Mastercam Version 9 SolidsTutorial - Part 6 pdf

Designing a Windshield for a Toy Race Car Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 125 6 Designing a Windshield for a Toy Race Car In this chapter, you will create a solid model of a windshield for a toy car. You will build this model from existing wireframe geometry and from circles that you create to define the windshield’s curved shape. You will build on skills that you learned in previous chapters and learn new skills, such as:  Creating a base solid (Loft)  Changing the light intensity on the shaded solid  Removing select defining curves from the solid Exercise 1 – Defining the windshield’s shape In this exercise, you will create circles along a spline at six pre-defined points. The circles will form cross-sections of the windshield and define the windshield’s basic shape. Before you create the circles, however, you will set the construction plane (Cplane) and construction depth (Z). Chapter 6 126 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial Up to this point in the tutorial, you have not been concerned with the construction settings because Mastercam uses the plane and depth of the underlying curve geometry when constructing solids. However, Mastercam creates wireframe geometry (lines, arcs, splines) on the plane and at the depth that you define. Note: The current construction settings are reflected on the Cplane and Z buttons on the Secondary Menu. Setting the construction plane and depth You will set the construction plane to (right) side view and set the depth based on the midpoint of an existing line. 1. Open windshield-wireframe-mm.mc9 from your working folder. 2. Choose the Cplane button on the Secondary Menu. 3. Choose Side from the Construction Plane menu. Mastercam changes the construction plane to side view. 4. Choose the Z (depth) button on the Secondary Menu. Mastercam displays the Point Entry menu. 5. Position the cursor halfway along the line shown in the following picture. 6. When the cursor changes to an open square and Mastercam highlights the Midpoint option on the Point Entry menu, click to select this position. Mastercam sets the depth to match that of the midpoint of the selected line. Designing a Windshield for a Toy Race Car Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 127 Note: For Mastercam to detect the point, the AutoCursor must be turned on. For more information, see “Turning on the AutoCursor and AutoHighlight features” in Exercise 2 of Chapter 2. Creating a circle You will create a circle by defining three unique edge points. 1. Choose Main Menu, Create, Arc, Circ 3 pts. 2. Choose Point from the Point Entry menu, and select the green point at the position shown in the following picture. 3. Choose Endpoint from the Point Entry menu, and select the brown line shown at position 1 in the following picture. 1 2 Chapter 6 128 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 4. Choose Endpoint again, and select the brown line shown at position 2 in the previous picture. Mastercam fits a circle to these three points at a depth of –41.870 millimeters. 5. Press [Esc] to exit the function. Copying the circle You will now copy the circle to a second point along the windshield geometry. Before you do so, you will change the construction plane to 3D, which lets you create geometry in unrestricted 3D space. The circle will be copied to the depth of the translation point that you enter and will remain parallel to the plane defined by the original circle (side view). 1. Choose the blue Cplane-3D toolbar button. 2. Choose Main Menu, Xform, Translate. 3. Select the circle you just created then choose Done. 4. Choose Between pts from the Translate Direction menu. 5. Define the “from” translation point by selecting the point entity at position 1, as shown in the following picture. Note: When the cursor detects the point entity, the system highlights the Point option on the Point Entry menu. 1 2 Designing a Windshield for a Toy Race Car Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 129 6. Define the “to” translation point by selecting the point entity at position 2, as shown in the previous picture. The Translate dialog box opens. 7. Select Copy as the operation type. Check your settings against the following picture. 8. Choose OK to copy the circle to position 2. Your part should look like the following picture. Copying the circle to the remaining points When you perform an Xform (transform) operation, the entities that you select to transform turn red, indicating they are a group. The new entities turn purple, indicating they are the result of the operation. These temporary color/group designations allow you to select geometry quickly when performing multiple transform operations on the same geometry. Chapter 6 130 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 1. From the Translate menu, choose Result. Mastercam selects the second circle, which resulted from the previous operation. 2. Choose Done to end the selection. 3. Choose Between pts from the Translate Direction menu. 4. Define the “from” translation point by selecting the point entity at position 1, as shown in the following picture. 5. Define the “to” translation point by selecting the point entity at position 2, as shown in the previous picture. The Translate dialog box opens. 6. Choose OK to copy the circle. There are now three circles along the windshield geometry. 7. Repeat steps 1 through 6 three more times, selecting the three remaining points in order until you have created a total of six circles. 8. Fit the geometry to the screen. Your part should look like the following picture. 1 2 Designing a Windshield for a Toy Race Car Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 131 9. After you have created the six circles, press [Esc] to exit the function. 10. Choose the Screen-Clear Colors toolbar button to remove the group/result colors from the last two circles. Exercise 2 –Creating the windshield’s solid body In this exercise, you will use the Loft function to create a solid based on the circles that you defined in the previous exercise. The system creates a lofted solid by transitioning between two or more selected closed chains of curves, which define the cross-sections of the solid. 1. Choose Main Menu, Solids, Loft. 2. Select the circle at position 1 in the following picture. Note the direction of the arrow that displays on the chain. It is important that the chaining direction be the same for all the chains that you select. Note: The chaining direction determines how the system transitions between chains when building the lofted solid. It does not matter which direction the arrows point, just that they point in the same direction. Chapter 6 132 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 3. Select the remaining circles in order from positions 2 through 6, as shown in the previous picture. If necessary, choose Reverse to correct the chaining direction before selecting the next chain. 