One of Mastercam’s many selection options includes the ability to select chains which have the same geometric shape. The selection feature is exempted from deviations in orientation and has the option to include mirrored versions of the same object.
Let us have a look at how this selection process works and how it can quickly speed up your workflow process in Mastercam. In our example, we will use the geometry in Figure 1 below to quickly select matching geometric shapes…
For our example we will be using the 2D Contour Toolpath option which can be found in the “2D Dropdown” column as illustrated in green in Figure 2 below:
When the chain manager opens, select the “Chain Similar options” selection button as illustrated below in “RED”:
A new dialogue window will open where you can match the settings to the below illustration:
Next, you can click on the “Green Checkmark” to accept and close the window. Next, accept the default selection method as illustrated by “Step 1” in Figure 3 below and select the base chain as illustrated by “Step 2” also in Figure 3. Click on the “Chain Similar” button as illustrated by “Step 3” (In the green colour).
The resulting image is as illustrated in Figure 4 below:
Finally, we can select the green checkmark to accept all as indicated in the below image:
Written by Randall Graham Felix (Applications Engineer at Mecad Manufacturing C.T.)
