Saturday 22 February 2014

Setting Up The UCS, WCS in CAD mode.

Hello again, 
Sorry for the delay in posting this thread. Took some time out for myself. :)

So lets move on with our next tutorial. In last module we have seen how to import an IGES or STL model into WorkNC. We have learnt to change its orientation, different view-ports and we dealt with the toolbars. I haven't explained every other toolbar in detail because we are going to see those in details while doing programming itself. 

So lets see how to set up an UCS (User Coordinate System) and deal with MCS (Machine Coordinate System). I have explained what UCS and MCS does in previous threads so i'm not going to explain those things again. UCS can be seen as the Basic Reference or the Origin of your NC program. It represents the homing position for the tool when you start your machine and load the program on it. 

Now to set UCS on your part WorkNC has provided a toolbar called as Working Plane or UCS Creation Toolbar.

1. At first we have to set the orientation of the work-piece. It depends the features of the WP which are to be machined. In the example shown below the features to be machined are round pocket and holes which lie in the X+ direction of WP hence I will click on X+ in the view orientation toolbar and make those features perpendicular to the screen. This position shows the exact position of the WP when it is loaded on the VMC.

2. After setting the orientation click on Fit To Screen option in View orientation toolbar so that the model of WP is placed at exact center of the viewing window. This is compulsory if you want to set your UCS at the center of the WP. Generally we use UCS at center in case of symmetrical and circular work-pieces. 

3. Now click on UCS creation button as shown below then a pop up box opens up where we can find various option to set the UCS. Now there are three options by which you can set the UCS. 

  • New UCS: Just click on new UCS button it will set the UCS according to current orientation of your work-piece. 
  • UCS by 3 Points: If you want to set up UCS at the corner of some rectangular block the you can use this option. Just click on the option the it will prompt you for selection the X, Y and Z direction corners. By selecting the proper directions you can set up UCS at desired location.
  • UCS on View: This is the easiest of all. After setting the orientation of the WP when you click on Fit To Screen then just click on UCS on View option then the UCS gets set up at the exact center of the WP as shown in the image below. I prefer using this option for symmetrical and circular parts as the references for most of the features in such parts are given from the center or origin while designing.

Setting Up The UCS 


After setting the UCS using any of the options above you can also edit the position and orientation of the UCS by using Translation/Rotation option given in the UCS creation form as shown above in the image. 

1. To edit a particular UCS at first you have to activate that UCS by doubly clicking on the red arrow below the ON tab as shown above. Green arrow indicated the Active UCS and Red indicted Inactive UCS.

2. If your desired UCS is inactive then you can activate it by double clicking on red cross below the ON tab.

3. After activating the desired UCS you can translate it by inputting the value in X , Y or Z direction in the window and then by clicking on Translate UCS. Then the UCS gets shifted to the new position as per values given by you.

4. If you want to rotate the UCS then you have to give the value of angle by which you want to rotate the UCS in desired direction input box and then just click on Rotate UCS.

5. You can also change the direction of machining i.e. Z+ by clicking on the Invert Z. You can use this option for second setup of the same work-pieces while keeping the reference at the same location. 

So by using these options we can setup the UCS for the work-piece and the machine. And this is the last module in Work-NC CAD mode section. From next module onward we will see about CAM mode in Work-NC. 

Thank you for reading the blog. Keep visiting for more updates.Keep sharing on Google Plus and social media..





No comments:

Post a Comment