Opposite Hand Machining

task target This task shows how to easily and quickly define the complete manufacturing program of a symmetrical workpiece, when a symmetrical half of the workpiece is already programmed.

More information can be found in the Methodology section.

pre-requisites Open the ProcessDEMO.CATProcess document. The associated part is Left_Hand_Part.CATPart. The Left Program contains 3 machining operations for machining a left hand part.

To machine the symmetrical right hand part, proceed as follows.

scenario 1. Copy the Left Program in the Part Operation using Edit > Copy and Paste commands.
Rename the new program as Right Program (using Edit > Properties).

2. Select the Right Program node in the tree and click TRACUT Operator in the Auxiliary Operations toolbar (Transformation Management Sub-toolbar).
3. In the TRACUT Operator dialog box, select the Transformation type to Mirror.

Click the Mirror selection field then select the YZ plane as the symmetrical plane.

Click OK to create the TRACUT operator.

4. Select the Right Program node in the tree and click Opposite Hand Machining Options .

In the dialog box that appears, make sure that Reverse Machining Conditions command can be applied to all the operations types in the program.

5. Click Reverse Machining Conditions .
A message box appears giving the result of the command: numbers of operations processed and number of operations updated.

6. Right-click the Right Program node in the tree and select Compute Tool Path.
The tool paths of the Right Program are recalculated.
  7. Right-click the Right Program node in the tree and select Replay Tool Path. Make sure that the TRACUT display mode is active in the Replay dialog box.
    The replay shows the result of the opposite hand programming.

8. Save your document (ProcessDEMOResult.CATProcess, for example).
 

More about Opposite Hand machining

In most cases, your program may need to be finalized by means of some local editing. You can use:

  • Reorder Operations List to reverse the order of one or more groups of operations
  • Inverse Macros to inverse the approach and retract macros on an operation.

See Locally Editing the Transformed Program for more information.

end of task