IGS and edge conversion

[DareBee]

I do most of my parts in SolidWorks, save it as an igs and import into VisualMill (V5).
I currently do all of my machining in 2.5d.
When I select a surface and convert the edges with the edges command it converts circles and rads as polylines.
so instead of the g codes being a rad and center point it is a bunch of short splines. This makes for a huge complicated, hard to edit and memory intensive program.
Does this have something to do with the way I import the igs file?
Is this an igs specific problem?
Is there a better import method to use?
If I were to purchase the parasolid add in would it fix this problem?
Is there a better way to convert the edges?
Please provide some insight and suggestions

[leo]

In VisualMill 5 SP 4 there is an option for this purpose. In the menu Preferences , Command preferences there is a dialog for Curve Extraction Commands. Is Fit arcs in commands that extract curves from 3D model marked? May be the answer for your problem.

Leo

[erokc]

I second on the Fit Arcs. Otherwise my machine starts/stops on every segment and takes forever.

My complaint was why don't I get surfaces and edges from the IGES file. MecSofts answer was a conversion of all eges at once.

I have not applied this yet but this was there answer.

"Create all flat area regions to extract all flat areas from the surfaces in one click."

I don't know exactly where that is in the menu. If MecSoft is listening maybe they will instruct us.

Dave

[MecSoft Support]

To create regions/curves enclosing all flat areas from a surface, use the command "All Flat Area Regions". This is the 5th button down on the Geometry Bar -> Curves Tab. In order for the arcs to be created during the creation of these flat area regions, you have to have "Fit Arcs in commands that extract curves in the 3D model" button checked. This button can be found in Menu->Preferences->Command Preferences.

Hope this helps. If you need something more specific drop us a line at [email protected].

[DareBee]

Thanks that helps clean things up.