Hello,
TL ; DR
A Copy of a SolidCAM part is renamed and the referenced part is changed to one that differs only in length and relative distances. Everything works fine with some tweaking. The problem is that the CAMPart name and top menu bar Display name are of the old CAMPart. They are also not able to be changed seemingly. Full explanation below:
I'm fairly new to SolidCAM so I'm working on my workflow experience with SolidWorks.
At present when I need to create multiple parts which have the same seed design but differ only in length and relative distances. I create a master SolidWorks part which can then be copied, pasted and renamed multiple times depending on how many variants are needed. This allows me to create multiple designs with minimum effort. For drawings and assemblies, I use the same copy/paste and rename method I do with the parts. I then use the "Replace Component" feature which works most of the time if the parts have no new geometry and only differ in relative distance. This method works well for me and has saved me days in design time. Also, if I'm careful about my workflow, I don't get any conflicts with original reference files.
I was hoping to be able to do something similar in SolidCAM. I have been able to get it working with minimal tweaking and synchronizing but there are still a few issues.
Just like in SolidWorks, I have multiple parts to program for the CNC with Mill-Turn.These parts are the same basic design, but have different lengths which in turn changes the location of geometries for operations.
At present I have tried right clicking the model in the viewport and clicking "Replace Components". I then selected the longer component needed. This did throw up a few errors the I had to repair.
I then noticed that a few other settings weren't referencing the new part. This was when right clicking on the CAM-Part at the top of the Item Tree List. The "Change Model Reference" was still referencing the original model but it wasn't apparent in the viewport. (I did have issues with the coordinate system moving down along the part to it's shorter position but I'm not sure if that was as a result of changing this reference or the replace component command.
The major issue at the moment is that even though the filename is correct. The name in the top menu bar is still that of the original CAMpart. I right clicked on CAMPart again in in the item tree and clicked "CAMPart Properties".
Here I can see the original CAMPart name that is the problem but I am unable to overwrite it. It is greyed out and unable to be changed.
Does anyone have a solution to this issue as not having a written indication of what part I am working on in the program will become and issue when I start creating multiple copies.
If anyone knows of a better workflow to achieve the same result I'd be very grateful. Sorry about the lengthy post but I thought it'd be better giving a full overview.
Regards,