Copying, Completing and Updating a Manufacturing Program with Reuse Programming

Using Reuse Programming, you can copy machines, programs, and part operations in a manufacturing cell. You can also define geometric links after the program is copied and update the copied program with any modifications made to the reference program.

You can import all the machining data or only specific machining items such machines, tools, accessories, and tool paths.

This command is useful when you want to reuse a program already created for a part, or section of a part, similar to the part in session.

This task shows you how to:

See Also
About Reuse Programming
Reuse Programming Options

Copy a Program in a Manufacturing Cell

You can copy one or more manufacturing program from a reference manufacturing cell to another manufacturing cell. The manufacturing cell where the manufacturing program are copied can be empty or may already contain a manufacturing program.

  1. From the Setup section of the action bar, click Reuse Programming .

    Alternatively, you can right-click a manufacturing cell from the Activities Process Tree and select Reuse Programming.

  2. Select an existing manufacturing cell by doing one of the following:
    • Search an existing program using the Search in the Top Bar. From the search results, select a manufacturing cell.
    • Select a manufacturing cell opened in another session.
  3. Depending on the context, the Reuse Resources dialog box appears. It shows machining items to copy such as machines, accessories, and tools. Select the items that you want to copy and click Next.

    • If the manufacturing cell contains an NC assembly with no associated manufacturing program, you can select the option Machine (create new programming) to create a new manufacturing program.
    • If there are multiple machining items, the proposed manufacturing program depends on the machine selected for reuse.

  4. In the Reuse Programming dialog box that appears, select the Redefine Geometries check box to define the geometric links between the copied program and part in session.

    Note: To group all the selected manufacturing program into one program, select Merge Resulting Programs. The selected manufacturing program will be located in a single manufacturing program at the bottom of the manufacturing cell.

  5. Click OK.
  6. In the Update Geometrical Links dialog box that appears, define the geometric links for the stock and design part.

    Note: Depending on the scenario, you may have to define the NC Assembly setup target and define the mounting point before defining the geometric links. For more information, see Links Management.

  7. For other operations, you can manage the geometric links as follows:
    1. Click to define the geometric links as complete.
    2. Click to define the geometric links as incomplete. You can complete the definition after the program is copied.

    For more information, see Incomplete Links.



The copied program appears in the Activities Process Tree. The icon identifies a copied program with an incomplete geometric links definition. Incomplete operations are highlighted in the Activities Process Tree.

Copy a Program with the Tool Paths of the Operations

You can copy a program in a manufacturing cell with the tool paths of all the operations contained in the program.

  1. From the tree, right-click a manufacturing cell and select Reuse Programming.
  2. Select an existing program by:
    • Using the Search in the Top Bar.
    • Selecting a program opened in another session.
  3. In the Reuse Resources dialog box that appears, select the machines, accessories, or tools to be copied. Machine (create new programming), Accessories and Tools are selected by default. Clear the items you do not want to copy and click Next.

    You can select Machine (create new programming) to add a new machine and define a new NC assembly.

    The selected items are copied in the manufacturing cell.
  4. In the Reuse Programming Options dialog box that appears, select the programs to be copied. You can select one or more programs to copy.
  5. Select Merge Resulting Programs to group all the selected programs into one program. The selected programs will be located in a single program at the bottom of the manufacturing cell.
  6. If no machine is added and the current machining program contains several part operations, select the Target Part Operation to be copied.
  7. From the reference program, select Copy Tool Path to copy the geometry, geometric links, and tool paths of each operation, and do one of the following:
    1. Select Create New Setup Position to create a new setup in the Part Operation that adopts the NC assembly of the selected programs and applies it to each copied operation.
    2. Select Create Link for Update to update the copied program with the modifications made to the reference program.
  8. In the work area, select an axis to position the reference part. Alternatively, you can create an axis by clicking .
  9. Click OK.
    All the operations and tool paths of the reference program are copied. The tool paths are automatically locked.



  • The icon indicates that the program contains copied operations with tool paths from the reference manufacturing cell.
  • If the reference program is modified, the icon appears on the copied program in the Activities Process Tree.

Define Geometric Links After Copying a Program

You can define geometric links after copying the program.

Note: A copied program with an incomplete geometry definition is identified with the icon in the Activities Process Tree.

  1. From the Activities Process Tree, right-click a manufacturing program and select Complete/ Reuse Programming.
    If there are several manufacturing cells in session, the Complete/ Reuse Programming dialog box appears, listing all the manufacturing cells with incomplete geometry definition.
  2. In the dialog box, select the manufacturing cell with incomplete operations.
    Incomplete operations are highlighted in the Activities Process Tree.The Update Geometrical Links dialog box appears, letting you complete the geometry definition.

    For more information, see Reuse Programming - Update Geometrical Links Viewer.



  3. Click OK when you complete the geometry definition.
  4. Continue in the same way to define geometric links of other programs.
    The icon disappears when the program is completed.



Update a Copied Program

You can update a copied program with any modifications made to the reference program.

Notes:
  • A copied program that is not updated is identified with the icon in the Activities Process Tree.
  • To update a copied program with a revision of the reference program, in the tree, select the machining program under the manufacturing cell and from the Tools section of the action bar, click Links & Relations. For more information, see Physics Simulation User Guide: Mesh Creation: Links and Relations: Changing the Pointed Component Minor Version in a Relation.

  1. From the Activities Process Tree, right-click a program and select Update/ Reuse Programming.
    If there are several manufacturing cells in session, the Update/Reuse Programming dialog box appears, listing all the manufacturing cells and their status.
    • indicates that the manufacturing cell of the reference program was modified.
    • indicates that the manufacturing cell of the reference program was not modified.



  2. In the Update/Reuse Programming, select the modified manufacturing cell and click OK.
    Modified operations and tool paths are copied. Tool paths are automatically locked.

    New operations are copied, and deleted operations or also deleted from the copied program. In the Activities Process Tree, the icon is replaced with the icon.

  3. Continue in the same way to update other programs.