Mastercam Version 9 SolidsTutorial - Part 7 doc

Designing an Injection Mold for a Camera Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 175 7 Designing an Injection Mold for a Camera In this chapter, you will create a two-piece plastic injection mold for a camera. You will create this mold by adapting an imported solid model of the camera's cavity and core. You will build on skills that you learned in previous chapters and learn new skills, such as:  Importing Parasolid® files  Checking solids for error conditions  Using translucent shading  Creating an operation history for an imported solid  Renaming operations in the Solids Manager Exercise 1 – Importing the camera files In this exercise, you will import two solids, one that represents the camera cavity and the other that represents the camera core. Each solid is contained in a separate Parasolid® file. You will merge both solids into one Mastercam file (MC9). Importing the camera cavity 1. Choose Main Menu, File, New and choose Yes at the prompt to initialize the geometry and operations. Chapter 7 176 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 2. Set the construction color to light blue (number 11). Tip: Choose Color from the Secondary Menu, enter 11 for Current color, and choose OK. 3. Switch to wireframe display, if necessary. Tip: Choose Main Menu, Screen, Surf disp, Solids. Select Wireframe and choose OK. 4. Choose Main Menu, File, Converters, Parasld, Read file. The Specify File Name to Read dialog box opens. 5. Open camera-cavity-mm.x_t from your working folder. The Parasolid Read parameters dialog box opens. 6. Clear the Edge curves check box. When selected, this option creates curves along all edges on the imported solid. 7. Clear the Override file name check box. 8. Check your settings against the following picture. Make any necessary adjustments. 9. Choose OK to import the file. If prompted to delete the current part, choose No. Designing an Injection Mold for a Camera Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 177 10. Switch to Isometric view and fit the camera cavity to the screen. Your part should look like the following picture. 11. Press [Alt+S] to turn on shading. Your part should look like the following picture. Importing the camera core 1. Set the construction color to light gray (number 7). 2. Choose Read file from the Parasolid menu. The Specify File Name to Read dialog box opens. 3. Open camera-core-mm.x_t from your working folder. The Parasolid read parameters dialog opens. 4. You will use the same settings that you used when importing the camera cavity. Choose OK to read the file into Mastercam. Chapter 7 178 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 5. The system asks you if you want to delete the current part. Choose No to merge the core into the same file with the cavity. Both halves of the mold now display in the graphics window. Each half is a separate solid. 6. Fit the geometry to the screen. Your part should look like the following picture. 7. To get a better view of the camera core, you will temporarily blank the camera cavity. Choose Main Menu, Screen, Blank. 8. Select the camera cavity (light blue solid). 9. Turn off shading. The graphics window now contains only the camera core, as shown in the following picture. Designing an Injection Mold for a Camera Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 179 10. Turn on shading and dynamically rotate the graphics view so that you can see the underside of the camera core. Your part should look similar to the following picture. Viewing the two halves of the mold together In order to see the void between the two halves of the shaded mold, you will turn on translucency. 1. Return to Isometric view. 2. The Blank function is still active. Choose Unblank from the Blank menu. The system displays the blanked camera cavity. 3. Select the light blue solid to unblank it, and choose Backup. 4. Choose the Screen-Surf Disp-Shading toolbar button. The Shading Settings dialog box opens. 5. Select Translucent at the bottom of the dialog box, and choose OK to close the dialog box. Your part should look like the following picture. Chapter 7 180 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 6. Save the file as camera-mm.mc9 in your working folder. Exercise 2 – Checking the cavity and core for errors In this exercise, you will use the Check Solid function to analyze the solid cavity and core for error conditions that may require repair or reconstruction. This tool is particularly useful for checking the integrity of imported solids. If Mastercam detects errors, such as self-intersecting bodies, wireframe edges intersecting faces at locations other than at vertices, etc., it describes them and highlights their location in the model. 1. Choose Main Menu, Analyze, Surfaces, Check solid. The Check Solid dialog box opens. 2. Choose Perform Check. The Pick Solid Entity menu displays. 3. Toggle Solids to Y and all other Yes/No options to N. 4. Select the camera cavity (light blue solid). Mastercam reopens the Check Solid dialog box and reports the number of errors that it detected. In this case, no errors were detected. Designing an Injection Mold for a Camera Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 181 5. Choose OK to clear the message, then choose Perform Check again. 6. Select the camera core (light gray solid). Again, Mastercam reports that no errors were detected. 7. Choose OK twice to clear the message and close the dialog box. Exercise 3 – Creating an operation history for the camera cavity Imported solids are referred to as bricks because they contain no record of how they were constructed. However, you can use the Find Features function to create an operation history for an imported solid. You can locate holes and fillets in a model and either remove the detected features or create operations based on them. In this exercise, you will create an operation history for the camera cavity. Renaming the base operations Before you work with the camera cavity, you will rename the import operations to better organize the models. 1. Press [Alt+Y] to open the Solids Manager then expand each solid. There are two solids listed for this file, one for the camera cavity and one for the core. Under each solid, there is a base operation titled “Body.” You cannot delete or edit this operation. Chapter 7 182 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 2. Click on Body for the first solid in the list. Mastercam highlights the camera cavity in the graphics window. 3. With Body selected, right-click to display a menu, and choose Rename. The name field becomes editable. 4. Type Cavity, and press [Enter]. 5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 to name the second “Body” operation using the name Core. The Solids Manager should look like the following picture. 