.
Machining strategies for dies and punches .....................................................151 Cutting planes .... ................................ 152 Cut strategies for lands and tapers 153
SolidWire Gold Machining Cycles 155 Prerequisites.................................... 156 Open the part file ........................ 156 Set the EDM Machine Type .... 157 Create EDM features ................... 157 Create a stock model ................. 163 Contour the group of holes ...166 Contour the die openings .......168 Sort EDM operations ....................171 You will learn: • About SolidWire Gold machining technology and machining cycles • How to create features for wire EDM operaons • How to create a stock model • Techniques to quickly contour a group of features • Advanced sorng of EDM operaons • Simulaon with slug removal
Simulate wire EDM operations 173
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SolidWire Machining Technology ESPRIT has machining technology that is designed specically for 2-axis through 5-axis wire EDM, including machines equipped with a rotary axis. This technology is called SolidWire. SolidWire technology lets you dene the physical properes of your wire EDM, create stock models, create specialized EDM features with automac feature r ecognion, create wire EDM operaons, and perform simulaons with either automac or manual slug removal. The technology for SolidWire machining cycles is displayed on a tab in the Project Manager. This makes it easy to enter machining parameters and view the par t model at the same me. The user can also click on any of the other tabs in the Project Manager to make it easier to selec t features.
X The technology for a machining cycle will not open unless a valid feature is selected rst.
The way that machining parameters are organized for all SolidWire machining cycles is consistent to make it easy to learn and use the technolog y. The interface is organized in three main areas: • Toolbar area • Vercal tabs • Parameters area
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The Toolbar area contains commands to validate (OK) and close (Cancel) the current technology as well as a Help buon to open the help le for the current technolog y. The drop-down buon displays the context menu for the technology. The icon reects the last command used by the user.
The vercal tabs are arranged to save space. All EDM machine types use the same interface to group machining parameters in a consistent way. • The General tab contains all the general informaon about the operaon such as the operaon name, the machining strateg y, informaon about the workpiece, cut-o moves, and a comment area. • The Cut Data tab contains the machining parameters for the primary and land cuts • The Approaches tab contains the parameters that aect the way the wire moves in and out of the part and between skim cuts • The Advanced tab contains the parameters that give the user more control over the wire path, such as opmized wire path, taper informaon, and control over machine func ons
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The Parameters area displays the machining parameters for the current technology. Parameters are grouped by category and each group control can be collapsed or expanded for visualizaon purposes.
To make the selecon of parameters easier, the interface shows the user only what is needed based on the current input. For example, if the selected feature has a land depth, the ‘Land Cut’ parameters display on the Cut Data tab.
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If the feature has taper only, the ‘Land Cut’ sengs are hidden.
When an arrow buon displays nex t to a parameter, you can click the arrow and select an element in the work area to load a value.
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If the value for a parameter is invalid or missing, an error displays next to the parameter. If you hover your mouse over the error icon, a descripon of the error displays so that it can be corrected.
Saving Machini ng Technology Machining technology sengs can be easily saved as a separate *.prc (process) le and used over and over for the machining of similar parts. To save the technology for a machining cycle, click Save on the drop-down menu. Enter a name for the le, browse to the locaon where you want to save the le, and click Save.
Aer a technology le has been saved, it can be loaded in a technology page. Click ‘Open’ on the drop-down menu, browse to the le, and click Op en. X The type of technology in the le must match the machining cycle. For example, you can only
load Pockeng technology into a Pockeng cycle. For this reason, it is important to name the saved technology le with the type of technology in the le.
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EDM Machine Types Before you create SolidWire operaons, you must rst select the type of EDM you are using. The machine type you choose determines the opons that are available on the operaon technology pages. The EDM machine type is selected from the Tools menu.
A dialog displays all the machine types available in ESPRIT. If your machine type is not shown on the list, select ‘Generic’.
X Aer machining operaons are created, the machine type cannot be changed. All exisng
operaons must be deleted before the user is allowed to change the machine type.
Machining strategies for dies and punches A single EDM operaon generates a separate operaon for the rough cut, each skim cut, each cuto, and possibly a skim cut for each cut-o. ESPRIT oers a collecon of machining strategies that provide a quick and easy mechanism to generate highly ecient machining, especially important when you are cung mulple work pieces or work pieces that require mulple cuts.
