Mastercam Version 9 SolidsTutorial - Part 5 pdf

The shape of the forging die will be defined by the connecting rod that you created in Chapter 4.. Exercise 2 – Creating the die stock In this exercise, you will create a block-shaped so

5 Designing a Forging Die

In this chapter, you will build a solid model of a steel forging die The shape of the forging die will be defined by the connecting rod that you created in Chapter 4

Note: A backup file containing the connecting rod was provided with the other tutorial parts in case you did not complete Chapter 4

You will build on skills that you learned in previous chapters and learn new skills, such as:

Creating multiple solids in the same file Creating a primitive solid

Suppressing solid operations Removing one solid volume from another Scaling a solid body

Exercise 1 – Setting visible levels and display lines

1 Open rod-solid-mm.mc9 from your working folder

Note: If you did not complete Chapter 4, open rod-solid-backup-mm.mc9

2 Choose the Level button on the Secondary Menu

3 Click in the Visible column for Level 3 to make it visible This

level contains a reference point, which you will use in a later exercise

Note: Levels 1 and 2 should already be visible

4 Choose OK to close the Level Manager

5 Choose Main Menu, Screen, Surf disp, Solids The Solids

Display dialog box opens

6 To turn off the display of hidden lines, select Hidden and clear the Show Hidden Lines check box, as shown in the following

picture

7 Choose OK Your part should look like the following picture

Notice the reference point located below the forging die

Reference point

8 Save the file as forging die-mm.mc9 in your working folder

Exercise 2 – Creating the die stock

In this exercise, you will create a block-shaped solid to represent the die stock for the forging die You will use the Primitives function to create the solid block This function lets you quickly create solids in simple,

predefined shapes Unlike the solids that you have created so far, a

primitive solid is not defined by curve geometry

Creating a primitive block

Before creating the block, you will change the construction color to distinguish the block from the connecting rod, which was constructed using light gray

1 Choose the Color button on the Secondary Menu

2 Set Current color to 10 (light green) then choose OK to close the

Color dialog box

3 Choose Main Menu, Solids, Next menu, Primitives The

Primitives menu displays

4 Choose Block Mastercam creates a green block at the end of the

rod with the 180-degree boss

5 Choose the Cplane-3D toolbar button

6 Press [Alt+S] to turn on shading

7 The center of the block’s bottom face is positioned at the system origin Press [F9] to view the coordinate axes Your part should look like the following picture

Setting the block’s position

1 Press [Alt+S] to turn off shading and [F9] to clear coordinate axes

2 Choose Base Point from the Block menu

3 Choose Point from the Point Entry menu

4 Select the reference point located below the forging die The center of the block’s bottom face is now positioned at this point

Setting the block’s dimensions

The prompt area reports the block’s dimensions The height, length, and width are currently set to 20 (millimeters)

1 Choose Height

2 In the prompt area, type 24 and press [Enter]

3 Choose Length

4 In the prompt area, type 150 and press [Enter]

5 Choose Width

6 In the prompt area, type 250 and press [Enter] The connecting

rod now fits within the block, as shown in the following picture

7 Choose the Gview-Front toolbar button The top face of the die

stock bisects the forging die

8 Return to Isometric view

9 Choose Done to complete the block and exit the Block menu

10 Press [Alt+Y] to open the Solids Manager Notice that there are now two solids contained in this file The first one is the

connecting rod, which you created in Chapter 4 The second one

is the die stock

Connecting Rod

Die Stock

Exercise 3 – Removing the connecting rod from the die stock

Boolean operations combine multiple solids for the purpose of adding them together, subtracting them from one another, or finding the common,

or overlapping, regions between them In this exercise, you will perform a Boolean Remove operation to cut the shape of the connecting rod from the die stock to form the forging die

Suppressing an operation

Before performing the Boolean operation, you will suppress the two cut operations that define the bolt holes and spot faces because these features represent voids, which cannot be forged

1 Right-click on the Bolt Holes operation listed under the first

solid

2 Choose Suppress The menu closes, and the operation symbol in

the Solids Manager turns gray

3 Right-click on the Bolt Holes operation again There is a check

mark next to the Suppress option, as shown in the following picture

4 Click outside the menu to close it

5 Repeat steps 1 and 2 to suppress the Spot Faces operation

6 Choose OK to close the Solids Manager Your part should look

like the following picture Notice that the bolt holes and spot faces no longer display in the model

Performing a Boolean operation

When performing a Boolean Remove operation, you must define a target body and one or more tool bodies The target body is the solid that remains after you perform the operation The tool bodies are the solids whose material is removed from the target body

1 Turn on shading

2 Choose Main Menu, Solids, Boolean, Remove The Pick Solid

Entity menu displays

3 Toggle Solids to Y and all other Yes/No options to N

4 The prompt area instructs you to select the target body Select the green die stock

5 The prompt area instructs you to select a tool body Select the gray connecting rod

6 Choose Done to create the forging die

7 Make Level 2, which contains the wireframe geometry, invisible

Tip: Choose Level from the Secondary Menu, click in the Visible column for Level 2 to remove the check mark, then choose OK

8 Choose the Screen-Repaint toolbar button to clean up the

display

Your part should look like the following picture

9 Press [Alt+Y] to open the Solids Manager

10 Expand the operation history The list now contains one solid defined by two operations The Block (die stock) operation is the target body and base operation The Boolean Remove operation contains the operation history of the tool body (connecting rod)

Exercise 4 – Reducing the connecting rod’s weight

In this exercise, you will reduce the connecting rod's weight You will do

so by further deepening the lightening cuts, just as you did in Exercise 8

of Chapter 4 The rod is no longer a physical solid; it is a tool body whose form is removed from the die stock Therefore, the change that you make

to the connecting rod will be manifested in the forging die

1 Expand the Lightening Cuts operation (if necessary) and double-click on Parameters

2 Enter 5 for Distance and choose OK

3 Choose Regen All to incorporate the new distance into the model

4 Choose OK to close the Solids Manager Your part should look

like the following picture

This island now

stands taller

Exercise 5 – Scaling the forging die

In this exercise, you will increase the size of the forging die to

accommodate for shrinkage of the steel You will do so by scaling the model by 2%

1 Choose Main Menu, Xform, Scale

2 Select the forging die

3 Choose Done

4 Choose Origin from the Point Entry menu to scale the solid about

the system origin (0,0,0) The Scale dialog box opens

5 Enter 1.02 for Scale factor

6 Check your settings against the following picture Make any necessary adjustments

7 Choose OK to enlarge the forging die

8 Choose the Screen-Clear Colors toolbar button to return the

solid to its construction color

Note: You will learn about this function in Exercise 1 of the following chapter

9 Press [Alt+Y] to open the Solids Manager

10 Choose Regen All to incorporate the new distance into the model

11 Choose OK to close the Solids Manager

12 Save the file

Note: If you receive a message stating that some solids need to be

regenerated, choose Yes to continue

In this chapter, you created a solid model of a forging die for the

connecting rod that you created in Chapter 4 In the next chapter, you will create a lofted solid for a windshield on a toy race car