[paynebros]

I am able to draw with solidworks, but in our class for featurecam we got a professor who knew ver little and glossed over the deepeer aspects such as solids, surfaces ect. I would like to creeate our machine in a md file and design the clamp below the part so we can avoid some of the fixture parts with the tool paths. I tink it has to do with moving the ucs around possibly? I have the basic version 2011 feture cam with no addins. (we dont get much as students). I see the tutorials in the program directory but it seems limited and there is little on youtube that I can see other then how great the product is for people. I believe ig I can get just a few pointerrs in the right direction I can work through it but I wnt to be able to create something similar to the clamp setup on the bottle mold tutorial design located in the program directory. Thanks.:wavenuts)

[paynebros]

I have found a better tutorial that walked through the steps, but it seems to be slow and cumbersome. As I search around it seems like there is a plug in type of program like "power- mill 3d" for feature cam. I am use to drawing in sloidworks . I would think the machine designs and more complex clamping solids would be created in a different platform then the basic feature cam program because of the difficult process of using the wiz to create extrudes. My main goal behind this is to add in accurate drawings of all the components I have from machine to clamps so as I create tool pats I can avoid collisions and be able to identify any problems. Thanks again for any advice.

[jeffblack1968]

I do 3d modeling with solidworks every day if you need some parts made let me know I will see what I can do. I make allot of tooling and fixtures for my machinery.

[paynebros]

I have the solid works down great, but there is a cad kernel in feature cam that allows to draw and create objects as well as importing them. none problem is when you import some models from solid works it will not recognize all of the features and pop up messages to find other ways to " complete the Model". I assume it will take creating the rest of the model. But in FCam you don't draw the same way as solid works. I wish it was the same because it is simple to model in solid works. There is a "solids "wizard and the best I can tell you must sketch then curve then use wizard. Well the sketch does not allow changing planes with the click of a mouse, there has got to be something I am missing.

[wireburn]

In FC you have to create the plane (UCS) you want to draw on, draw the shape and extrude it. You use boolean operations to create your final bodies. But why do all this when you can just import the SW models?

-Mike

[kmpstr]

Yeah, you don't want to draw anything in FeatureCam - import your solids and go from there. On many complex parts, you will have to select the features yourself in the "Features" tab. Automatic Feature Recognition is a good start, but has some problem that are better to avoid if you can - I don't use it at all because of them except on a simple part.

That is what you need to focus on (designating the features manually) - FeatureCam isn't as powerful and easy to use as SW or Inventor, etc. for the drawing. Post a Pic of the part and we will see which direction you have to go.

Dennis

[paynebros]

I was kinds afraid that was the case, so my next task will be how to finish imports that do not completely finalize.For instance we had a small "pinewood derby" car that a student created. It was a replica of the main character in the "Cars "cartoon. So if you have seen it you know that it is not a difficult car, but as I import it is reads about 2/3 then says "some feature did not finalize, use other methods to finish" so exactly how does one go about finishing up a project like that. Thanks for taking the time to help with this. Side note, can I just add a solid works file to this post, or is there a different process? I tried to attach the Feature cam file but it just open the file in Feature cam and not inserting it into this post for you to see.:tired:

[kmpstr]

It sounds like this is going to be a 3D machining job - which is a hard way to start out in my opinion. Draw a simple part and try importing it first. The solid may be corrupt for some reason.

It's not as simple (on any program) as importing and going straight to a machining process - there are many parameters to consider.

Try to verify the solid;

Select Verify solid from the Solid submenu of the Construct menu or click the Automatic Feature Recognition button.

Click the Verify button.

A dialog box is displayed indicating if the solid is valid.

Click Cancel to remove the dialog box.


Dennis