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The ‘Strategy’ parameter lets you choose the order in which these cung passes are created.
The following strategies are available: • [Rough][Skim]: The rough cut for each selected feature is performed rst, then all skim cuts for each feature. If a cut-o strategy is selected, the cut-o distance is applied to the rough cut and no retract takes place. • [Rough][Cut-o][Skim]: This strategy is generally used when the thread point and retract are inside the feature (a die).The rough cut for each selected feature is per formed rst, then the cut-o, then all skim cuts. The cut-o strategy can insert a stop or oponal stop code before the cut-o move for parts that are run unaended. • [Rough][Skim][Cut-o]: This strategy is generally used when the thread point and retract are outside the feature (a punch). The rough cut for each feature is performed rst, then all skim cuts for each feature, then all cut-os.
Cutting planes Parameters that control the heights of cung planes are shown on the General tab. These plane heights are automacally loaded from the feature properes. If a chain feature is selected as input, the Z-axis posion of the feature is used for the loc aon of the work piece boom and the user must enter the other values. If an EDM feature is selected as input, these properes are contained in the feature and are loaded automacally in the technology page. For this reason, it is recommended to use EDM features.
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• Workpiece Thickness is the total thickness of the workpiece • Reference Plane is the distance from the work table to where you are holding size for a taper cut. The taper is taken from this posion. Land cuts cannot be created when this value is equal to the work piece boom or the calculated top of the work piece (work piece boom + work piece thickness). • Workpiece Boom is the Z locaon at the boom of the workpiece
Cut strategies for lands and tapers The user can choose to create a rough pass only, a rough pass and skim cuts, or skim cuts only. When a feature contains both a taper and a land, separate strategies can be dened for each type of cut. Up to 9 skim cuts can be created aer the rough cut.
X Although a rough cut is included in each strategy, you can use the ‘Suppress Rough’ parameter
to output only skim cuts. ESPRIT also provides the SolidWire Expert System for several types of machines. The Expert System is a database that lets you view and choose cung data before it is inserted on a SolidWire technology page. The Expert System is launched from a buon located on the contouring and pockeng technology pages.
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The Expert System has two sets of data: a default (Master) database and a User Custom Database. You can select data from either database. The Default Database contains manufacturerrecommended data that cannot be changed. The User Custom Database contains data that is set up by the user.
X Charmilles machines use their own CT-Expert System provided by AgieCharmilles.
Details about how to set up and use data in the Expert System are provided in ESPRIT Help. Press F1 to display the Help window and look for ‘Expert System’ in the index.
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SolidWire Gold Machining Cycles All SolidWire Gold machining cycles are displayed on the SolidWire Gold toolbar and on the Machining menu under SolidWire Gold. To display the toolbar, click ‘Switch to SolidWire’ on the Smart toolbar and then click SolidWire.
Part Setup - Part setup is the rst step for every machining process. Part Setup controls which codes are output when SolidWire operaons are converted to NC code. Part Setup also denes the inial posion of the wire. EDM Drilling - This machining cycle follows a series of points to drill holes in forward or reverse order at the depth and number of repeons you specif y. EDM Drilling is a simple roune that allows the input of a PTOP feature or a single point to dene the locaons where holes will be drilled.
Contouring - This versale machining cycle supports any number of straight or tapered rough and skim cuts. Strategies for all styles of EDM machining such as punch, die, mul-cavity parts, and unaended machining are included. Between cuts ESPRIT automacally handles all the necessary wire-cut and wire-thread instrucons. Pockeng - Creates a 2-axis wire EDM pockeng operaon that uses concentric cung passes to gradually remove all the material inside a cavity from the inside out. When the size of the work piece makes it dicult to handle slugs eciently, this no-core pocket machining cycle erod es away all the material inside a cavity without creang a slug. Manual EDMing - Creates a 2-axis wire EDM contouring operaon using any combinaon of rapid or feed moves along manually selected geometric elements. Taper Change - This command simplies the process of inserng a gradual taper between selected sub-elements in a dra conic feature. It is easier to apply a constant taper using the Property Browser. Simply select one or more sub-elements in a dra conic feature and change the Dra propert y. However, if the group of sub-elements includes isometric corners, you must use the Taper Change command to insert the taper. Advanced Operaon Sorng - Sorts a group of SolidWire operaons according to user-dened criteria. This command oers a range of automac sorng opons to help opmize machining me.
