[mechanic16]

Hi guys, this is my first post here at cnczone. I am a 3rd year engineering student and have been recently hired by a company to work CAMWorks 2013. Nobody at the company knows how to use CAMWorks and nobody has the time to learn it, so that's where I come in. I was hired to basically get this program up and running. I am very proficient in SolidWorks but have no CAMWorks experience whatsoever. I have spent the last week reading through each of the manuals on the CAMWorks installation disk and playing around with the software. I have viewed the Tech DB and understand the basic purpose of most of the features. My biggest problem is the lack of instruction for this software. Nobody at the company knows how to use it properly and I can't find any good tutorials for beginners or anything helpful besides the manuals that come with the disk. The "tutorials" that come with the software work great for the parts they are made for but when trying a lot of the similar commands on my part, I run into all types of errors.

The machine I'm working with first is a Mori-4000 with 120 tool stations. The company manufactures one specific part very regularly and that is the first part I am supposed to configure with CAMWorks. I have opened the SolidWorks file of this part and played around with CAMWorks only to come across several errors. For instance, when I click "Extract Machinable Features", I receive various errors such as "Machining depth is set to zero. Please check Tech DB" or "The machining diameter or depth defined in Tech DB for the MS Hole operation is zero. So no toolpath will be generated for this operation". When I enter the Tech DB to try and troubleshoot these problems I can never seem to figure out what's wrong. For instance, I want to set it so that any time a feature with these parameters is recognized, to perform this machining sequence. I have defined a custom User Defined Strategy and assigned a machining sequence but the software never seems to recognize this. I have also run into errors in the Features & Operations section while trying to set recognizable parameters saying that my entry overlaps with another entry even if it doesnt.

I have also noticed that when Generating an Operation Plan, some features stay highlighted in pink text and won't work, and some features that do work will grab the wrong tools. I understand that I need to populate my own custom tool crib to match our tools in our machine but the software comes stock with a default tool crib so I don't understand why it would grab the wrong tools. The goal is to get to the point where the software will only search for tools within my own tool crib when recognizing features. Another error I get in the CAMWorks NC Manager is that there will be a small red exclamation point next to the feature's icon and when I click "What's Wrong?" it will display this error "Tool selected was not from the tool crib. Clearing this error will clear the status of all the operation nodes using this tool."

From my understanding, the basic steps I need to take are as follows:
1. Build a custom tool crib for the tools available in our machine
2. Set up a custom strategy and machining sequence for specific unique features on our part
3. Generate/simulate toolpath and tweak anything from there
4. Generate g-code and dry run it on our part

I guess my overall question is: WHERE DO I BEGIN?! What is the process for setting up CAMWorks for a new machine and how do I get it to work? It would be EXTREMELY helpful to have a detailed step-by-step on how to go about this project. I don't have any resources here but myself so I'm really hoping someone can walk me through this. I have tried calling the company's tech support who sold us the software and they were extremely unhelpful. I'm running out of resources! I have figure out quite a bit on my own, but I definitely need someone to help me with the rest.

I apologize in advance for the extremely lengthy post but I am in urgent need of help and would appreciate ANYTHING you can do for me. Thank you very much!

[t-th]

Wow, i can understand that this is overwhelming. I was in a similar circumstance 10 years ago except i had a couple of coworkers who knew a little about it.

Do you have a post processor that will work for your machine? If not your reseller should be helping you on this.

Your basic steps will get you going in the right direction!

I would start with setting up your machine in the Tech database:

[t-th]

As you can see i don't have every field filled in only the ones necessary for what i want.
Attachment 192578

Attachment 192580

Attachment 192582

[t-th]

As for the tool crib just set yourself up a new toolcrib by opening the Tech DB and selecting Tooling, Mill Tooling, Tool Crib.

Then Make a name for your tool crib and add tools:

Starting on the left select in the area of the red circle to crerate a new tool. give it a Station Number, Select the type of tool it is and finally click the little icon that has a hammer and wrench and go find the exact tool you want from the tool DB. Keep adding until you get some sort of basic list together.


Let me know if this helps you in getting started.

[jame5m28]

I'd suggest getting in touch with your reseller and asking them for advice and support, if you have CAMworks 2013 you probably have an active support subscription.

[mechanic16]

As for the tool crib just set yourself up a new toolcrib by opening the Tech DB and selecting Tooling, Mill Tooling, Tool Crib.

Then Make a name for your tool crib and add tools:

Starting on the left select in the area of the red circle to crerate a new tool. give it a Station Number, Select the type of tool it is and finally click the little icon that has a hammer and wrench and go find the exact tool you want from the tool DB. Keep adding until you get some sort of basic list together.


Let me know if this helps you in getting started.

Thanks for your helpful response! I'm glad to know that the steps I'm taking are in the right direction. I already set up the machine a few days ago so that part is finished. As for the tool crib, I will spend the majority of today populating that list with the 120 tool heads in our CNC. I've only been cracking away at this for about a week now so I think I'm making pretty good time. As soon as my tool crib is populated, I will post back here if I have any trouble.

Thanks again!

[mechanic16]

I'd suggest getting in touch with your reseller and asking them for advice and support, if you have CAMworks 2013 you probably have an active support subscription.

I've called the reseller and the only thing they offer is a 3-day training program which supposedly isn't all that great. A co-worker of mine went to it and said he barely learned anything and that the tutorial was geared more towards their simple sample parts. I will keep cracking away at this though!

[my87csx481]

Post #3....the attachments are invalid. Is this a forum problem, or an uploader problem?

I'm about to be in a very similar situation as the OP and this thread is very interesting to me.

Thanks for any resolution.

[t-th]

I tried uploading three images to one post and it didn't work for some reason

[t-th]

another

[t-th]

Last of the three. the only thing i did here was add the max RPM.

[mechanic16]

Post #3....the attachments are invalid. Is this a forum problem, or an uploader problem?

I'm about to be in a very similar situation as the OP and this thread is very interesting to me.

Thanks for any resolution.

I've come pretty far along with CAMWorks. If you need any help, I can email you. Trust me, I know the feeling of being overwhelmed with this software. Send me your email in a private message or just post it here.

[my87csx481]

Thanks t-th and mechanic16. Much appreciated.

My first exposure to Solidworks was only just last week. I am expecting to receive a demo version of Camworks for Solidworks very soon, for our evaluation....but I think management has already made up their mind.

Thanks for the offer mechanic16. Probably in a week or two I'll be picking your brain. I'll PM you my email if the disc ever shows up, and then wait for our IT dept. to allow its installation.

[mechanic16]

Thanks t-th and mechanic16. Much appreciated.

My first exposure to Solidworks was only just last week. I am expecting to receive a demo version of Camworks for Solidworks very soon, for our evaluation....but I think management has already made up their mind.

Thanks for the offer mechanic16. Probably in a week or two I'll be picking your brain. I'll PM you my email if the disc ever shows up, and then wait for our IT dept. to allow its installation.

If you are just getting started with SolidWorks, I highly reccomend buying this textbook: Engineering Design with SolidWorks 2011 and Multimedia CD: David C. Planchard, Marie P. Planchard: 9781585036233: Amazon.com: Books. It's a great tutorial which will help you get familiarized with all of SolidWork's features. I used this book 2 years ago in one of my classes and knew SolidWorks pretty well afterwards.

In terms of CAMWorks, the Manuals that come with the installation disk aren't worth the time. I invested $50 in The CAMWorks Handbook (Milling) PDF and it has helped tremendously. It teaches you CAMWorks from the ground up so you can understand it. After a week and a half of teaching myself CAMWorks, I am finally working on my company's parts and it makes sense. If you want to avoid the struggle I went through, BUY THIS BOOK: CAMWorks guide 2013 PDF

Good luck and if you have any questions, send me a message

[my87csx481]

Awesome. Thanks for the tips.

[mdlmkr]

I know I am coming in late, but I have a suggestion...Don't even bother opening up the TechDB to make a tool crib. You can create and edit tool cribs right in the machine tab. I can show you how I do it if you would like. It is WAAAAY easier than messing with the Tech DB.

[Willyn]

Hi mdlmkr

I too am new to Camworks and have been struggling with setting up tools to cam a part. Would you be able to outline where the "machine tab" is and how to set up tools in this fashion?

It would be nice if there was an actual clear cut step by step tutorial that would show us new users how to get started. Yes I have been thru the prepackaged pdf tutorials inside Camworks but they seem outdated, confusing and not very user friendly to a beginner.

I am a long time Solidworks user and I am use to the help and web based information available for Solidworks and I do not see anything like this for Camworks.

Yes I have had training (pathetic in my opinion compared to Solidworks) and I just do not understand the thought process or how to move within the software to make it do anything. For me the jury is still out whether this was a good decision or not. I am open to learn how the software works and what is needed to get moving and creating tool paths.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[t-th]

Back when i did this i don't think you could add tools thru the machine tab. What "mdlmkr" is suggesting is a good idea and will most likely be easier for you.

select your machine(circled in red on attached image) then go to Tool Crib tab, then use the buttons there to add, edit, save and so on..

Attachment 196066

Let us know if this works for you.

[Willyn]

Ok,

I understand and found this "Machine" dialog box. My available tool crib has 4 of them.
Crib 1
Crib 2 (Fadal 4020)
Crib 3 (Hass)
Crib 4 (English)

Do I use one of these or do I create a new one. My machine is a Haas. I also see that they have different numbers of stations. How do you update or change this?

I apologize for being "dumb" but this is nothing like I thought it would be.

Drawing in Solidworks is in my opinion straight forward and simple. CAM stuff is not even remotely close.

Next is how do I identify my tools or how does Camworks know what type of tooling that I have. Again I am probably over thinking this but I can not afford to be crashing tools and wasting material.

[Willyn]

From what I can see so far in the help screen it looks like I need to go into the TechDb and set my default tool crib and update the capacity?

Can you access the Techdb from the start menu or thru the software?