CMM-Manager | Replacing Alignment steps in Program

Replacing an Alignment

It is sometimes necessary to replace an alignment method in an existing program.  This may be due to a production / design change, or in order to duplicate an existing program to use for a different manufacturing operation where some features may not exit yet.

For this example, we will replace the Plane-Line-Circle alignment for the part on the left, with a Plane-Line-Point (center of slot) plus an offset, using the part on the right.



The original alignment is a Plane-Line-Circle alignment.  Both alignments below are identical in function.  One uses the pre-defined Plane-Line-Circle routine, the other uses measured features and individual alignment steps. Both result in identical alignments.

This alignment was created using:
  1. LEVEL: The top plane
  2. ALIGN: The right edge
  3. ORIGIN: The center of the 20mm circle


The first step will be to use Align Part to “sync” everything to a new location of the physical part (even if it is only slightly different).  Otherwise, the rest of the program will be offset by the difference between the position of the part when the program was first taught, and the position the part is in now.

Notes
Note:  More information on Align Part may be found here - Align Part
  1. Place the cursor on the line that completes the alignment to be replaced.
  2. Select Alignment | Align Part.
    1. The Align Part dialog will be displayed.
  3. Create a new alignment using any appropriate method.  Using the original steps is recommended.
    1. These steps will not be added to the program.
  4. Click the Align button in the Align Part dialog.
  5. Delete all steps for the alignment to be replaced.


We can now proceed with inserting the new alignment.
  1. Place your cursor on the line before where the new alignment should begin.
  2. Create the new alignment using any appropriate methods.
    1. These steps will be inserted into the program after the selected line
  3. Sync CAD (Import/Export | Sync CAD)
    1. The Sync CAD does not need to be added to the program


The program is now ready to be run using the new alignment.

You may download the animated PowerPoint here: