Free Form Surface after part flip.

[[He...]]

Has anybody flipped a part in the program and then tried using a free form surface after flipping? Calypso tells me "Not enough points" and wants to put the actual points in the original alignment and I can't seem to get this to work. I've got the features on the correct alignment.

In the picture, I've flipped the part 180° about the X from the original alignment and I've recalled the curve points in yellow. I've also tried manually probing as well as using point sets. The issue seems to be the free from surface feature itself.

Any suggestions?

[[Ma...]]

I have no idea how far is your part physically moved in machine space, but you can try increasing search distance for points.

Otherwise i would tryout adjusted alignment reflecting actual state.

[[Ze...]]

I believe that Freeform reads and extracts the nominals from the CAD model directly. Moving the CAD model may be causing your problem. Maybe use more than 1 model?  

[[He...]]

Please sign in to view this quote.

This did not work. It put the points in the base alignment again.

[[Je...]]

Please sign in to view this username.

,

 

Please sign in to view this username.

 is absolutely correct.  The Free Form Surface (FFS) feature is unique in Calypso in that it is defined solely from the CAD model hierarchy.

You're on the right path in troubleshooting.  Focus on that window on the right side of the feature window underneath the trash can icon.  This is the "surfaces" window.  That is where surfaces from the CAD hierarchy will populate to show where the FFS is getting its nominals.

There are a couple of things to try.  First, make the model surfaces viewable.  Then, click once on the icon in the FFS that looks like a surface with a magnifying glass.  That activates the "surface picker."  Then, click on the surfaces in the *second model,* to the right of your first model.  You should see those surfaces populate in the surfaces window.  If any unintentional surfaces populate in the surfaces window, click on them in the list and then click on the trash can icon directly above the surfaces window.

This may be enough, or you may need to also you the "CAD model comparison" function, which is listed in the menu bar under "CAD."  That function can be a way to attach features to a CAD model retroactively.  One other sidepoint: make sure to save the measurement plan after you've imported the new model.  That helps Calypso write the model to the measurement plan.

Keep us posted on your progress. I'm interested to hear how this turns out for you.

 

[[Ma...]]

I've made this working by having two models placed same as a physical fixture. But that means you can not have overlaping models, so working area is bigger as for two parts.

Now you have to go to join those two models as one. The easiest method is repairing model - this will join them as one CAD model, now it will know what is workpiece and FF will work.

Only one thing - do a secondary alignment on a secondary fixture.

[[He...]]

Please sign in to view this quote.

 

Please sign in to view this quote.

These also did not work. I'm close to throwing in the towel and just creating a separate program for the bottom side. This has been beyond frustrating.

[[Je...]]

Please sign in to view this username.

, do the entities listed in the surfaces window (331 2, 340 2, etc.) highlight on the new model when you click on their names in the features window?

Or, do surfaces on the previous model highlight?

I'm trying to get an understanding of root cause.  The surfaces of interest on the new model should become highlighted when you click the surface/magnifying glass icon and also when you select them individually in the surfaces list.

Your frustration is understandable.  Best practice in Calypso, which most programmers stick with, is to use separate measurement plans for separate part setups.

One other option, if it's value-added to keep both models in the same measurement plan, would be to create a combined model of both setups in a design software such as Solidworks and then export them as a multi-body ACIS (.sat).  Deleting the existing models and importing a multi-body .sat may prevent your current surface association issue.

 

[[He...]]

Please sign in to view this quote.

Yes, the surfaces are highlighted on the new model. I appreciate you helping out and I'll try the double cad from solidworks.

I've always hated having to keep track of 2 programs and 2 reports for a part. Never know who's going to run these parts again and I'm never sure about running someone else's program and knowing I'm not missing anything.

Some days I'm really confident in my programming abilities and parts like these knock me way down.

[[He...]]

Please sign in to view this quote.

I'm not really familiar with Solidworks and so I couldn't figure out how to get Solidworks to create an assembly as a single cad entity (if that makes sense). I'd save the assembly as a part as either a .sat or .step file and calypso would see 2 cad models in the hierarchy. I just went ahead and created a second program and made sure to mention everywhere I could that the program is either a 1 of 2 or 2 of 2 program for the part.

 

Thanks again for the help.

[[Je...]]

Nice work

Please sign in to view this username.

.

Sounds like it was frustrating for a moment, but you chose a good path forward.

Solidworks can save an Assembly file as a Single CAD entity by clicking save-as and then choosing a file format such as .sat or .step.  A dialog may pop up asking you if you want to save all bodies or just the visible ones, and make sure that what you see on screen is only what you want included in the exported file.

If Solidworks has defined that a model has more than one "body," it can be exported as a multi-body assembly, even when stored in .stp or .sat.  CAD formats such as those allow identification in their code of multiple bodies (they don't have to come from a Solidworks assembly file).

You can split a singular body in a CAD program such as Solidworks using a dedicated "split" function, but there are other workarounds, such as using the Extrude-Cut function from a sketch and setting the depth of the Extrude-Cut to an insignificant amount such as .00005".  It will effectively slice a single body into two.

For your example, if you used the clone function in Solidworks from a single instance of your model and then offset the clone to where it is no longer touching the first instance, the result would likely be a single-body CAD file.

Many of us programmers use Solidworks and Calypso daily in the same workflow.  Very useful.