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Prerequisites The les for this lesson are available on the ESPRIT DVD in the ‘Get Started’ folder. The les are also available for download from ESPRITWeb » File Library » ESPRIT 2010. All dimensions in this lesson are in millimeters. Make sure “System Unit ” on the Tools menu is set to “Metric”. If you would like to review and simulate the machining operaons from this lesson, the completed ESPRIT le is available in the folder “completed_par ts”.
Open the part file On the Standard toolbar, click Open.
Browse and select the following le: wire_part.esp. Set the view to ‘Isometric ’.
If the Project Manager is not displayed, press F2.
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Set the EDM Machine Type For this lesson, you will use the technology for a generic machine. • On the Tools menu, click EDM Machine Types... • Make sure Generic is selected and click OK.
Create EDM features When you have a large number of shapes to cut, you c an save me by creang features as a group and then applying a machining cycle to all of them at once. You will create dra conic features for the die openings and the holes. Instead of c reang features one at a me, you can create all the features at onc e using the face propagaon capabilies in ESPRIT.
Set the work plane When an EDM feature is created, the orientaon of the feature is based on the current work plane. The current work plane serves two purposes: • The W-axis of the current work plane denes what is vercal • The origin of the current work plane denes Z=0 for the feature. The height of the UV and XY planes are measured from the origin of the plane. For this lesson, make sure the current work plane is set to XYZ.
Create a group of hole features You will use Dra Feature Recognion to create the hole features. Dra Feature Recognion will automacally recognize any holes in a solid model and create specialized features with the thread point automacally placed at the center of each hole. You will also automacally place the new features into a feature group. Select the solid model.
On the Smart toolbar, click Features.
Click Dra Features.
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• Set ‘Part Type’ to ‘Hole’ • Click the selecon arrow next to Maximum Diameter • Select an edge of one of the holes to automacally load the value on the technology page
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• Click the Rules tab • Set ‘Group to Folder’ to ‘Yes’ • Click OK X Full descripons of the dra feature dialog sengs are available in ESPRIT Help.
The Feature Recognion Report dialog displays a message that the posions of the thread points was calculated by ESPRIT. The display of this dialog is controlled on the Rules page with the ‘Display Error Messages’ seng.
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Click OK The hole features are added to a folder in the Feature Manager. The features are named according to the selecon for Part Type to make them easier to idenfy later.
Create a group of die features Next you will select all the faces that belong to the die openings using the Tangent Faces opon in the Grouping Properes dialog. All faces will be selected that are tangent to the rst face you select. When you hold down the Shi key, you can select a solid or a single solid face and ESPRIT will automacally select faces based on the sengs in the Grouping Properes dialog. When you hold down the Ctrl key as well, you can connue to add more elements to the group. For these features, you will select the thread point s instead of leng Dra Feature Recognion calculate them for you. Click Grouping Properes.
Make sure ‘Face’ to ‘Tangent Faces’ and close the dialog.
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• Hold down the Shi key and the Ctrl key as you select a face from each opening
• Set the Selecon Filter to ‘Point’ • Change the view to ‘Top’ • Hold down the Ctrl key as you draw a selecon box around all the points
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• Click Dra Features • Set ‘Part Type’ to ‘Die’ • Set ‘Approach Type’ to ‘Normal’ • Click the Rules tab • Set ‘Group to Folder’ to ‘Yes’ • Click OK
• Set the Selecon Filter back to ‘All’ • Set the view back to ‘Isometric’
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Create a stock model Stock models for wire EDM operaons are created in Simulaon Parameters on the Simulaon toolbar. Stock models are created as solid models that aid in the visualizaon of material removal during the simulaon process. Stock models can be dened in a variety of ways: from an exisng solid model, from a feature, from an external le, and from points that dene a block. You will create the stock model by creang a chain feature on the outer prole of the part and then use the Simulaon Parameter command to extrude that prole. To automacally select all the connected segments that form the prole of the part, you will hold down the Shi key during the selecon process. • Hold down the Shi key and select a segment in the outer prole • Click Auto Chain
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On the Smart toolbar, click Simulaon.
Click Simulaon Parameters.
