fanuc GFK-1710 User Manual
Gibbs and Associates
323 Science Drive
Moorpark, CA 93021
(805) 523-0004
March, 1999
SOLIDSURFACER
ADDENDUM
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SolidSurfacer Addendum GFK-1710
Proprietary Notice
This document contains propriety information of Gibbs and Associates and is to be used only pursuant to and in conjunction with the license granted to the licensee with respect to the accompanying Gibbs and Associates licensed software. Except as expressly permitted in the license, no part of
this document may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated
into any language or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic, magnetic, optical,
chemical, manual or otherwise, without the prior expressed written permission from Gibbs and
Associates or a duly authorized representative thereof.
It is strongly advised that users carefully review the license in order to understand the rights and
obligations related to this licensed software and the accompanying documentation.
Use of the computer software and the user documentation has been provided pursuant to a Gibbs
and Associates licensing agreement.
© Copyright 1999 Gibbs and Associates, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Acknowledgements:
Written by Wil Gaffga
Thanks to Bill Gibbs, Shannon McConville, Steve Aughinbaugh, Bart Ehlers, Gary Esser, Israel
Klain, Alvaro Martins and Vincent Schmidt for their input, advice and assistance.
Trademarks:
Windows NT and Windows 95 are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 1
INTERFACE 1
File Extension Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Select Sub-Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
MODELING 2
Sweep Dialog ...............................................................2
DATA EXCHANGE 5
Direct Open of Native File Formats .............................................5
IGES Surface Export .........................................................6
Improved SAT Import .........................................................6
MACHINING 8
CAM Engine Tab ............................................................8
Surfacing Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
2.5D Material Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Machining Open Sided Pockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
SOLIDSURFACER TUTORIAL NOTES 20
MACHINING EXERCISES 21
Exercise #1 : Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
GFK-1710 T able of Contents
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1
Introduction
This addendum details the additions to the system contained within v. 5.0. It is solely a supplement
to the SolidSurfacer manual. This addendum does not include Geometry Creation, Lathe, Mill,
Rotary Mill or Advanced Milling functionality.
Interface
This section describes the changes to the interface. The system has adopted modifications to the
Select sub-menu and an expanded File Extension preference.
FILE EXTENSION PREFERENCES
The File Extension Preference has been modified to include
SolidEdge and SolidWorks files. This is to accommodate the new
capability of directly opening these files. (See the Data Exchange
section of this document for more information.)
SELECT SUB-MENU
The user may now automatically select all edges
on an active body. This capability is accessed from
the Select sub-menu of the Edit menu. Any edges
that the user does not wish to have active may then
be de-selected.
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Modeling
This section describes the changes to modeling functions in the SolidSurfacer module.
SWEEP DIALOG
Drive Curve (DC) Blend: The user is given control over transitions between Drive Curves. Used when
there are more than two Drive Curves.
Linear Blends will produce the same result as if the sweep was performed on the sections separately. As if the results of a sweep between DC1 and DC2 were added to the results of a sweep
between DC2 and DC3.
Smooth Blends: A smooth continuous body will be swept between the drive curves as specified
by the option selected.
No Tangent Control: There will simply be a smooth transition between Drive Curves. The
user has no control over tangency.
Tangent at End DCs: The swept body will be blended to be tangent to the Base Curve at the
first and last Drive Curve. Transitions between any other Drive curves will be smooth
without any control, as with No Tangent Control.
Tangent at All DCs: The swept body will be blended to be tangent at all Drive Curves.
Tangent Power: Tangent Power controls the strength of the tangent blending when specifying
control for the ends or all Drive Curves. The range is from 0.0 (no control, works the same as
No Tangent Control) to 1.0 (a very sharp transition with long straight parallel sections.
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Figure 1: Examples of swept Bodies with 1 Base Curve
Guide Curve (GC): This is an optional curve that can be used to control alignment of the Drive Plane,
replacing the “normal-to-Base-Curve” standard. It can also be used to “scale” the Drive Curve in
one or more axes.
