Importing bend machines

A new Version field has been included to facilitate the Clamp definition refinement. Refer this case. Version field must be set to 1 in the MacData section in order to import bend machines. BMachine INI files without Version or Version set to zero will not be imported.

ID field must be set for the machine.

Old bmachine.ini files will have Manufacturer, this must be changed to Brand.

Wibu field must be set in bmachine.ini, if the machine requires a WIBU license. Only then will the EPost attribute be created in machine.curl. Without this, the machine will not be properly installed in TecZoneBend. Refer this case.

Match the decal image size to the size set in the machine model. If the image is larger than the place holder in the model, then the image will not be rendered properly (see picture below). Refer this case for more details.

Name and NCName of the machine in the machine.curl should use the format as seen below.

Sometimes user will provide tonnage value in tons, but the tonnage should be in KN.

[MacData]
ID=2220022
Brand=Proteck
OpenHeight=500
TableLength=3200
Tonnage=1100

Old bmachine.ini files will have [ClampInfo] section which must be changed to [Clamp] section. If the same clamp model is used but with ram at different height, then a shift must be applied to the ram model. Refer this case. The clamp definition must not include the Open Height in Shift, as all clamps are by default raised to that height. Refer this case.

Make sure every model has minimum number of surfaces and layers. Because unnecessary layers will create unnecessary mesh data into Flux. Check the Layer conventions for more information.

If the machine has flat bgs, in other words if both bg models are same only one .3d file can be used which will reduce the unnecessary bg2.mesh. Below image shows a couple of flat bg models.

Make sure if all the surfaces look correctly. For eg: The below image shows that a surface is missing.

Refer this case to import machine using FXCMD.

[Header]
Type=FluxCommandFile

[Command]
Type=ImportBendMC
InputFolder=W:\BMC\1001

After importing make sure you turn on everything in display and verify if the layers in the machine have come properly.

For example in the below image, cylinders are missing and the beam is hanging which has to be rectified.

Make sure the punch valency and die valency are correct. Below image shows that there is some discrepancy in punch valency and the clamp style

Sometimes, the clamp origin may be wrong, and the punch will not be in proper place as shown below. In this case the origin needs to be modified properly.

Flip the punch and check if the punch is held properly by clamps.

In some cases, the flag DontAutoFlipTool needs to be set. For eg, single clamp style as shown below will have punch hanging if this flag is not set to 1.

Check the backgauge limits by dragging to the left and right extents as shown below.

Also, drag and make sure that bgs don’t cross each other and the gap between them is maintained as shown below.

Check if the bg surfaces are shown correctly using the bg glob as shown below. Add MCAnalysis=1 in experimental.ini found in System folder of Flux installation. This enables the Surfaces checkbox to be available in bg glob.

When Surfaces checkbox is enabled, origin of the bg will also be indicated (red dot) along with the bg surfaces.

• For Trumpf machines, the origin should be at the ends as shown below.

• For JFY and Proteck machines, the origin should be at the center as shown below.

• For some Proteck machines with crab finger bg, the origin should be lightly shifted from the center.

If bg limits/surfaces are wrong, check Back-gauge information and fix them.

If there are ACBLaserF, ACBLaserR and ACBLaserRail meshes for the machine, make sure that the ACBLaserRail is displayed only when ACB is activated for that machine. ACB can be activated for the machine through machine database dialog as shown below:

Run Flux.exe and click View menu and use Toggle ShowCrashModel to check the triangle count of the machine model. Remember to set MCAnalysis=1 in experimental.ini for this option to appear in View menu. Refer the image below. This image has too many triangles which could have cleaned up properly.

If tooling and other layers are in place, check generation of NC code.

For JFY machines, the NCCode section should be as shown below:

[NCCode]
Type=0
Extension=fx
ControlType=RA

Do flux.console UnStreamlineWad x:\data\archive\machines - this will unpack the folder using the redirect.map and effectively make a lot of duplicate copies. This means after that each machine folder in x:/data/archive/machines will be complete, and needs no redirection.

After validating machine import, copy machine id folder created in X:\Data\Machine folder to X:\Data\Archive\Machines.

Do flux.console StreamlineWad x:\data\archive\machines - this will find all duplicates and rebuild from scratch the redirect.map file.

Now check the model folder for the machine, which will have unique mesh/mesh2 files (see Creating mesh2 file for further reference). Open the mesh/mesh2 files into Flux and verify that the original source file name matches the original .3d files given.

Create a respective branch in ReFlux repository and add the original .3d models to the respective machine brand folder in Y:/Models and push these into git.

Updating manifest.txt:

Finally you will have modified redirect.map, manifest.txt and the machine id folder with the unique mesh files. Push these in the respective git branch.