ICAM Virtual Machine V19 - Kxcad.net

ICAM Virtual Machine ® Version 19.0 Creating Virtual Machine Models with Quest
Adding Physical Entities to the Model
3.5 Adding Physical Entities to the Model
Once you have defined the kinematics framework of your machine, you are now ready to add
physical entities such as tables, heads, bases, etc. These objects give substance to your model so
it can be seen, but more importantly, it is the physical entities of the model on which collision
testing is performed.
Entities are attached to axes or other entities in the same way that axes are attached to each other
and the machine. Objects that are attached to moving axes will move when that axis moves.
Sometimes, a physical entity on the machine will have some of its parts attached to one axis and
the remainder attached to another axis. For example, a rotary table base would be attached to one
axis (e.g., a linear axis), while the table itself would be attached to the rotary axis (so it rotates
when the rotary axis moves). Another example: An X-axis table would be attached to the X-axis,
but the guide-ways and base would be attached to the world.
All entities are located in terms of an XYZ offset from their parent object. An offset of zero
would place the entity origin at the same position as the parent object‟s origin. In the examples to
this point, the axes have been defined at the machine origin. Doing so allows us to define geometry
in terms of the machine coordinate frame. If machine dimensions are relative to some other
position, then you should create a “Reference Axis” attached to the “Machine01” object and
define the offset to the reference point used by the machine tool builder. All other objects should
then be defined in the tree leading out from the reference axis.
The following entity types can be created using the Simulation»Construct Entity menu bar
selection (and also from the buttons on the VM Construct toolbar shown circled above):
� A Cube is a box defined by its width, length and height.
� A Cylinder is defined by a length and radius at each end.
� A Cone is also defined by a length and radius at each end.
� A Sphere is defined by a radius.
� A Revolved is a 2D profile shape revolved about its local Z-axis.
� An Extruded is a 2D profile shape extruded along its local Z-axis.
� A Mesh is an STL object imported from the CAD/CAM system.
� A Picture is a bitmap image.
All entities share some common parameters (a description of entity parameters can be found
starting on page 96).
Do the following to add a base, X table and C rotary table entities to the kinematics model
constructed in the previous section:
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