I've personally used it for many years now and have several associates that also have had good luck with it. It does have many "hidden" functions that can cause some problems when getting acquainted with the system.
Anything specific that seems to give you trouble ?
NC Programmer
I tend to agree that a good machinist can make almost any setup work correctly if they understand cutting forces, speed/feed chip load etc.
I'm guessing he was cutting heavier to remove bulk material intially but intended to make several small finish passes to eliminate tool pressure and...
I would say you could to a company called Bayview Edison in the Burlington WA area. They have a machine that will
cut 100'long parts and are familiar with foam machining.
http://www.bayviewedisonindustries.com/services/cnc_mach.html
Good luck,
I'm afraid after much searching and discussion with several support companies and Dassault directly I have come to the resolve that most custom cutters cannot be defined in Catia. Especially ones that you would like to use for tanto type operations.
This would be a huge improvement request...
I have personally been using Catia for NC machining for the
last 5 years full time both for metallic parts and composite parts. I find it actually has more funtionality than Mastercam and Surfacam based on opinions from friends who use those systems in their jobs. I also drove UG for many years...
UG has excellent support that is included with your yearly maintenance fees. They have expert's available by phone during normal working hours M-F. They always have someone
who answer's your call without having to leave a message or send an email that may never get responded to.
Our experience...
You might try these guys, they make core cutting
cutters specifically for honeycomb. You might
rough to within .030 with a endmill and then finish
with one of their core slicer cutters.
www.corehog.com
We use a CMS Italian made machine, it is very robust and the cost is very reasonable.
www.cmsna.com
You can also see it on our website at
http://www.scaled.com/services/cms_mill.html
Good Luck
Chad
We use Intercim as our postprocessor with extremely good luck. We avoid feedrate problems by using a catalog for most of our retract/approach etc... macros. I can't recommend Intercim enough, they are very affordable and are ready to help out with any issue's you may come across.
If you are actually zig zagging the cutter will have to
pick up at both ends of the surface and re-index to get
your set lead or tilt angle, you may want to change from
zig zag to one way next.
If you'd like I'd be glad to look at an example file and
give some suggestions. We've been using...
dgallup,
You were right about the extra maintenance. I would definitely get maintenance even with the added cost.
Does anyone know how good PTC's tech support is ?
How about the surfacing for lofting ?
Thanks again.
Hi,
We need to make a tool that has a very small opening when
finished, it needs to be made over a male mandrel.
I'd like to know if anyone has played with Wax or Casting Metals to acheive this ? Maybe Sand with a expandable bladder ?
We have to be able to remove the mandrel after the part...
I use this new functionality as more of a "layering" setup rather than surfaces vs solids etc...
It allows me to keep better track by keeping all according geometry in the same "layer" (body or geometrical set).
Since layers are no longer used, this is a good alternative for us.
I would delete all of your catsettings and restart Catia. Sometimes the settings get mixed up and weird things start to happen. According to Dassault, you should delete these every time an upgrade is done.
I would also update your video drivers.
I am considering buying the Foundation Advantage Package. They currently list it for $4,995. and you can get an
module upgrade for "free", I would probably pick the milling package.
I don't know much about Wildfire but have driven UG and Catia V5 for quite some time now. The price is very...