• Click the Solids tab • Set ‘Type’ to ‘Stock’ and set ‘Create From’ to ‘Extrusion’
• Click the arrow buon and select the chain feature in the work area • Set ‘Z+’ to 0 • Set ‘Z-’ to 20
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• Click Add • Click OK
• To view the new stock model, click Single Step • Click Stop to exit simulaon mode
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Contour the group of holes First you will create a single contouring opera on and apply that operaon to all the holes. Since most of the machining informaon is extracted directly from the selected features, you only need to dene a few machining parameters. On the Smart toolbar, click SolidWire.
In the Feature Manager, select the ‘Hole Group’ folder. Click Contouring.
• Make sure ‘Strategy’ is set to [Rough][Skim] • Click the Cut Data tab • set ‘Strategy’ to ‘Rough and 1 Skim’ • Click OK
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Noce that a Contour operaon is created for the enre group (the ‘parent’ operaon) and an individual Contour operaon is created for each feature in the group (the ‘child’ operaons). Each child operaon has the exact same technology sengs as the parent operaon. If you change the parent operaon, the child operaons will be updated automacally. You can also treat the child operaons as independent operaons by changing some of the technology sengs. However, if any of those sengs are updated later in the parent operaon, the parent will override the children.
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Contour the die openings You will again create a Contouring operaon to cut all the rec tangular openings. Then you will create a Contouring operaon for the triangular opening. To make it easier to apply a single operaon to all the rectangular die openings, you can move the feature for the triangular die opening out of the feature group. • Open the folder for the ‘Die Group’ • Click on each feature unl the feature for the triangular opening is highlighted in the work area • Drag the feature to the ‘XYZ’ coordinate to move it outside the group
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• Select the ‘Die Group’ folder • Click Contouring • Make sure ‘Strategy’ is set to [Rough][Skim] • Click the Cut Data tab • Set ‘Strategy’ for the primary cut to ‘Rough’ • Set ‘Strategy’ for the land cut to ‘Rough and 2 Skims’ • Click OK
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• Select the ‘Die’ feature for the triangular opening • Click Contouring • Click the Cut Data tab • Set ‘Strategy’ to ‘Rough and 1 Skim’ • Click OK
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Sort EDM operations SolidWire operaons are added to the Operaon Manager in the same order as they are created. This is typically not the opmum order in which you will want to cut the nal part. ESPRIT oers several methods for sor ng SolidWire operaons in the Operaon Manager. • Manually sort operaons by dragging them to a new locaon in the operaons list • Automacally sort operaons based on the available elds in the Operaon Manager (right-click in the Operaon Manager and click Advanced > Sorng) • Automacally sort operaons based on user-dened criteria in Advanced Operaon Sorng. Advanced Operaon Sorng oers the advantage of opmizing the wire path in addion to sorng operaons by type. The Advanced Operaon Sorng command gives you plenty of opons for sorng operaons to opmize cung me. You can sort operaons by type of cut or by cavity and then opmize the cung path between operaons. The operaons you created in this project are currently sorted by feature. You will use Advanced Operaon Sorng to sort the operaons by type of cut so that all the roughs are performed rst. Then you will pracce opmizing the cung path using dierent opmizaon methods. • Click the Operaons tab in the Project Manager. • Right-click in the heading area and select Field Chooser • Select ‘Cung Cycle’ to display the type of cycle in the Operaon Manager • Close the dialog
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• Click Advanced Operaon Sorng • Set ‘Sort By’ to [Rough][Cut-O][Skim] • Set ‘Roune’ to ‘Shortest Path’ • Click the selecon arrow and select the lower le feature • Click Apply to see the results
• Set ‘Roune’ to ‘Zigzag’ • Set ‘Zigzag Type’ to ‘Horizontal’ • Set ‘Band Width’ to 10 • Click Apply to see the results • Click OK
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Simulate wire EDM operations When SolidWire operaons are simulated, you have the opon to display the r emoval of the slugs automacally while the operaons simulate or you can wait unl the simulaon is complete and then simulate the removal of the slugs manually. For this project, you will manually remove the slugs.
On the Smart toolbar, click Simulaon.
• Click Simulaon Parameters • Uncheck ‘Automac Slug Removal’ and click OK
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• Click ‘Run’ to simulate all the operaons
.