6. Choose OK to close the Solids Manager. Finding holes on the camera cavity In this exercise, you will locate holes on the camera cavity and will create operations based on these holes. Mastercam defines the new operations as extruded cuts and creates the associated geometry (circles) required to define the holes. You will set a unique construction color and level for this geometry, which better organizes the model and makes it easy to locate the geometry for editing purposes later. Designing an Injection Mold for a Camera Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 183 1. Blank the camera core by pressing [Alt+F7] and selecting the light gray solid. 2. Press [Alt+Y] to open the Solids Manager. 3. Right-click in the solid list area and choose Solids, Find features. The Find Features dialog box opens. Note: Mastercam will look for features on the camera cavity because it is currently the only visible solid. If the camera core had also been visible, you would have been prompted to select the solid on which to find features. 4. In the Feature section of the dialog box, select Holes and in the Function section of the dialog box, select Create operations. 5. Enter 50 for Maximum Radius. 6. Check your settings against the following picture. Make any necessary adjustments. Chapter 7 184 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 7. Choose New Geometry Attributes. The New Geometry Attributes dialog box opens. Here you will customize the curve geometry that Mastercam will create to define the holes. 8. Enter 0 for Offset. This value determines the distance the circles, which define the holes, will be created from the solid. 9. Enter 5 (dark purple) for Color. 10. Enter 2 for Level. 11. Check your settings against the following picture. Make any necessary adjustments. 12. Choose OK twice to close the New Geometry Attributes and Find Features dialog boxes. Mastercam processes the search, creates the operations, and opens the Solid Feature Detection dialog box. 13. Choose OK in the Solid Feature Detection dialog box. This reopens the Solids Manager dialog box. [...]... operation name Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 195 Chapter 7 7 Select Extend by specified distance 8 Enter 3 for Distance 9 Check your settings against the following picture Make any necessary adjustments 10 Choose OK Mastercam prompts you for a target body 11 Unzoom the screen display 12 Select the camera cavity at the position shown in the following picture 196 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial... Mastercam cuts the gate in the cavity Your part should look like the following picture Gate 13 Save the file In this chapter, you imported and modified a two-piece plastic injection mold for a camera In the next chapter, you will create a two-piece injection mold from an imported surface file Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 199 Chapter 7 200 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial ... Designing an Injection Mold for a Camera Mastercam cuts the sprue hole in the (light blue) cavity Your part should look like the following picture Cutting the gate 1 Zoom in closely on the two green circles again 2 Choose Extrude from the Solids menu 3 Select the 2-millimeter diameter circle, as shown in the following picture Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 1 97 Chapter 7 4 Choose Done 5 Make sure the extrusion... from the Point Entry menu 6 Select the parallel line Mastercam creates a circle that defines the gate 7 Press Backup to exit the function 8 Choose the Screen-Repaint toolbar button to clean up the display Your part should look like the following picture Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 191 Chapter 7 Gate circle Deleting the reference geometry You no longer need the extracted edge curve or the parallel... dialog box opens 7 Enter Gate for the operation name 8 Enter 36 for Distance 9 Check your settings against the following picture Make any necessary adjustments 198 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial Designing an Injection Mold for a Camera 10 Choose OK Mastercam prompts you for a target body 11 Unzoom the screen display 12 Select the cavity at the position shown in the following picture Mastercam cuts... circles, as shown at positions 2, 3, and 4 in the following picture 4 3 2 7 Press [Alt+Y] to open the Solids Manager All four Spot Face operations are marked dirty 8 Choose Regen All Mastercam increases the size of the spot face holes 9 Close the Solids Manager and save the file Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 1 87 Chapter 7 Exercise 5 – Creating curve geometry for a sprue hole and a gate In this... position shown in the following picture 194 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial Designing an Injection Mold for a Camera Mastercam cuts the sprue hole in the core Your part should look like the following picture Sprue hole Cutting the sprue hole in the cavity 1 Zoom in closely on the two green circles again 2 Choose Extrude from the Solids menu 3 Select the 4.5-millimeter diameter circle again, and choose... the parallel line Mastercam creates a circle that defines the sprue hole 5 Choose Backup to exit the function 6 Zoom in on the section of the mold that contains the newly created circle Your part should look like the following picture 190 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial Designing an Injection Mold for a Camera Sprue hole circle Creating a circle for the gate You will create a 2-millimeter diameter... the 2-millimeter circle to cut the gate 1 Choose the Cplane-Side toolbar button 2 Set the construction depth to 77 millimeters Tip: Choose Z from the Secondary Menu, type 77 , and press [Enter] As you type, the value displays in the prompt area 3 Choose Circ pt+dia from the Arc menu 4 In the prompt area, type 2 and press [Enter] 5 Choose Midpoint from the Point Entry menu 6 Select the parallel line Mastercam. .. distance, and press [Enter] This value determines how far the new line will be created from the original line Your part should look like the following picture Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 1 89 Chapter 7 Parallel line Extracted edge curve Creating a circle for the sprue hole You will create a 4.5-millimeter diameter circle at the midpoint of the parallel line In a later exercise, you will use this circle . current part, choose No. Designing an Injection Mold for a Camera Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 177 10. Switch to Isometric view and fit the camera cavity to the screen. Your part should. cavity. Choose OK to read the file into Mastercam. Chapter 7 178 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 5. The system asks you if you want to delete the current part. Choose No to merge the core. Extrude Chain dialog box opens. 7. Enter Sprue Hole Core for the operation name. 8. Select Cut Body. 9. Select Extend through all. Chapter 7 194 Mastercam Version 9 Solids Tutorial 10. Check