CREATING WORK HOLDING

[Anonymous]

HELLO,

i HAVE A TOMBSTONE AND VISE WHICH I AM TRYING TO RECREATE AND COPY MY WORK HOLDING. 

i HAVE DRAWN THE TOMBSTONE BY ITSELF ALSO ALL THE VISE PARTS IN POWERSHAPE. I HAVE CONSTRAINED IT ALL TOGETHER AND SAVED IT. WHEN I TRY TO IMPORT IT INTO POWERMILL IT COMES AS ONE OBJECT. HOW DO I BUILD IT IN POWERMILL SO I CAN CONSTRAIN IT AND HAVE THE VISE JAWS MOVING. ALSO, CAN I WRITE A MACRO MAKING THIS MORE SIMPLE? 

THANK YOU.

[Anonymous]

HELLO,

i HAVE A TOMBSTONE AND VISE WHICH I AM TRYING TO RECREATE AND COPY MY WORK HOLDING. 

i HAVE DRAWN THE TOMBSTONE BY ITSELF ALSO ALL THE VISE PARTS IN POWERSHAPE. I HAVE CONSTRAINED IT ALL TOGETHER AND SAVED IT. WHEN I TRY TO IMPORT IT INTO POWERMILL IT COMES AS ONE OBJECT. HOW DO I BUILD IT IN POWERMILL SO I CAN CONSTRAIN IT AND HAVE THE VISE JAWS MOVING. ALSO, CAN I WRITE A MACRO MAKING THIS MORE SIMPLE? 

THANK YOU.

[mribble]

I have never built full assemblies in Powershape so take this with a grain of salt;

In this example this is a typical Lang self centering vise;

The  base is on it's own level. (Base)

The left jaw is on it's own level.(Left)

The right jaw is on it's own level. (Right)

When I import this model into powermill these level settings are retained and applied correctly.

I can now move the individual components with transform commands or work in a macro.

[mribble]

I have never built full assemblies in Powershape so take this with a grain of salt;

In this example this is a typical Lang self centering vise;

The  base is on it's own level. (Base)

The left jaw is on it's own level.(Left)

The right jaw is on it's own level. (Right)

When I import this model into powermill these level settings are retained and applied correctly.

I can now move the individual components with transform commands or work in a macro.

[ChristopherMarion]

@Anonymous 

I would do exactly what @mribble mentioned.  Create the assembly in PowerShape and place each component onto a separate level.  These levels will translate into PowerMill.  You can then select all of the entities that reside on each level and transform how you need to using a macro.

You can do this with individual files as well.  Exporting the assembly as separate cad files would be easy to transform as well.

[ChristopherMarion]

@Anonymous 

I would do exactly what @mribble mentioned.  Create the assembly in PowerShape and place each component onto a separate level.  These levels will translate into PowerMill.  You can then select all of the entities that reside on each level and transform how you need to using a macro.

You can do this with individual files as well.  Exporting the assembly as separate cad files would be easy to transform as well.