• Click ‘Slug Removal’ • Select dierent stock items in the list and click ‘Move Down’ or ‘Move Up’ (ESPRIT will prevent you from moving the tapered stock above the block because this is not possible) • Click ‘Stop’
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Using CAD files from other systems When you open a CAD le, you can set the import opons by clicking the Opons buon on the Open dialog. Specic import opons are provided for each type of CAD le.
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AutoCAD files (*.dxf, *.dwg) ESPRIT supports Autodesk DWG and DXF le formats for both imporng and exporng up to the latest version of AutoCAD. Opons let you scale the drawing automacally and set the le unit to either Inch or Metric.
IGES files (*.igs) The Inial Graphics Exchange Specicaon (IGES) denes a neutral data format that allows the digital exchange of informaon among computer-aided design (CAD) systems. • Trim Tolerance: This tolerance controls the precision of the trim curves from imported surfaces. • Auto Scale: By default, this opon is checked. When the unit of measure used in the imported model is dierent from the system unit in ESPRIT, the imported model will be scaled automacally to the current system unit. When unchecked, the model is imported without scaling. • Log File Mode: When checked, a log le is generated during the import process. • Smart Drawing: When checked, drawing elements (type 404 enes) will be imported if they exist in the le. • Drawings Mode: When checked, only drawing elements (type 404) will be imported. • Clip Mode: By default, this opon is checked to avoid imporng clipped enes. When unchecked, ESPRIT respects the clipping mode in the IGES le. • Blank Status: By default, this opon is checked to avoid imporng blank (invisible)enes in the le. When unchecked, blank enes are impor ted as well as visible enes. • Import Label: When checked, any textual informaon associated with enes is imported.
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ACIS files (*.sat) ACIS is a popular 3D modeling engine that integrates wireframe, surface, and solid modeling funconality. The following import opons are common to most of the le formats that can be imported into and exported out of ESPRIT. Files can be imported as a solid or surfaces, with or without wireframe geometry. • Trim Tolerance: Enter the tolerance to use for trimmed enes. • Import as Solid: When checked, any solid model data included in the model le is imported. When this opon is checked, the Surfaces opon is automacally unchecked. • Wireframe: When checked, any wireframe geometry included in the model le is imported. • Surfaces: When checked, any surface data included in the model le is imported. When this opon is checked, the Import as Solid opon is automacally unchecked. • Import Label: When checked, any textual informaon associated with enes is imported.
Parasolid files (*.x_t, *x_b) Parasolid is a solid modeling kernel used in many CAD and CAM systems to create and edit the mathemacal denion of engineering parts and assemblies. ESPRIT supports parasolid text les (*.x_t) and parasolid binary les (*.x_b). The following opons are specic to Parasolid les in addion to the common opons listed for ACIS les. • Blank Status: By default, this opon is checked to avoid imporng blank (invisible) enes in the le. When unchecked, blank enes are imported as well as visible enes. • Version: This opon applies only when an ESPRIT le is exported to a Parasolid le format. You can choose which version of Parasolid to use for the export.
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SolidEdge files (*.par, *.psm) The import/export opons for SolidEdge les are the same as the ACIS le opons.
SolidWorks (*.sldprt, *.sldasm) ESPRIT supports the import of SolidWorks les, but not the export. The following opon is specic to SolidWorks les in addion to the common opons listed for ACIS les. • Extract Parasolid Stream Only: By default, this opon is checked. When checked, ESPRIT will import and display the SolidWorks feature tree in the CAD Feature Manager. The user can then inspect, select, and edit items in the tree. When unchecked, the user cannot inspect or edit the tree. X SolidWorks allows the user to create
conguraons that dene mulple variaons of a part or assembly. A conguraon can be created manually or from a design table. When the conguraon is created manually, the solid model is actually generated at runme (when the user is creang/acvang it). However, when using a design table, SolidWorks allows the user to generate mulple conguraons without creang the solid model. ESPRIT is only capable of loading a conguraon if it has been acvated at least once. If you try to open an inacve conguraon, ESPRIT will return an “Empty File” error message. If you want to open an inacve conguraon in ESPRIT, you need to acvate it in SolidWorks rst . Open the le in SolidWorks, then select and double-click the conguraon in the Conguraon Manager and save the le).
