University:
Boston University
Course:
CAS CS 320 | Concepts of Programming Languages
Academic year:

2023
Views:

264

Pages:

16
Author:

Hector Pearson

PLUG-IN TUTORIALS This section provides an introduction to plug-in usage. There exists a separate tutorial for each plug-in that should take only a few minutes to complete. These tutorials assume user familiarity with part creation, machining, and posting parts; please review the Geometry Creation and Mill tutorials if you have not done so already. CLEANUP This feature will delete duplicate points, circles, and lines within a given tolerance. CleanUp will also delete duplicate shapes (including splines) given that the shape is terminated at both ends (if it is not open). The user simply selects which feature type (or types) to delete, sets the tolerance and clicks the OK button. The system will keep the feature with the lowest number. This exercise will introduce you to the use of the Cleanup Plug-in. 1. Open the part CleanUp.vnc. Your screen will look like the image on the right. There are 28 pieces of geometry, 7 lines, 4 circles, 3 shapes and 14 unconnected points (some of which are coincident). 2. Choose CleanUp from the Plug-Ins>Geometry menu. 3. Enter the values shown and Click OK. This message will be displayed, giving details of what has been deleted. (Shown below in red.) What was cleaned up and why? 1. The deleted (angled) line was within two degrees of another line. 2. Only one circle was within the Tolerance of another circle, as was the vertical line and hexagon. 3. There were coincident points as well as points within the general Tolerance. CleanUp also deletes points that are used to terminate a deleted feature. Therefore, the system returned the message that more features were deleted than originally thought. Use Edit> Undo to go back and experiment with tolerances and features. CREATE D-HOLE This feature creates single- or double-sided DHole geometry. The geometry will be created at the coordinates specified in the dialog at a depth of zero.The Create DHole plug-in does not require any existing geometry--only an open part. All parameters are entered in a single dialog. This exercise will introduce you to the use of the Create DHole Plug-in. 1. Create a new metric part D-Hole.vnc with the following dimensions: +X125, -X-125; +Y125, -Y125; +Z 0, -Z -125. 2. Select Geometry> Create DHole from the Plug-Ins menu. We will first create the geometry for a single-sided DHole with a 100mm diameter and a 75mm height centered at X-50, Y50. The flat will be 135°. 3. Enter the values shown. 4. Click OK to create the D Hole. We will now create the geometry for a double-sided DHole. The hole will have a 100mm diameter with a height of 50mm. The hole will be located at X50, Y-50 and be rotated 45°. 5. Select the double-sided DHole shape and enter the values shown. 6. Click OK to create the DHole. Once a DHole has been generated, fillets or chamfers can be added to the corners. Remember to save your part. CREATE SPIRAL This feature creates spiral geometry which may then be used to generate spiral cuts. The geometry will be created at the coordinate specified in the dialog at a depth of zero. The Create Spiral plug-in does not require any existing geometry—only an open part. All parameters are entered in a single dialog. This exercise will introduce you to the use of the Spiral Plug-in. 1. Create a new metric part named Spiral.vnc with the dimensions +X50, -X-50; +Y50, -Y-50; +Z 0, -Z -25. 2. Select Geometry> Spiral from the Plug-Ins menu. The spiral will be centered around the part’s origin. The spiral’s Outer Radius is 45mm, the Inner Radius is 5mm and the offset between revolutions is 5mm. 3. Enter the parameters as shown and click OK. When viewed from the isometric view, your screen will look like the following image. Note that the geometry is centered around Z0. This spiral is now ready to be machined. If you were to apply a Contouring process to the geometry, specify the depth you’ve got a spiral cut. If you have SolidSurfacer, the toolpath may be projected down onto the part. We will now create a spiral with existing geometry. 4. Delete the geometry. 5. Select Mouse Line 6. Switch to Home view. from the Line sub-palette in the Geometry Creation palette. 7. Create geometry similar as shown. Be sure the geometry does not cross X0 (or the Y axis) as the shape will be revolved. 8. Select the geometry and choose Spiral from the Plug-ins Menu. This will open the Spiral Generation Parameter dialog, which has more options than the Create a Spiral dialog we used earlier. 9. Enter the values shown and clickOK. 10. Delete the line segment for a better view of the spiral. A spiral shaped with the profile of the selected geometry. TAPER THREAD This feature creates the geometry for a tapered thread. The geometry will be created at the coordinates specified in the dialog. Prior to selecting Tapered Thread, one or more points and/or circles must be selected as the centerpoint of each tapered thread. The tapered thread will be projected downward from the Z depth of the selected feature(s). The Tapered Thread plug-in requires existing geometry. The part must contain point(s) or circle(s) that define the location of the thread(s). This exercise will introduce you to the use of the Taper Thread Plug-in. 1. Create a new metric part named Taper Thread.vnc with the dimensions +X50, -X-50; +Y50,-Y50; +Z 0, -Z -200 using the 3-Axis Horizontal Mill MDD. 2. Create a single point at the part’s origin (X0 Y0, Z 0) to function as the thread location. 3. Select the point you just created. 4. Select Geometry>Taper Thread from the Plug-Ins menu. The thread will be generated largely from the information in the National Pipe Thread library that is built into the Tapered Thread feature. 5. Click the NPT Table... button and select the 101.6mm Nominal Pipe Size as shown below and clickOK. We will modify the settings of the thread in order to get a better look at the tapered geometry. 6. Enter/modify the thread’s parameters as shown in the following image and clickOK. The geometry is now ready to be machined. Be sure to save the part. GEOMETRY PLUG-INS The Geometry Plug-ins consist of a subset of functions for working with geometry, most of which have to do with breaking geometry into smaller components. This exercise will introduce you to the use of the Geometry Plug-in. 1. Open part GeoTools.vnc from the sample part files. We will now use the Geometry plug-ins to manipulate the geometry. 2. Click the line segment to select it and then choose Geoedit Split from the Geometry Plug-ins menu. You can use this dialog in two ways, At Parameter and Equally spaced. Equally spaced will evenly divide the selected geometry into the number of segments specified. 3. This command will also work on arcs and circles. Select the spline and choose the Equally spaced option. The geometry is now split into five equal segments. We will now split geometry at a specific parametric value. For this you must select an arc or line and a starting point, and then enter either a decimal value or a fraction. The value must be between 0.0 and 1, and to begin with you must select the end corresponding to the 0.0 value for the parameter. 4. Ctrl-click first the end point, and then the arc as shown. Enter the following: Geometry Plug-Ins There is now a new point at 5/8 along the length of the selected arc. 5. Now Ctrl-click the line and the lower end point. From the geometry menu choose following: Geoedit Extend. Enter the The line is extended by 40mm and because we checked the Connect box, the geometry is automatically connected (blue connector point). This function will also work with curves.

Plug-Ins Tutorials Chapter 1

Related Documents

Recommended Documents

Description

Related Documents

Free up your schedule!

Take 5 seconds to unlock