Figure 2: Examples of swept Bodies with a Base Curve and a Guide Curve
Sharp Corners: This button toggles on or off whether corners should be smooth (rounded) or sharp,
(square). If Sharp is chosen the system will extend a body so the corners meet to have mitred corners, keeping the drive curve’s profile.
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2 Drive Curve
Linear
3 Drive Curve
No Tangency
2 Drive Curve
Tangent
3 Drive Curve
Tangent @ Ends
3 Drive Curve
Linear
3 Drive Curve
All Tangent
1 Base Curve Base Curve & Guide Curve
Rotate Only
Base Curve & Guide Curve
Rotate & 1 Axis Scale
Base Curve & Guide Curve
Rotate & 2 Axis Scale
Figure 3: Example of Rounded versus Sharp corners. Note that even the interior corners are sharp
or smooth.
Data Exchange
This section describes the new capabilities and improvements to the Data Exchange capabilities of
the system.
DIRECT OPEN OF NATIVE FILE FORMATS
The system now has the ability to directly open and read SolidWorks and SolidEdge (v.5.0 or later)
native file formats.
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GFK-1710 SolidSurfacer Addendum
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IGES SURFACE EXPORT
The system can now export geometry and bodies as IGES surface entities. From the File menu
select Export. This will bring up the standard Open/Save dialog. Select IGES files from the Save as
Type pull down menu..
Once the file is named and Save has been clicked the following dialog will come up. The information may be altered as needed by the user.
When OK has been clicked the Export Filter dialog will come up. This allows the user to define
what elements are to be exported and the measurement unit to be used. When the Process dialog has
been pressed the system will compile the IGES file and save it as directed.
IMPROVED SAT IMPORT
SAT files may either be directly opened or they may be imported into a .vnc file. Importing a file
offers the advantage of being able to bring in more than one file. The system will read the SAT file
to determine what it is and where it came from. This information is contained within the file’s header and will be displayed as seen in the following image. Older versions of these files do not have
this header information. Whatever information can be determined will be displayed in the dialog.
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Version: This is the SAT version that output the ACIS file. Earlier numbers mean older SAT files.
Product: This is the CAD product used to create the SAT file.
ACIS Version: This is the version of ACIS the file was saved as.
Date: This is the date on which the file was created.
Distance Resolution: This is the distance (not in measurable units) between which any two points are
coincident.
Angle Resolution: The minimum determinable angle value based on distance resolution and measure-
ment units.
Entities: The total number of entities contained in the file. This can be just bodies or it can be bodies
as well as extraneous information.
Valid Entities: The total number of valid entities the system can read, this may include invalid bodies.
Bodies: The total number of bodies ACIS considers valid.
Size Specifications for the Part Model: SAT files are written in generic units. It is not defined whether
these units are millimeters, inches or meters.
User Defined Units: The user is asked to define a conversion value for mm per unit. If the units are
inches enter 25.4 mm/unit. Clicking on the in button will automatically enter this value in the conversion box. Be sure that the unit of measure for a part is the same as that designated in the
Document Control Dialog. If you do not know the original units of measure, make an estimate
based on the units shown in the dialog. This section will be grayed out if the units are specified in
the header.
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SolidSurfacer Addendum GFK-1710
Machining
This section describes the changes to the machining capabilities of SolidSurfacer.
POCKETING
STOCK DEFINITION
Due to improvements and new functionality in the system, the stock condition for pocketing in
SolidSurfacer is now critical. A part should be fully included (part plus Surface Stock) within the
stock. Error messages related to this are shown below.
2D OPTIMIZE OPTIONS
The system now has multiple options on which toolpath generation engine to use in Contour or
Pocketing operations. This gives the user more control over the results of toolpath generation. A
brief summary of 2D Optimize is given below but for a more complete understanding of this topic
see pages 193-195 or 199-200 of the SolidSurfacer manual.
