Casting and machining drawings
Casting and machining drawings
(OP)
Not sure how to do this: I have a solid model of a casting completed. I would like to make a copy of it and add all the machining features, which involves removing material from several surfaces and drilling a lot of holes. The question is, can these two models be linked, so that making a casting change will show up in the machined part?
Thanks,
John Woodward
Thanks,
John Woodward






RE: Casting and machining drawings
An alternative might be to have multiple configurations in one part file for raw casting and finished product.
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RE: Casting and machining drawings
RE: Casting and machining drawings
RE: Casting and machining drawings
Regards,
Scott Baugh, CSWP
http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
RE: Casting and machining drawings
The only disadvantage I see is thet one is limited to cut with extrude and revolve only.
http://www.EsoxRepublic.com
RE: Casting and machining drawings
The first feature in this part is an INSERT PART (inserting the casted part).
Then all the features riquired for machining are added.
All modifications in the casted part will be reflected on the machined part. But an inspection to the machined part should be performed. The modifications on the casted part can cause machining features do fail.
Regards
RE: Casting and machining drawings
RE: Casting and machining drawings
This Base Part feature was specifically designed for this purpose. If you change the base part (the casting) it will show up and will precede any features you create in the machined part file.
- - -Dennyd
RE: Casting and machining drawings
RE: Casting and machining drawings
RE: Casting and machining drawings
RE: Casting and machining drawings
http://www.EsoxRepublic.com
RE: Casting and machining drawings
Also - if you ever want to make a copy of the machined part (to give it a new part number), you have to re-create the base part. If you just copy the machined part, it will be referencing the base part of the original.
We use a machining configuration in an assembly for precisely these reasons.
RE: Casting and machining drawings
RE: Casting and machining drawings
RE: Casting and machining drawings
That's one of the beautys of SW ... there are usually several ways to solve a problem ... each having its own merits for a particular users situation.
RE: Casting and machining drawings
easiest way - configurations
"real" thing (at least for my company) - 2 parts, the machined part starting as a base part of the casted part
engAlright
"be aware that your two parts are now in-context". Yes, but they are really in-context. You can't modify one without verify the consequences in the other. That's the real thing.
"if you ever want to make a copy of the machined part (to give it a new part number), you have to re-create the base part". Why is that? Can't you give a different part numbers to each part?
Regards
RE: Casting and machining drawings
Another benefit we enjoy with the base part is the ability to use the geometry compare in SolidWorks Utilities to review all the material removed between the casting and machining part files. We do this during the checking phase and consider it a very handy tool. We save the results of the compare out to another file where we can take measurements to look at the nominal amount of material we plan to remove from the casting.
RE: Casting and machining drawings
macPT's post and mine are essentially the same. His wasn't there as I was writing mine. He must have hit SUBMIT just before me.
As the above posts indicate there are several ways to approach this situation. I love the ease of configurations and use them a ton. However, for this scenario the Base Part option is also appropriate. We have the situation where we buy a die cast part and then machine it into several different finished parts. For this we will use the die cast part as the Base Part for the machined part file. Our machined part file might have several different configurations to represent the various finished parts. It works cleanly and smoothly for us.
- - -Dennyd
RE: Casting and machining drawings
We use PDMWorks which forces you to be "clean" when working with in-context parts.
MacPT,
Consider the case where I have a part in-context of a base part, now I want to create a new part with a new number based on that base part. If I take a copy of the existing part, that part is still in-context of the original part.
How do you make changes to 2 parts independently of each other if they are both related to the same base part? This is especially troublesome if the parts become very different in shape - you would end up having to re-create the part from scratch to "detach" it. Also - if one of those parts is made obsolete while changes are being made to the base part (for use in other parts) you are actually making changes to an obsoleted part.
That being said, these problems are manageable if you are careful and know how to handle them.
RE: Casting and machining drawings
RE: Casting and machining drawings
By the way, this is not a new design. It is an old pencil drawing of a complex casting and the foundries will not quote the part without a cad drawing. The other guys are using Autocad to draw every view and section.
John Woodward
RE: Casting and machining drawings
I just read back though this thread and notice that MacPT beat me to the punch as far as far inserting the casting into a new part and machining with a different color (I perfer casting gray in color and red for the machine cuts)I like the contrast.
Anyways...........There's a one thing I want to add that been bothering me with PDMWorks. When checking into the vault, the casting is not listed with the machining. It tags it at the end of that project folder. Why is this? The files are still there when you check it out, but not listed in the PDM.
Macduff
Meggitt Airdynamics Inc.
Dell Precision 370
SW2004 Pro SP4.1
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1300
RE: Casting and machining drawings
I have been trying to get SolidWorks to fix this for a few years now. SolidWorks Explorer actually shows the base part underneath the make from part, as expected and as any normal ERP/MRP would categorize them. PDMWorks does not do this and in fact places them at the end of the project folder as you mentioned. PDMWorks still knows that the two are related if you look at the where used and reference info for each. I have written to Joy Pineau, PDMWorks product manager, about this and mentioned it on the Beta discussion forum for 2005. I have also submitted several enhancement requests all to no avail. Keep trying and maybe we'll see it someday. Its really annoying to me and especially to my co-workers. It just never makes it onto the top list of priorities for the next release.
Pete Yodis
Harold Beck and Sons