STEP files (*.stp, *.step) The following opon is specic to STEP les in addion to the common opons listed for ACIS les. • Sew Faces: This opon is checked by default. ESPRIT will try to create a solid from imported surfaces.
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STL files (*.stl) Import opons let you scale the drawing automacally and set the le unit to either Inch or Metric. Export opons let you choose whether to export the model as a solid, surface, STL model, or composite. When a le is exported as an STL, only one solid model is exported. If your le contains mulple solids that you want to export as one solid, you must group the solids before export. When the Sew opon is checked, ESPRIT will use the specied Gap Tolerance to try to export a closed group of surfaces as a solid.
CATIA files (.model, .catpart, .exp, .dlv) The following opons are specic to C ATIA les in addion to the common opons listed for ACIS les. • Blank Status: By default, this opon is checked to avoid imporng blank (invisible) enes in the le. When unchecked, blank enes are imported as well as visible enes. • Single Face Solid loaded as Surface: When checked, ESPRIT analyzes the number of faces for each solid in the le. Any solid that has a single face is assumed to be a surface and imported as a surface instead of a solid.
UG files (*.prt) See the descripon for CATIA.
Pro/E files (.prt.*, .prt, asm.*, .asm) See the descripon for CATIA.
Inventor files (*.ipt, *.iam) The import/export opons for Inventor les are the same as the ACIS le opons.
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ESPRIT Options You can use the sengs on the ESPRIT Opons dialog to customize your conguraon of ESPRIT. To open the dialog, click Opons on the Tools menu. The conguraon sengs you dene are only valid for the current session of ESPRIT unless you do one of the following: • To save your sengs for future use, click the Default buon, select “Save current as user defaults” and click OK. • To restore the sengs to the ESPRIT installaon defaults, click the Default buon, select “Reset all to installaon defaults” and click OK. The Opons dialog has several tabs where you can set your preferences.
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Attributes Set the default style and color of elements in ESPRIT. First, select the element from the Feature list at the le of the screen, then set the Line Type, Line Weight, and Color for that element. When you click OK, all new elements of that type will adopt the new sengs. Exisng elements will remain the same. When you select Background in the list, the “Use Gradient” seng becomes available. You can set the background in the work area to a gradient of a color from dark to light.
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Input These sengs let you control some of the types of input allowed in ESPRIT. • Prompt for Z values: When checked, the system prompts for Z values for commands that require a Z input. When unchecked, the system will use zero for all commands that require a Z value. • Enable Grid Mode: Set the system default to Grid Mode at start up and when new les are created. • Show Template Dialog: When checked, a dialog displays when New is selected from the File menu lisng all of the available templates. When unchecked, the dialog does not display and the default template is chosen automacally. • Line 2 always bounded: When checked, the system will always draw a Line 2 trimmed to the two selected reference elements. • Bold printer output: When checked, the system will print all elements in bold. • Allow grouping of sub-elements: When checked, enables the selecon of feature sub-elements and solid model faces/loops/edges when in HI mode. This opon can als o be enabled or disabled in the Status area using SUB-ELEMENTS mode.
Feature Parameters These sengs control whether you are creang planar 2D features or freeform 3D features. You can also set the maximum distance allowed between the elements used to create a feature. • Planar creaon: When checked, ESPRIT ignores all elements that are not on a plane parallel to the acve work plane when features are created. When this seng is not checked, you can create features from non-planar elements. • Gap tolerance: Somemes there are ny gaps between geometric elements. This tolerance lets you dene the maximum allowed distance between elements when you create a feature on that geometry. When a gap is smaller than this distance, it is considered connected and included in the feature. Any elements separated by a distance larger than this value will be created as a separate feature.
Grid Parameters These sengs only have an eect when GRID mode (in the Status area) is acve. You can set the distances in X, Y, and Z between each grid point and the default angular and radial values when you snap the cursor to grid points.
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Advanced Set the defaults for the tolerance and wireframe display of surfaces and tolerance sengs for the approximaon of solids.
S u r f a c e / S o l i d To l e r a n c e You can use the slider bar to set the tolerance from rough to ne when surfaces and solids are created. Instead of using the slider you can also enter a tolerance value.
