nx10 cam - object, tranform, rectangular array - program order, tool path management? 1

[mechjames]

Hi Guys,
I have crated a rectangular array of parts and tool paths to machine on my vac plate. After creating the array the program order is such that nx wants to run through each tool path sequentially per part. This is of course not very efficient. I want to use the tool to cut the tool paths for each part one after the
other then do a tool change for the next tool path in the series thus making tool changes as few as possible. What is the best way to manage this? I can order the tool paths manually by dragging them around but this seems a bit silly...

many thanks,
James

 

[capnhook]

Have you tried "Instances" on your operations?


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[mechjames]

Hi capnhook,
yes, that is exactly what I do. I can make the instances no problem but then I have to click and drag them into a logical order. 100 instances, 4 different operations is a bit of a pain. Surely this can't be the way you are supposed to do it? I simply want all instances of the same type to run sequentially then do a tool change for the next operation and its
associated instances. Am I missing something?

cheers,
James

 

[SvenVoeten]

Hi,

If you temporary put the 3 last operations in unused, then transform the first operation.
Add the second operation after the already transformed operations and transform the second operation.
Repeat this for the last 2 operations.

Regards,
Sven

 

[markrief]

If the parts are all the same, have you tried Paste with Reference?
You do the work inthe geometry view, and when you go to the Program view, I think the output will be in the order you want.
There is a demo here: Link

Mark Rief
NX CAM Customer Success
Siemens PLM Software

 

[mechjames]

Hi mark,
perfect, excellent example, many thanks, exactly what I want....

One possibly silly question - so far in cam I have been playing with only one part. How do I add the extra workpieces onto which I will copy and paste with reference?
Am I adding extra parts in assembly, creating my rectangular array (or whatever) and then going into the cam environment and adding my parts to the new workpiece geometries that I make?
Is that the workflow? What if I have for example 100 parts? Do I manually need to add 100 workpiece geometries?

many thanks for the help and advice!
James

 

[mechjames]

Hi Mark,
I played with this quite a bit now. I create an assembly model, pattern the components and then go into the manufacturing environment where I add the workpieces by creating the new geometry and specifying the parts. All is good. Unless I am doing something wrong my only problem with this is how long it takes
to create the new geometry and add all the workpieces. If you have say 50 or 100 parts on a sheet this is going to take some time. Is there a better way to do that last bit?

cheers,
James

 

[markrief]

If you do this a lot, and don't need to simulate all the copies in NX, you might look in to using machine subroutines. Basically program one part with a subroutine for each tool. On the machine, change the tool, then call the subroutine 100 times - once at each location.

Mark Rief
NX CAM Customer Success
Siemens PLM Software

 

[mechjames]

Hi Mark,
many thanks for the help. I will look into using machine subroutines also....

cheers,
james