Call 911 my Hotkeys are on fire!! Part1

If you are using more than 10 different Hotkeys on a regular basis in Solidworks or Mastercam I would not blame you for speed reading through this blog post.
However if you are a Mastercam Hotkey user I would pay attention to the part 2 of this blog post. because I might just introduce you to a couple of Hotkeys that might just make your day.

If you do not use Hotkeys on a regular basis, then you might want to take 5 min. and continue reading.
Hotkeys are keyboard shortcuts, and most window based programs are capable of using standard Hotkeys. Windows XP has plenty, here is a list Windows Hotkeys.
So why should we pay attention to use them in the CAD/CAM world? There are 2 main reasons.
1) Speed, think about it, if you are one of those people who are "Aim, Point, mouse click" for every thing you do, then your left hand are in your lap while 104 keys on your keyboard are untouched.
2)Your health, if you have made it to a position where you use a computer more that 4 hours a day the statistic is that you are going to increase the use of a computer every year until retirement, you are going to put a lot of wear and tear on the mouse clicking hand.
Here is my trick, when I am working along and I think "Wow I just used that feature 2 sec ago" I know it is time to setup a Hotkey, and both Mastercam and Solidworks has some pretty easy tools to do this, the trick is when you setup a Hotkey to have a word document where you quickly can added the code, then you can print it out and tape it to the edge of the monitor, and maybe also take 30 sec to see if you could clear out some space by might delete an old Hotkey you have not use in a couple of weeks.

Lets start with Solidworks.

Go to customize.

1)Click tap for keyboard.
2)Make sure "Only show commands with shortcuts assigned" is NOT checked
3)Type in you new Hotkey
4) Just want to point out that you can have more than one Hotkey assigned for the same function.
I also want to point out that if you purchase something like a SpaceNavigator from 3DConnexion you will need to use Hotkeys to customize the programmable buttons.

Mastercam

Settings=>Keymapping.

Now this is a little different than Solidworks.
1)You need to pick your Category
2)Pick the function icon you want to add your Hotkey to.
3)Type in you new Hotkey
4)Also here like in Solidworks you can have more than one Hotkey assigned
5)And just make sure you save it, forget it and you have to do it over.

You really need to do yourself the favor and play around with Hotkey's if you haven't, its a little like learning a 7 year old what hand you hold the fork, it takes some practice, but down the road it will pay off big time.

Part 2 is coming up in a few hours.

MastercamX3 MU1 is ready for download

It was scheduled for October 31st but according to CNC Software they had some things they wanted this Maintenance Update release to include, and if you where current on your Maintenance agreement up to the month of October, you should be good to download from www.Mastercam.com.

Milling enhancement is accordingly to CNC Software.
The new "Arc Filter" that was introduced in X3 is now default instead of 2nd option.
"Feature Based Machining" will now let you sort operations.
Increased spot drill size.
Cutter compensation is added to peel mill.

Lathe enhancement is
VTL Tool libraries in inch and metric
Iscar tool library

The Adobe file at this point to me looks like it jumps over to the old "Whats new in X3" from this point, however I know from beta that a whole lot of bugs should have been taken care of. Lets the games begin so come on lets download and program.

Store your scribble and notes in Solidworks

My reseller told me that it is rare he see people actually using the Design binder, and checking some Solidworks file I have received, it is true that people are defiantly not writing there life stories in them, (what might be all good), however new Soldiworks users should know its existence(it can easily hide on you).
You can say that the design binder is like one of those old metal filling cabinets, but before we are going into detail, lets make sure it is turned on.
Go to Options=>System Options=>Feature Manager and set the drop down menu next to "Design binder" to "Show". This should make the Design binder visible at the top of the feature manager tree.
When hitting the '+' sign on the design binder you will find it contains a design journal that is a Microsoft Word document that is intended to be used as a engineering journal. The Design Journal contains heading for File Name, Description, and Material, you can also paste an images of you model. The rest is a place you could scribble your thoughts and prayers doing the design process such as "Check valve pressure before AX226 is added"or "check supplier for package material".
The Journal is customizable, mine is located
C:\Program Files\Solidworks\lang\english=>journal.doc
By placing the cursor where you want your link and go "Insert"=>"Field"
You will get the Field Manager where if you scroll to "DocProperty" in Field Name, you will get a list of Field Properties there are linked back to your Solidworks Custom Properties.
The picture below is just a basic Design Journal, with a image pasted on there.
Another cool thing about the Design binder is the capabilities to attach or link documents right to your Solidworks file. Right click on the binder and choose attach.
As you can see on the picture above this works for all file types, and double click will actually open them, even your Mastercam file. This is a good way to organize and keeping handy the different documents and files that belong in relation to your assembly or model.

