Importing bend and cell components

Usually, three mesh files will be given for bending aids namely plate.mesh, carriage.mesh and table.mesh.

Create a new folder with the bending aid name (E.g., TB8000_2000N_B36) in X:\Wad\core\bend\bendaids.

The given mesh files must be placed in X:\Wad\core\bend\bendaids\<New bend aid name>. E.g, X:\Wad\core\bend\bendaids\TB8000_2000N_B36.

After placing the mesh files in the corresponding folder, copy bendaid.curl and mechanism.curl to the same folder, from an existing bending aid that has similar kinematic and parameters. An example of mechanism file can be seen below.

(Mechanism){
  Name:BAID_TB8000_2000N_B36  Children:[
    { Name:Carriage  Joint:Translate  JVector:1,0,0  JMin:-1000  JMax:1000  JasDrawn:0  Color:White
      Geometry:(FileGeometry){ File:Carriage.mesh  Shift:0,0,100 }
      Children:[
        { Name:Table  Joint:Translate  JVector:0,0,1  JMin:50  JMax:200  JAsDrawn:0  Color:White
          Geometry:(FileGeometry){ File:Table.mesh  Shift:0,0,0 }
          Sockets:< Hinge=0,0,0 >
          Children:[
            { Name:Plate  ConnectTo:Hinge  Joint:Rotate  JVector:-1,0,0  JMax:56  Color:"#4A4A4A"
              Geometry:(FileGeometry){ File:Plate.mesh  Shift:0,0,0 }
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Similarly make changes to the bendaid.curl file. An example of it is shown below

(BendAidDef){
  Kind:TB8000_2000N_B36  DieV:"16:250"  DieHeight:"-30:250"  MaxAngle:55  Payload:300  Speed:45
  Table:"-159,-1032:159,-245.6"  XExtent:"-213:213" CanChangeForwardSpeed:False
  CanStopAtReturn:True  AdvancedControl:True
}

Now we have to change XExtent and Table fields in the bendaid.curl as per the given mesh files.

XExtent is the X-Span of the bend-aid (when positioned at 0) which can be measured as shown below:

Table is the bound of the support table in top view.

Once the above steps are completed, add the new kind in BendAidDef in the code and make changes so that it appears for the respective machines for e.g. only for B36 machines or B31 machines.

Check if the bending aids are listed in Flux for the respective machines in machine database as shown below:

Set the bending aids for a machine and tool a part with that machine and check if the bending aids are engaged properly.

Check if the bending aid surfaces are shown correctly using the the Surfaces checkbox available in bend aid glob as shown below.

Also, see if the carriage appears connected properly with the die rail in the side view as shown below:

Finally, commit the changes (mesh, curl etc) to the Flux repository.

Cleanup the 3D model using MetaCAM.

Make sure the origin of the model lies in the center and that the Z height in the left-most bottom corner is 0. The Z height should be 0, as the height of the pallet will be calculated in Flux based on this. See picture below.

The crash model must be created, which can be a simple rectangular box model as shown below

Create a new folder with the size of the STOPA as name (E.g., 4200.1800) in Y:\Models\BendCell\Pallets\STOPA. Name the models as Model.3d and Crash.3d and place them in the newly created folder.

Use Flux.Console Convert3D with option Extralow to create the mesh files.

The mesh files will have to be placed in X:\Data\Archive\CellItems\<STOPA ID> folder. Open the manifest file in X:\Data\Archive\CellItems and pick the next available ID for the cell component you are adding. If we are adding a pallet, the next ID will be 2027. There are gaps in IDs in the manifest to accommodate different types of cell items.

After placing the mesh files in the corresponding folder, copy item.curl and mechanism.curl from an existing cell component of the same type. An example of mechanism file can be seen below.

Similarly make changes to the item.curl file. An example of item.curl is shown below

Once the above steps are completed, you can check whether the new cell components are being listed in Flux when trying to add Cell Component.

Commit the 3D models to Reflux repository and the cell component files (mesh, curl and manifest) to the Flux repository.