Creating a Fitting in Cimatron

Exercise 1 - Creating a Fitting

In this exercise we will learn how to create a fitting, as shown below.

The first stage in this exercise is to get familiar with the Cimatron E interface, and to learn how to work with Cimatron E documents and PDM. We will then enter the Part application and start working.

The Part application is a truly hybrid modeling environment, in which you can use solid, surface, and wireframe entities.

Steps to Follow:

1. Create a new part document

2. Product Data Management (PDM)

3. Display

4. Create a sketch

5. Manipulating files / documents

6. Extrude the sketch

7. Change the color of the part

8. Extrude a boss

9. Create a revolve

10. Remove revolve

11. Add rounds

12. Final changes

Step 1 - Create a New Part Document

Open Cimatron E by clicking on the desktop icon, or by choosing it from the Start programs.

The Cimatron E screen has the following appearance:

The only options available so far are those connected with files. You can open or create a document, import / export or send / receive, and update existing documents. We will use all of these options during this exercise.

You can also access the on-line help, either by clicking the icon, by pressing F1, or be selecting Help / Contents & Index from the main menu.

Create a new Cimatron E document by doing one of the following:

x Press the New icon .

x Select File / New from the main menu.

x Press Ctrl + N.

The following dialog box is displayed:

In this exercise we wish to work in the Part environment.

Select the Part option and click OK or press Enter.

The Profile Card dialog appears, which is partially shown here:

This dialog is used for assigning your document a name, description, and units. This does not create a standard windows file as you may be used to. Instead, the document will appear in the PDM Tree (Product Data Management), which will be explained in the next step.

Change the Title of the document to "New". In the Description section, write a short description about the part - "Fitting".

Click OK, and you are now in the Part application. Before proceeding with our fitting, however, we will explore PDM.

Step 2 - Product Data Management (PDM)

To view the PDM Project Tree, click the Open icon, or select File / Open.

Our part document "New" is the only one that appears at the moment. But when you have accumulated many documents, PDM is extremely useful. Why?

Your company uses numerous designs, drawings, and specifications for each project. Organizing and managing these documents is extremely important.

Cimatron E's PDM provides an easy and intuitive way to organize your parts and assemblies, and relevant drafting and NC documents. Also, with PDM you can update a part and all related documents (assembly, drafting, etc.) are automatically updated.

PDM recognizes and displays four types of documents:

Part

Drafting

Assembly

NC

You may be wondering how to move, copy and transfer documents like you would with files stored in a windows system. Document manipulation is easily done with Cimatron E, using Send and Receive. Also, Import and Export are used when working with different file formats.

Some important things to remember when working with PDM:

x You can change properties of a document by opening the popup menu and selecting Update.

x Folders can be created to organize documents.

x Each document exists only once as an object in the PDM database. All other representations of a document are pointers (shortcuts) to the database object. For example, a document can appear in more than one folder, but the same object is represented.

x Documents can be copied and moved to and from folders. Drag and drop copies the document shortcut to another position in the Project Tree. Shift, drag and drop moves the document shortcut.

x A document title is not unique. Only the PDM ID number is unique.

x For more information on PDM, refer to the on-line help.

For now, close the Project Tree.

The next step is to learn how to manipulate the display.

Step 3 - The Display

Note: Step 3 focuses on different ways to manipulate the display. If you prefer to skip this step and proceed with creating the fitting, proceed to Step 4.

Toolbars

Upon entering the new document, note the toolbars displayed on the upper two lines of the screen.

Move the cursor over the toolbar area and click the right mouse button. The popup menu gives you a list of all the available toolbars, and you can choose to display only the ones you need.

You can also use the Tools / Customize option to select which toolbars and icons to display.

On the left of each toolbar you can see two vertical lines:

You can use these lines to pick and drag the toolbar anywhere on the screen.

Display Icons

These toolbar icons enable you to control and manipulate the display.

Some of the icons are explained on the following pages, and you should have a chance to use all of them during the tutorial.

Display Toolbar

Wireframe

Hidden Lines

Partial Hidden Lines

Shaded

Display Toolbar

Zoom All

Fits the entire display into the graphic area

Zoom Window

Used for zooming in on a certain part of the screen. Keeping the left mouse button pressed, draw a rectangle around the area on which you want to zoom.

Zoom to Selection

Select the face, curve, or object you want zoomed. Then click the icon.

Dynamic Zoom

Used for zooming in and out. Zooming can also be performed by pressing the Ctrl key together with the right mouse button.

Pan

Used for dragging the contents of your window.

To use this option, keep the left mouse button pressed and move the display to the desired location. (You can also press Ctrl + middle mouse button.)

Dynamic Rotate

While pressing the left mouse button, rotate the display by moving the mouse. (You can also press Ctrl + left mouse button.)

To rotate around an axis or edge, place the cursor on the desired edge, then hold the left mouse button and move the mouse.

Rotate to Plane

Click this icon, then select the plane. The plane you select will become parallel to the display plane.

Entity and Background Color

The Color tool is used to set or change colors of selected entities, by clicking on the arrow to the right of the icon.

Background color:

Defining the background color is done by selecting Tools / Preferences / General / Colors / Background Color.

If you want all applications to use the same background color, check the Use Same... box. The default background color for all applications is white, as shown below.

You can also specify a separate color for each application. To change the background color for the Part application, uncheck the Use same box and click the arrow indicated below.

From the color drop-down menu, you can either select a standard color or create your own using the Other button.

Working with Multiple Windows

Cimatron E allows you to work with more than one open window. You can use multiple windows either to work with several parts at once, or to display different views of the same part. Only one window can be active at a time.

Like other Windows applications, you can display the windows in a tiled or cascaded mode, by using the Window / Tile or Window / Cascade option.

To switch between windows and make another window active, you can either press the title bar of a window or select the window from the list shown in the Windows menu.

Pictures

The Pictures icon opens the Pictures dialog. The dialog initially contains only the four standard views: Right, Top, Front, and Isometric.

This dialog, shown below, enables you to view all pictures created so far, create a new picture, and update or delete an existing one. Note that when viewing the part in the four default pictures shown below, the part is shown in zoom-all view.

To create a new picture, rotate the part to where you want, click the New icon, and assign a picture name.

To switch pictures, place the cursor on the picture name and click the Display button. Or double-click on the picture name.

Click the Last Picture icon to return the display to the picture that was previously displayed.

If you want to modify a picture that you have created, display the picture, make the change and then click the Update button. You cannot change any of the four standard pictures, of course.

Close the Pictures dialog.

Now that we have learned our way around the display functions, we will get to work creating the fitting. The first step is to create a 2D shape in the Sketcher.

Step 4 - Create a Sketch

In order to create the object that will become our fitting, we first need to create a sketch. This is done in the Sketcher - the graphic environment used by Cimatron E to create 2D parametric geometry. The geometry can then be used in other part functions, or in NC.

Click the Sketcher icon , or you can enter the Sketcher by:

x Positioning the cursor in the graphic area and clicking on the right mouse button. A pop-up menu opens, with a list of available options according to the current situation. (Because there is nothing so far in the document, there are only a few options.) Select the Sketcher option.

x Selecting Curves / Sketcher from the main menu.

When the Sketcher opens, you will see the vertical Sketcher toolbar on the right side of the screen. (Here we have displayed it horizontally.)

(Depending on your preference settings, while inside the Sketcher the sketching plane may be gray. We will see in Step 8 how to change the characteristics of the Sketcher.)

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