Quick Shortcut to Creating Tool Assemblies in Mastercam
- Geoffrey Brennan
CAM Assist requires tool assemblies to run. This means the tool plus the tool holder. If your tool library only has cutting tools defined, follow these steps to quickly set up a set of tool assemblies.
Note - This technique is suitable for quickly testing CAM Assist, but will not ensure a collision free machining experience. It is recommended that tool holder be fully and appropriately configured prior to posting out files generated by CAM Assist.
A tooldb file that has no tool assemblies will be displayed like this in the Tool summary section of the Tool Use tab:
Follow these steps to quickly configure tool assemblies for a given tool database file:
In Mastercam, from the Mill Toolpaths tab, select Mill Tool Manager
Select the tooldb file to be modified
Assuming there are no Assemblies in the file,
From the Tools tab select the tools to be made into assemblies and drag them to the top area
In the bottom section, open the Assemblies tab
Select the tools from the top section and drag them into the Assemblies area below
Close the Tool Manager,
and Save the tooldb file
Once these changes are made, check the section in the CAM Assist Tool Use tab. A number of assemblies should be available depending on the amount of tools that were converted in the steps above:
