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Newsletter - Mastercam and Autodesk - July 2011 |
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The Lake Monsters 
Lake Oswego's FIRST
Robotics Team
by Bobbi Thompson
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting with Elizabeth Glick, one of the parents/mentors of the Lake Oswego FIRST Robotics Team. We've had the team present at our monthly Autodesk Inventor User Group meeting in the past but I wanted to get a higher-level look at the group and find out more about the team's needs and upcoming events. |
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For those of you who haven't heard of them, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen. The not-for-profit charity is based in Manchester, NH and is intended to motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills.
The Lake Oswego Team, known as "The Lakemonsters" is currently made up of 11 returning students. There are 10 males and 1 female. Of these 11, there are 3 seniors, 5, juniors and 3 sophomores. The team hopes to recruit at least 6 freshmen this year, and according to Ms. Glick, they really hope more females embrace the program.
The team is open to students of all skill and educational levels. Last year they had 3 students with autism on board, so this can definitely be a great fit for students who otherwise might not feel comfortable participating in traditional after school activities.
If you would like more information on the Lakemonsters or would be interested in mentoring, please contact Elizabeth Glick pickglick@gmail.com. Their next competition will be Bunny Bot, which takes place on December 17th, 2011.
Bunny Bot is:
A pre-season FRC*-like competition. This is a unique game with FRC*-style rules and FRC* class robots. It's designed to be fun and simple to get a robot going. The goal is to get teams ready with the skills they'll need for the coming season. To get a sense for it, last year's game and a video can be seen at http://www.oregonfirst.org/events/bunnybot-2010/. Rules for 2011 will be released Sept 10th. Last year we filled to capacity with 18 robots. If we get more than that we'll go to a full size field and pit areas in the adjacent tennis court (like we do for Girl's Generation.) Teams can enter multiple robots if they like. This is an opportunity that's not to be missed, even if you just come to watch. All day.
*FIRST Robotics Competition
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Mastercam X5 2D Dynamic Milling Workshop
When: Thursday, July 28th, 2011 1:00 -3:00 pm
Where: MCAM Northwest - 19136 Molalla Avenue, Oregon City
We will cover: 2D Dynamic:
Refreshments will be provided. This is no cost for this workshop. Register today!  . To print directions to our office - CLICK HERE |
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FREE AutoCAD to Solids Workshop
This workshop was so popular the first time we had to bring it back again!
Don't miss your opportunity to join us for this FREE Workshop: AutoCAD to Solids in Manufacturing
When: Tuesday, July 26th from 1:00 to 3:00 PM
Where: MCAM Northwest - 19136 Molalla Avenue, Oregon City
we will cover best practices for:
· Using AutoCAD data in Mastercam
· AutoCAD to Parametric Solid Conversion
· Output Solids Geometry to AutoCAD
· Putting AutoCAD Layers to Work
· Effective Templates
· Built-in Tools for Data Management
To print directions to our office - CLICK HERE |
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Save the Date...
for the Portland Community College CAD Summit!
When: Wednesday September 14, 2011
Where: Sylvania Campus, Portland Oregon
Spend the day at PCC with 300 local business and education leaders exploring the latest in Computer Aided Design (CAD) software and see the difference Portland Community College is making for local manufacturing; training tomorrow's drafters, designers, and engineers.
Co-hosted by PCC and local CAD resellers including MCAM Northwest, this will be a fun and informative event showcasing the newest CAD software along with the Portland Community College Design and Drafting program. Consisting of a general session plus three hands-on and informative break-out sessions, the program promises to inform and entertain you and includes complimentary breakfast and lunch.
Sign up: Keep an eye on your email this month for a special invitation to register for this event. Seating is limited to 300 so don't miss out! If you have any questions or comments please call us, or send an email to phile@mcamnw.com. |
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MCAM Northwest News and Tech Tips
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How to share Mastercam X5 files on a network
Would you like to have the Mastercam X5 shared files available on a network location where they are backed up regularly and available to all programmers?
Having all of the shared Mastercam X5 files in a common network location has the benefit of all programmers working with the same machine, control, & post definitions, as well as other files that may be desirable to have available to all programmers such as tool libraries, saved operations, etc.
Moving shared files to a network location does requires the network to be available when Mastercam is running.
To Download a .PDF Instructions Document - CLICK HERE |
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Inventor Publisher viewer brings 3D 
assembly instructions to Android
Now available on the Android Market, Autodesk Inventor Publisher Viewer is a free, handy tool that allows you to view interactive animated 3D assembly instructions created with the new Autodesk Inventor Publisher 2012 desktop application, which features Mobile Export capability. The app comes packed with a set of sample instructions and allows you to download additional samples from an online gallery links to your Autodesk account, from where you can also download your uploaded Inventor Publisher files.
The mobile format of an Inventor Publisher presentation file, when opened within the mobile viewer, lets you pinch to zoom and drag to rotate at any point in the animation, view detailed info regarding individual parts and includes a list of Instruction Steps, each of which are linked to a point/key-frame in the animation and lets you zip to any step in the assembly instructions.
 To view detailed information for any part of a 3D model, double tap to select it, then tap the tooltip that appears over it. You can even double tap annotations (notes that appear within certain key-frames) to view them in a separate screen. The toggle switch that appears in the bottom-right of a frame containing annotations can be tapped to hide them from view.
Needless to say, the app and its interface has been designed to provide convenience, and rightly so. Too many features without the option to disable or hide a few can become more than the screen of a mobile device can handle, especially that of a smartphone. You can grab the app for free from the Android Market.
Due to the wide variety of devices on the market with the Android operating system, there is no way to guarantee performance on all models. A good rule of thumb, the newer the device, the better your odds will be of a good user experience. However even a newer device could have shortcomings, it all depends on what is under the hood. If the manufacturer produced models with a lower price tag, it is likely they used slower processors and less powerful graphics chips. |
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Move or Copy Geometry
Need to move or copy geometry to a different level? Select the geometry, then right-click on the Level button in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. You can then copy or move the geometry to the desired level. |
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Autodesk News and Tech Tips |
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Copy your designs in Inventor 2012
with iLogic Design Copy tool
This tool helps with designs that contain iLogic as well as those without, proving to be a time saver any time you desire a copy of an entire design: parts, assemblies, drawings, and any other associated files. The tool will maintain all associativity between copied files allowing you to easily make new versions of your designs including the drawing data!
With no files open, go to the ribbon under Tools and click on iLogic Design Copy. Set the project file and select the files you wish to copy. Only files contained within the project workspace can be copied so you may need to add a workspace to your project file. |
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Autodesk News and Tech Tips |
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What's New on Labs?
Jig & Fixture Design for Inventor
Work with powerful jig and fixture capabilities.
OVERVIEW
Use Jig & Fixture Design for Inventor to significantly improve your efficiency designing jigs and fixtures with Autodesk® Inventor®.
Jig & Fixture Design extends Autodesk Inventor's native capability with an extensible library of standard jig and fixture components, which are attributed to support an enhanced level of automation intelligence. Retrieve components from the library dragging and dropping them into your design environment. The components auto-locate themselves when placed and their fasteners can be auto-populated. Based on initial tests, your overall design time can be reduced by over 50%.
Jig & Fixture Design also includes authoring tools which allow you to attribute standard content readily available from component vendors and publish it to the system's content library for reuse.
This technology preview is licensed for a limited term and for a particular territory as referenced in the End User License Agreement. The technology preview executable expires at the end of the technology preview based on a time-bomb date that has been set for March 31, 2012.
http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/inventor_jigs_fixtures/
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO!
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