Automatic Toolpath Creation

[NeedSpeed]

I’m curious to know if anyone’s tried making this. I’ve created a .dll with UG Open (NX4 / windows platform) that will apply a standard set of toolpath operations. It’s use is primarily for cutting simple or straight forward electrodes. It can eliminate anywhere from 50% - 100% of programming time. The more complex the electrode the more operations that have to be created manually.

Here’s what it does. It cycles through the active part on layer1 and stores the data as a part_tag. It also gets a boundary_tag data from the lowest planar face of the object. It then creates a solid block on layer 2 exactly .200 wider and .020 taller and stores it as a stock_tag.

Once all this data is obtained, It applies a standard set of manufacturing operations. i.e.:
1. Planar pass to mill to highest level. (T1-375 EM) Boundary tag is inputted and so is the floor plane(highest point).
2. Cavity mill plus .020 on walls and floors (T2 – 250 EM) Part_tag is inputed for part geometry and the stock_tag is inputted for the stock geometry.
3. cavity mill plus.020 on walls .000 on floors (T2- 250EM) ditto.
4. Cavity mill .000 on walls and floors (T6 - .125 BM) ditto.
5. Fixed axis/ area milling path .000 (T6 - .125 BM) Part_tag is used for geometry. Surface area is selected by selecting any surfaces that are greater than .300 from the bottom of the electrode.
6. Planar pass for outside pick-up of electrode. (T1-375 EM) Boundary tag is inputted and so is the floor plane(lowest point). Initial cut is changed to the value of the deepest cavity mill operation.



The .dll also calculates how long the specific tool needs to be.
The .dll needs to work with the manufacturing templates. It looks for a specific operation/template based on what it is named. So it’ll need to be customized for your specific operations.

Any questions???? Who wants to work on this?

I’ve also created other .dll’s for creating drafting views, creating bounding boxes, creating new .prt files from assemblies and creating directories. I've got some screen shots but can't figure out how to post them.I'll probably need to link them somehow.

 

[jelmerra]

I have done something similar but then with process assistants. A key issue is that nx contour accuracy and toolpath quality are different when milling with no stock or with stock.

 

[NeedSpeed]

I've tried using the process assistants also but couldn't refine the procedure enough to the way I wanted it. Using UgOpen allowed alot more steps to be eliminated.

I have a question.
Are you saying that using geometry stock(i.e. : a simple solid block) versus lets say a boundary will produce cutter paths with different accuracies? Assuming both paths have identical intols/outtols. This would be for cavity milling operations.

 

[jelmerra]

What I meant to say is that if the stock in an operation is greater or smaller than zero then the tool path quality is different from when using a oversize tool or oversize part.