— ONGAA CAM

MPR creation is often only one step in the overall manufacturing process.  The flow from ERP to program generation to ‘production’ to post production steps often relies on filenames to connect the steps.

In ONGAA CAM MPR names are traditionally based on the model name.  This poses a challenge when ‘other software’ cannot read a longer filename or when the programs need to adhere to a specific naming convention that is not related to the SolidWorks part names.  This situation is particularly relevant when MPR programs on the shop floor come from a library rather than generated each time they are needed.  Orders arrive on the floor with product codes and quantities.  For example:

86400-02 QTY 30

86300-04 QTY 30

With properly created barcodes on the orders, these are efficient and accurate for loading jobs.

For this reason, ONGAA CAM has a new feature to read SOLIDWORKS custom properties to … Read the rest

From those of us that are accustomed to working in ‘Machine Space’, the Z-Axis is always UP.   So why on earth does SolidWorks insist that Y is up?

Rather that ask and then answer the question, I’d would rather show you how to change it.  What we will do in the steps below is reset the default views and rename the default planes for both parts and assemblies and save the changes into the Part and Assembly templates.

Open Solidworks and create a new PART

The default view is most likely trimetric view and look like this.

We will be using the Triad to change and verify the views we want in several steps.

First, change to the Front View.  Use Ctrl-1 or the Heads-up menu or Spacebar
The Triad should look like this.

Now use the Spacebar to get access … Read the rest