×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Making SolidWorks views like I see a part on my CNC machine

Making SolidWorks views like I see a part on my CNC machine

Making SolidWorks views like I see a part on my CNC machine

(OP)
I have a problem with the default views in Solidworks: front view, top view, and right view.  I would like to see the top view (plan view) as I would be looking down at a part on the table of a CNC machine. Looking down on X and Y,Z up.

Ok, I rename the views, and switch (update) the views in the view box (the one with the "stick" pin on it).

All is well at this point.  However, if I add a relationship, IE. hor. or vert. they are wrong.  Therefore, I have 2 out of 3 pieces of the puzzle ok, but now how do I fix the relationship problem?

I figure there are a lot of parts being CNC'ed, and it would be more easy to do this when we are designing rather than in Surfcam/Mastercam.  Would anyone help walk me through this?

RE: Making SolidWorks views like I see a part on my CNC machine

Would it work to design your part on the default front view as though it is actually your top view?  This should keep your horizontal and vertical relationships.

- - -Dennyd

RE: Making SolidWorks views like I see a part on my CNC machine

I would orientate my part(while building it) so the default top plane was my top view.  This would require a little forthought before modeling.  I use SW for a more architectural type application and I have my model set up so the top view is the plan view.  Again I just have to give my modeling practice a little thought before hand.  If the names front, top and right plane are confusing you could rename them to plan or XZ or something that makes sense to you.  Save the the revised names in a template and then it will be the same for every part.

By the way.  Tell AL I said hi.

RE: Making SolidWorks views like I see a part on my CNC machine

Open your default part template and change your plane names such that your default view is in the orientation of the axes you like.  Save the part template.

Now when you build your parts you'll have a default view orientation built-in.  That's all there is to it.

Happy designing!

Jeff Mowry
Industrial Designhaus, LLC
http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

RE: Making SolidWorks views like I see a part on my CNC machine

Von,

If you want to maintain all of the relationships and things then consider this.  Design all you want without regard to the Coordinate system.  As the very last feature you can then use the "move/copy" feature (INSERT/FEATURES/MOVE/COPY)
then rotate the model to the correct orientation for the CNC machine.

You may also want to look into using a customer Coordinate system then when exporting the data out to the cam software, you can specify that coordinate system.  

Either way will allow you the freedom to do whatever you want then at the end spec out how you want the part to be oriented.

Hope that helps

Regards,
Jon
jgbena@yahoo.com

RE: Making SolidWorks views like I see a part on my CNC machine

Thanks for the tip APPENG, I gave you a star.  I've often been bothered by this problem.  To add to it I tried what you suggested then made a separate configuration for machining.  That way you can suppress the move/copy feature in the original part so that it stays in it's as drawn configuration and doesn't disturb where it may appear somewhere else,perhaps in an assembly somewhere.  Now when you open it in Surfcam, both configurations come in as separate layers.  Just turn off the layers that are not oriented correctly for the CNC machine.

Tom Stanley

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources