Lathe Programming from a Surface Model

When I create a revolved base/boss(like a shaft or wheel) in Solidworks and I import into Surfcam and create > spline > cross section to get my geometry for lathe tool paths, why do I have to redraw some of the horizontal lines and always the radius's to get true toolpaths? I have also tried this with Create > Spline > Surface Boundry with just about the same results. Is there something that needs to be toggled on in Surfcam or do I need to do something different in Solidworks or Surfcam? I am running Vel. 4 and 09 Solidworks.

I always seem to have to draw geometry when i do lathe parts in surfcamI go through the same process you described and end up still drawing geo.Surfcam dos'nt seem well suited to lathe

Try creating a Planar Surface through the middle of the part, then create your Surface Intersect Splines or Velocity4 has a new Surface Boundary Silhouette (Create | Spline | Surface Boundary)

Darin

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Originally Posted by Darinbee

Try creating a Planar Surface through the middle of the part, then create your Surface Intersect Splines or Velocity4 has a new Surface Boundary Silhouette (Create | Spline | Surface Boundary)

Darin

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I've done that did it, you still need to redraw your radius's and some lines. Draw something up in SW with radius and chamfers, bring it in to SC using create > spline > cross section and analyze all your splines you will see that some of them are not planer. You can get around this problem by changing your planar elements in your chain options to no. So is this a SW or SC problem?

My company has an add on that works with Solidworks that converts the part to a .dsn. this will give you a surface layer, a wireframe layer and a sketch layer. Not like when you upload a solid...not sure what it was called but it's out there.

cross section your part in solid works through the plane which will best describe your part in a 2-d way , then open the file in surfcam, we do tons of lathe work and that is the method we have found to be the best.All of or jobs are done with the fixture fully modeled and the part in place but only represented in cross section

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Originally Posted by ChrisDoug

cross section your part in solid works through the plane which will best describe your part in a 2-d way , then open the file in surfcam, we do tons of lathe work and that is the method we have found to be the best.All of or jobs are done with the fixture fully modeled and the part in place but only represented in cross section

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What is the process for that and how do you save it? When I tried it, the model came thru as whole not sectioned.

All I’ve been doing is selecting the plane in which I want to split the part and extrude cut half of it.Then you will want to save it with a modified name as to not change any of the properties of your whole model. We usually just add "cross-section" to the name as we usually have the whole model associated with milling fixtures or for compareing with our CMM data when parts are finished.Hope this helps:) :)

Just loaded Vel. 4 SP 1 and when you import a Solidworks sldprt or Parasolid you can also import the sketch geo. on a different layer and color. No mods. needed comes in clean and the radius are not splines. Thanks for all the help.

Our old software is Surfcam 2000. How do I import a .sldprt file into it. I am brand new to this.

Not sure about this but I don’t think it has changed in 15 years. Select file, Open, a screen will open, then select the file type from the “Files of type” selection menu. Please note that Surfcam 2000 will not be able to open today’s current Solidworks files, only files that were current at the time your Surfcam 2000 was released. You will have to save the Solidworks file to a much earlier version (not sure what that was).

If you are using SurfCam 2000, then you are running 10 years behind.

There's 2 things you can do to open SolidWorks files:

1. Upgrade to SurfCam V5 2010

or

2. Import your file into SurfCam in a generic format like IGES (preferred) or SAT

I would choose option 1, you are missing out on a whole decade of excellent innovations...


Charlie