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DaleMahalko1-Visitor
1-Visitor
February 25, 2011
Question

Schools edition: output shapes to mill/lathe?

  • February 25, 2011
  • 1 reply
  • 6695 views

I do not know what the capabilities are of Schools Edition beyond "just" 3D modeling. (I am assuming the latest downloadable Pro/E version.)

Can you produce 3D shapes that can be exported for milling?

Can Schools Edition directly generate tool paths, or would I need a converter/path-generator like MasterCam to do that?

Our school has the "Light Machines" miniature mill and lathe, which mainly are used to cut wax, plastic, or wood for student assignments.

The students are mainly doing simple handwritten G-code programming, but it would be nice to allow exposure to more realistic CNC with generated parametric surfaces.

    1 reply

    D
    DaleMahalko1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    February 27, 2011

    Quiet forums here.

    My continuing exploring/hacking/playing this weekend, with lots of coffee, says the answer appears to be "Yes, but..."

    • Yes, Schools Edition can do NC, but there is almost no included documentation on how to use it.

    • Also it appears only 3, 4, 5 -axis milling operations are possible. (I don't see how to do any NC lathe functions.)

    • Oh, and you need to define how your mill works so Pro/E can figure out how to do toolpaths. It appears PTC has a library of machine definitions, but it's behind that locked door of Premium Paid Support, so good luck with that.

    • There is a help system, but it is written in generalities, with no simple step-by-step tutorials.

    ,

    Is there more PTC Academy tutorial material available for doing NC, like you have to do to get the initial product licensing?

    J
    JoshH1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    February 28, 2011

    Bummer, you're right! I say we see what it takes to get this fixed. Hopefully my comment on this will help your thread get noticed by somebody from PTC. From my side, I'll dig around and see if I can find some resources.

    By the way, what specific mill/lathe setup are you looking at?

    D
    DaleMahalko1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    March 1, 2011

    I split the mill definition question off into a separate post/thread:

    *.GPH for Intelitek spectraLIGHT 0200 Mill ?

    http://communities.ptc.com/message/160059

    ,

    It looks like there is a long ways to go to do much of anything, from looking at several tech tips videos on PTC's website.

    ... so I have to model the milling clamps and spindle head before anything else, so the toolpath generator knows to avoid them?

    Also I see hints about a "post-processor", which is what I assume builds the actual G-coded output. The specs on the above mill says it is compliant with various NC encodings, but I have not gotten far enough with just the toolpath generation to even touch that.

    I know some about NC milling, though I am not a trained expert as such. I do know enough to do a test run at low speed with my hand over the E-stop, in case the toolpath was done wrong. End mills can be expensive to replace...

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