4. After you have selected all six chains, choose Done. The Loft Chain dialog box opens. 5. Enter Windshield Body for the operation name. 6. Check your settings against the following picture, then choose OK to create the solid. 6 5 4 3 2 1 Designing a Windshield for a Toy Race Car Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 133 7. Press [Alt+S] to turn on shading. Your part should look like the following picture. 8. Choose Main Menu, File, Save and save the file as windshield- solid-mm.mc9 in your working folder. Exercise 3 – Refining the windshield’s shape In this exercise, you will trim the front and bottom of the windshield to make it more aerodynamic. Preparing the part (setting levels, hidden lines, etc.) 1. Choose the Level button on the Secondary Menu. The Level Manager opens. 2. Make level 4 visible by clicking in the Visible column for this level. Level 4 contains two rectangles, which you will use to trim the windshield’s shape. Chapter 6 134 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 3. Choose OK to close the Level Manager. 4. Press [Alt+S] to turn off shading. 5. Press [Alt+F1] to fit the geometry to the screen. 6. Choose Main Menu, Screen, Surf disp, Solids. The Solids Display dialog box opens. 7. Turn on hidden lines by selecting Hidden and Show Hidden Lines. 8. Check your settings against the following picture, and choose OK to close the Solids Display dialog box. [...]... dialog box opens 5 Enter Trim Bottom for the operation name 6 Check your settings against the following picture Make any necessary adjustments 140 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial Designing a Windshield for a Toy Race Car 7 Choose OK to create the cut Your part should look like the following picture Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 141 Chapter 6 Exercise 4 – Making the windshield more aerodynamic In... dialog box opens 6 Enter Through-Holes for the operation name 7 Select Cut Body and Combine Ops Note: For more information on combining operations, see Exercise 3 in Chapter 4 8 Select Extend through all 9 Check your settings against the following picture Make any necessary adjustments Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 1 59 Chapter 6 10 Choose OK to cut the through-holes Your part should look like the following... Mastercam un-hides the curve geometry 5 Fit the geometry to the screen Your part should look like the following picture 152 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial Designing a Windshield for a Toy Race Car 6 Zoom in on the end of the windshield that contains the light-blue circles These circles represent the through-holes Your part should look similar to the following picture Copying the curve geometry... Choose OK to create the cut Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 137 Chapter 6 14 Turn on shading Your part should look like the following picture Changing the shading settings You will view the results in top view First, however, you will change the shading settings to reduce the glare from the light that shines directly on the part in this view 1 Choose the Screen-Surf Disp-Shading toolbar button The... right-click on it, then choose Suppress The operation icon will no longer be gray Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 143 Chapter 6 11 Choose OK to close the Solids Manager Your part should look like the following picture Exercise 5 – Hollowing out the windshield In this exercise, you will hollow out the windshield To do so, you will use the Shell function, which you learned about in Exercise 6 of... choose Reverse It 1 56 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial Designing a Windshield for a Toy Race Car 5 Choose Done The Extrude Chain dialog box opens 6 Enter Screw Plate for the operation name 7 Select Add Boss 8 Enter 1.32 for Distance 9 Clear Both directions 10 Check your settings against the following picture Make any necessary adjustments 11 Choose OK to create the screw plate Your part should look... the part to view the underside of the windshield Your part should look similar to the following picture 3 Press [Alt+Y] to open the Solids Manager 4 Drag and drop the Fillet Sides operation to the position immediately above the Shell operation The system rebuilds the model using the new operation order Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 151 Chapter 6 5 Choose OK to close the Solids Manager Your part. .. correct edges to select 8 Choose Done The Fillet Parameters dialog box opens 9 Enter Fillet Sides for the operation name 10 Enter 15 for Radius 11 Check your settings against the following picture Make any necessary adjustments Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 147 Chapter 6 12 Choose OK to close the Fillet Parameters dialog box Your part should look like the following picture Filleting the windshield’s... Smooth option, see “Setting fillet parameters” in Exercise 4 of Chapter 2 9 Check your settings against the following picture Make any necessary adjustments 10 Expand the three edges in the edge list section of the dialog box There are two vertices, or endpoints, listed for each edge Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 1 49 Chapter 6 11 Click on each vertex in the list The system highlights the corresponding... select the next entity manually 6 Choose Done to end the selection 1 36 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial Designing a Windshield for a Toy Race Car 7 Choose Done to set the extrusion direction The Extrude Chain dialog box opens Note: The extrusion direction does not matter since you will extrude the chains in both directions 8 Enter Trim Front for the operation name 9 Select Cut Body 10 Select Extend . construction depth (Z). Chapter 6 1 26 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial Up to this point in the tutorial, you have not been concerned with the construction settings because Mastercam uses the plane. Race Car Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 143 5. With your cursor positioned over the selected chains in the list, right-click to open the following menu. 6. Choose Delete Chain. Mastercam. right-click on it, then choose Suppress. The operation icon will no longer be gray. Chapter 6 144 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 11. Choose OK to close the Solids Manager. Your part