Typical 3D toolpaths are thousands of small line moves. The purpose of the 2D Optimize option is
to produce ideal line and circle toolpaths from what might otherwise be a 3D toolpath.
2D Optimize is useful when a solid or single surface is being machined. The selected faces of a feature must be stitched together into a single surface. 2D Optimize should only be used to machine a
collection of surfaces if each surface is a single feature. That is, if for example, each of the surfaces
was a single pocket.
Any combination of the Toolpath Optimization options may be chosen. The system will start with
the most simple and quick, try to generate toolpath, then move down the list to the next option if
optimization fails. For example, in the previous image the system would run the 2
1/2
D Optimize then
move to the 2D Optimize a 3D Toolpath.
This option generates toolpaths very quickly. This option will generate
2D toolpaths without surface tolerance if all selected faces are 2D. 2D
Only Optimize does not provide for undercut protection. See the Solid Surfacer manual for more
information about this option.
This option will work on all selected faces, 2D, 2
1/2
D and 3D faces but
only 2 and 2
1/2
D faces will produce optimized toolpath without surface
tolerance. For this option to work, all selected faces must be able to offset by the tool’s corner radius
amount. If the selected faces fail to be offset by the tool’s corner radius the optimization will not
work. The offsetting of faces fails when a face has an inside (concave) curvature smaller than the
offset amount or when there are faces smaller than the offset amount at an inside corner between
faces. If 2
1/2
D Optimize succeeds in its offset calculation it will generate all toolpaths and will skip
subsequent optimizations. This option does not provide for undercut protection.
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GFK-1710 SolidSurfacer Addendum
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The 2D/3D Combo Optimize checks to see if the selected faces have a
2D range on top with a non-2D range toward the bottom. This option
will produce a combination of 2D and 3D toolpaths. First there will be a 2D range down to a depth
where 3D toolpaths will be needed. 2D Only optimize will be used to within the tool’s corner radius
in Z of of the start of the 3D range. 3D toolpaths will be generated from this Z level down. This
may produce some 3D toolpaths on 2D faces near the transition area in Z but this is safer than gouging the part. This option works best with single pockets as opposed to a large and complex group of
faces that may transition from 2D to 3D at different Z depths in different areas. This option can significantly reduce toolpath generation time as the 2D Only Optimize is extremely fast.
This option only looks at 3D toolpaths. It does not generate any tool-
paths, it only seeks to improve them. 2D Optimize a 3D Toolpath will
check to see if any 3D toolpaths were generated from 2D faces. If so it attempts to replace a section
of the 3D toolpath with a 2D toolpath. This optimize does a good job of cleaning up slow 3D toolpath where 2D and 2
1/2
D faces have failed.
MACHINING OPEN SIDED POCKETS
The system now has an enhanced ability to machine open sided pockets. This ability as it relates to
geometry is fully detailed in the Production Addendum (page 11). With SolidSurfacer, geometry
does not necessarily need to be created or defined as “air” for this function to work The part’s stock
will function as “air” geometry and bodies function as “wall” geometry.
The following example helps to illustrate machining open sided pockets. A model is created with a
base, an island and a pocket inside the island.
To machine this model a pocketing process will be created along with drilled entry holes. This will
all be done from one routine. The routine will consist of three operations: a hole operation, and two
pocketing operations. Note that the toolpath extends to and rides on the stock diagram.
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SolidSurfacer Addendum GFK-1710
When the operation is rendered we see that only one entry hole is drilled, that being for the pocket
that is bounded by the model. The model acts as a “wall” to the operation. Thus the tool will start at
the center and work its way outward. In this image we also see that the outer pocket, which has no
boundary, only “air”, has been started from an edge and the tool is working inward.
Once the open-sided pocket is complete, the system moves on to the bounded pocket. Note that this
operation is machining outward.
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