Mastercam do not currently offer anything like this, however there is a company named Verisurf that have made a free add on that lets you store notes inside a file in style with "notepad" it can be downloaded from emastercam.com if you register (You have to provide Sim number to join).
It is never a bad idea getting in a habit of leaving yourself or better yet people who is going to fellow up on your work some notes, and the Design binder could be a perfect place to start, now off course the next step would actually be getting people to look in it.

MastercamX3 MU1 to be released next week

CNC Software has announced that MastercamX3 Maintenance Update 1, that was due back in October is on schedule for release next week, and promises that a lot of issues has been fixed even a few enhancements have been added. The MU1 will be available for download on mastercam.com If your maintenance expired in October you will still be able to run MU1.

Who dare talking about money?

Me, fact is that many bigger companies have a budget running from calender year to calender year, and that means time is almost up, and before I show you what I purchased this past year let me just say that I work in a company where the IT yearly budget is calculated from leftover quarters in the coffee can, well that is not true (Its work in progress) but a few years back I was talking about graphics cards and got a list of $50 to $100 graphics cards and was asked which one I wanted, if I back then had said what I really wanted there would have been a lot of laughter, not so much more but I still don't have it, yep work in progress. So when it came to do minor IT purchases this past year, I took matter in own hands, 1st of all I was sick and tired of using a $15 Dell mouse so I bought the mother of all mouses, thinking that I am the one using it every day, and if I got fired I would just take it with me. Well SAVE YOU RECEIPT because the next day when the boss saw this awesome mouse he crapped his pans and told me that he hoped I had the receipt because he would gladly pay for it, not claiming that this will work for you, but hey if not then at least you have the cool gadget.
So here is what I bought, and I tell you ........ if you buy these and are not satisfied I'm almost willing to buy them back from you. I can not explain how happy I have been with these 3 items I am going to show you, they have really made my work day with Mastercam and Solidworks so much better.

1) MX Logitech mouse, this thing has 5 programmable buttons, I got like "S" key in Solidworks, Isometric and top views in both Mastercam and Soldiworks, I can jump to "Desktop"....... pure awesome.
Here is the link to MX Mouse

2) 3Dconnection SpaceNavigator, this thing is just as awesome as the mouse, wow you are like working in another universe, this model has also programmable buttons, I got "Measure" in bought Mastercam and Solidworks, again the "S"key in Solidworks and "Level Manager" in Mastercam.
Here is the link to 3DConnection

3) Last thing is the mouse pad for true CAD/CAM guy, not those cheap once with a kitty on them. Kinda funny that you don't realize how importen this thing is until you have tried this one.
The link to Razer

I realize that the picture I stole from the web do not do these product justices., but in my opinion they are every dollar worth.

Hinge Mate, I don't use hinges!

Well me either, but I sometimes do add toolbox components in a assembly and here this feature could safe you some time. By the way this is a SW2009 feature so if you have not upgraded, well why not?.
There is a restriction to this feature, you can not mate your component to two different features, but since I have the feel that this hinges-mate went a little under the radar at the roll-outs and I wanted to also add Solidworks stuff to this block, I am hoping that if I'm not showing, then at least remind you of this feature, enough talk lets go.

1) A block with a counterbored and an a toolbox component.
2) Open the Mate menu as you normally would, but choose mechanical mates and then hinge.

3)Purple and green, so pretty colors, somehow I really would like to see mate do something similar to this hinges feature in the future, where you could pick 3 different sides and then execute on the green check mark.4)No doubt this is easier, maybe something in works for better mates in the future? beware that in the feature tree under mates it does show "hinge"
So there was my 1st blog post strictly Solidworks related, not earth breaking I am aware, but hey gotta crawl before you can walk, right? so until next time, please stay tuned

Use your Solidworks file to verify in Mastercam

If you import Solid models into Mastercam and you are not using them for verify, then you are missing on a cool feature, more than once this has saved me the hassle of re-programing a part because I forgot to drill a hole or clear a feature.
1st. picture is just a preview of the solid and stock display turned on.
Next step is to verify our program and save the *.STL file.
Now we need to setup the stock definition to use the saved STL file as stock, and turn Display on.
You will clearly see where the 2 pockets are machined and where stock still is remaining, my blue square is a typical example of me saying "oh yeah I need to clear the corners ;-)".
Try it, it is pretty easy habit to get into and you can not have enough tricks up in your sleeve to get the job done right the 1st time.