People involved in process planning create operation sheets or process sheets using various tools. You know who you are….you work in…(look both ways)…..manufacturing -- Sh-h-h-h!…wink, wink, nudge, nudge…. that’s where stuff gets done!….know what I mean, say no more!
Some of you have been able to use a parametric history based system to create Op-sheets by turning off features as needed (and as advertised) to get your job done. Congratulations! You are a rare breed to actually have designers create the models while maintaining the GD&T as you need them for manufacturing with no history or constraint issues biting you in the buttocks. I salute you! …now for the bad news. You’ll never be able to improve your manufacturing process, reduce costs or use new manufacturing technologies. Why? Because your designers will need to change their modeling to accommodate you and that won’t be easy if it increases their time to finish a design or delays their schedules. It could get worse if you’ve just hired a new young CAD jockey & it takes them off their “clever” planned approach. ….know what I mean, say no more.
Some of you have realized that the original history & parametric constraints are of very little use to you & only get in the way. So you open the file & immediately export it out to import as a “dumb” model. Wow, what a clever way to use a parametric history modeler!…nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Now you can populate the tree with your “useful” history & constraints for someone else to deal with. Assuming you have the right tools to work with a “dumb” model, you can “hack & whack” the model apart to reorder it; use the time test “cover-up with booleans” and/or rebuild it for your manufacturing process sequence. How’s that working for you?
Some of you have seen the light and instead use an explicit, direct, open, history free modeler, or whatever Madison Avenue marketing gurus are calling it this month. So now you have a different & more flexible set of tools for dealing with “dumb” geometry. Why would you need to use one of “those”!? Hello!...Because you need to manipulate the geometry as you see it for what you need it to be without being tied to some one else’s needs & thought process. Nice! But you know what? Wouldn’t it be nice to have the ability to recognize & use features sometimes? Or even make dimensional edits when you want sometimes….
Welcome to the enlightened group of manufacturers…Masters of Geometry. This is the group who uses Kubotek’s KeyCreator, an explicit modeler since 2004 (earlier if you consider Cadkey!) using 2D & 3D wireframe (yes 3D wireframe), solids & surfaces…to get stuff done. In 2005 Kubotek developed feature & pattern inference tools that allow you to identify “features” that you need for editing, reuse, or whatever. I said “features” because you decide what feature. Imagine a tuning fork with 2 prongs. Were the 2 prongs built & spaced apart to form a pocket or a pocket booleaned out to form the 2 prongs? You decide & use as you see it. Shortly there after a prune function was developed to remove or copy “features” for modification, reuse and reordering. Allowing you to use the original design geometry…not rebuilding it. But wait there’s more! In 2007 dimension driven editing was added to KeyCreator. So what so special about that!? It doesn’t use history, sketches or pre-defined dimensions & constraints. It works on “dumb” geometry & you apply the dimension when & where you want them….across a tuning fork prong edge, across 2 prongs, across the pocket between the prongs, from another body or wireframe….all history free. Talk about hack & whack agility!....wink, wink, nudge, nudge…get stuff done!….know what I mean, say no more!
