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Mirror parts - what’s your technique?

marker4x4

New member
Another "how-to" question:



I'd like to know what's your method of doing "mirror" parts; and I'm
looking for the real solutions including keeping the proper
(climb-milling) cut direction, getting the Lead-ins coming the right
way, etc. CL-data_mirror doesn't do that right?



The way I do it right now is I change the cut direction param. for all
volume cuts (that's fairly simple) and flip the direction of all
trajectory cuts, and that's where things get hairy because apart from
the sheer number of those cuts, there's also all lead-ins/outs that
need to be redone - otherwise they start inside material...



I'm having hard time to believe that I'm doing the right thing though - ProE would'nt be so dumb, or so I hope.



Thanks!!
 
It is that dumb.


You are doing the right thing.


If you know your are going to mirror a nc program dont use traj. milling create surfaces and use proflie milling. It is a bit more work up front but works nice for end results.
 
This is old topic, but I'm glad to see that WF comes with the MIRROR function that actually does the right thing, e.g. keepin the cutting conditions (incl. Lead-In and Out) after mirroring.

it took them a while....
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dbrainsky said:
FYI: Finally with Wildfire 3.0 you can now mirror an ncsequence and maintain cutter direction.

Yeah, that's what I meant. Makes my life soooo much easier; lotsa of L/H and R/H parts here (aerospace).
 
mace said:
If you know your are going to mirror a nc program dont use traj. milling create surfaces and use proflie milling.





Many don't know this - here is a good ProE tip... Since ProE does not degouge traj. milling sequences this can lead to problems. You can do the same as traj. milling and have degouging with check surfaces if you use surface milling, cutline and use the samecutline for yourpath. ProE dosn't care if the cutlines are the same and will degouge as needed.
 
sdjohnson said:
.... You can do the same as traj. milling and have degouging with check surfaces if you use surface milling, cutline and use the samecutline for yourpath. ProE dosn't care if the cutlines are the same and will degouge as needed.

Hi sdjohnson, could you please elaborate on this? I don't quite follow, and it sounds like a really good methodology.

Thanks
 
Instead of traj milling select surface milling. Then after you select the surface(s)that has the edge(s) you want to follow use cutline for your cut type instead of straight or isolines. For your cutlines (you need at least two) select the same edge twice (open or closed).Most people dont know that the cutlines don't have to be different - they can be the same.The tool path will make one pass following the edge you selected and degouge at the same time. You can set your parameters to multiple passes and tweak lead ins and lead outs (or anything else)as normal. All the paramaters you would use in surface milling still apply. This works in 3, 4 and 5 axis milling. In multiax you will need to setup some axis def's if you ignore surface rulings or if pro doesn't know what side of the surface to approache the work from.
 
sdjohnson said:
... For your cutlines (you need at least two) select the same edge twice (open or closed).Most people dont know that the cutlines don't have to be different - they can be the same....

Oh, I didn't know that! Thanks for the tip - it's a good one indeed.
 
Wow....... I totally agree that is a great tip.
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adjohnson where have you been all this time?






Edited by: FireWild
 
FireWild said:
Wow....... I totally agree that is a great tip.
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adjohnson where have you been all this time?
Been using Pro for years (mostly MFG) -just never bothered to post here before. I'm not going anywhere now that I reged.
 
sdjohnson said:
Been using Pro for years (mostly MFG) -just never bothered to post here before. I'm not going anywhere now that I reged.

Welcome to the ProMan forum - I hope you'll enjoy it the same as the rest of us.
This is no BS, down-to-earth group of hardworking individuals
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Mark,


We have some good people around this forum. Welecome sdjohnson. Hang around, we all seem to have differant areas we work with and get alot out of this forum.


Terry
 

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