Surface Wireframe Grid When surfaces are displayed as wireframe, you can set the number of grid lines used to display surfaces. The sengs for First Direcon and Second Direcon determine how many wireframe grid lines are used to display surfaces. The default value for both sengs is 3, but you can change it. The display seng has no eect on the actual surface, just the display. Keep in mind that the more grid lines displayed, the longer it will take your computer to redraw the screen. When you enter a value for First Direcon, Second Direcon is automacally updated with the same value. You can select and change the Second Direcon value.
Approximation Precision These sengs apply only to features created from solid models. The feature is c reated as an approximaon of the selected solid. • Tolerance: Pocket, Face Prole, and Hole features use the approximaon tolerance when features are created from solid models. For example, if a solid par t has a hole with a diameter of 4.126 and you set the Tolerance value to .01, ESPRIT creates a Hole Feature 4.13 in diameter. • Tangency Deviaon: Enter an angle value represenng the maximum deviaon between the segments used to approximate a circle or curve and the curve itself. The smaller the allowable deviaon the greater the accurac y of the approximaon, also resulng in a greater number of segments. The larger the allowable deviaon, the fewer the segments. • Vercal Walls (degrees): This seng is used when ESPRIT analyzes a part model before creang feature coverings for SolidMill FreeForm cung operaons. Enter the amount of angle deviaon allowed for vercal walls. ESPRIT uses this value to recognize near-vercal walls as ver cal. • Segments Only: When checked, the solid is approximated with segments only. • Min radius: When checked, you can enter the lowest radius value to use for the approximaon. • Max radius: When checked, you can enter the highest radius value to use for the approximaon.
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• Min Arc Length: When checked, you can enter the minimum arc length used to approximate the solid. • Min Segment Length: When checked, you can enter the minimum length for each segment used in an approximaon.
Machining Set the display of technology pages and the stock for simulaons.
Tech Page Defaul ts • Custom Page: When checked, a tab called Custom is added to the standard operaon pages. Otherwise, the Custom tab does not display.
Stock • Enable Stock Automaon: Select this opon to enable stock automaon during simulaon. The current state of the stock will be calculated when a machining operaon is selected for simulaon. Clear this opon to simulate machining operaons using the denion for the inial state of the stock.
• Stock Automaon Tolerance: Enter a tolerance for stock automaon. The simulaon stock is calculated using this value. A small tolerance will require more computer processing me. • Stock Transparency: Set the default transparency of stock parts. When set to the far le, the stock is opaque. When set to the far right, the stock is invisible.
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Workspace These parameters control the display in the work area.
Shading Resolution Set the display resoluon for shaded solids and surfaces by moving the slider or entering a percentage. More complex objects will display more slowly at higher resoluons. You can also select Rough (10% resoluon), Default (50%), or Fine (75%).
Wire Frame Resolution Set the display resoluon of wire frame views by using the slider or set the resoluon to the system default.
Mouse and Keyboard These sengs control the acons on the screen when the mouse and keyboard are used together to pan, zoom, and rotate the view in the work area. • Mouse Middle Buon Acon: Dene the acons that take place when the middle mouse buon, or scroll wheel, is held down while the mouse is moved. • Reverse Mouse Wheel Zoom Direcon: By default, rolling the scroll wheel forward zooms in the view while rolling the scroll wheel backward zooms out th e view. Checking this opon will reverse this acon, which is useful if the user wants the zooming acon to match a dierent CAD system. • Arrow Key Rotaon: The user can rotate the view by using the arrow keys in conjuncon with the Ctrl key (rotate about the horizontal or vercal axis) or the Alt key (rotate about the normal axis). This value controls the angle of rotaon each me an arrow key is pressed.
Axis Display and Refresh Rate Choose whether to display the XYZ axis or the UVW axis by default whenever a new session of ESPRIT is started. The display of the XYZ axis and the UVW axis can also be controlled on the View menu. The Refresh Rate controls how oen, in milliseconds, ESPRIT will refresh the display in the work area.
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File Locations Set the default le locaons for les saved and opened in ESPRIT. To change a default locaon, select a le type in the list and then click Modify. Browse for the folder you want to use and then click OK. When ESPRIT is installed, the default le loc aons are set to your user folder on your local computer. It is useful to change the default le locaons when les are stored at a shared locaon on a networked computer or server. If you want ESPRIT to ignore the default locaons and open les from the last locaon where a le was saved, uncheck “Reset Locaon On New Document”.
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