Manufacturing > Process Manager > Working with the Process Table > To Create In-Process Geometry
To Create In-Process Geometry
As you design the machining process, you can generate geometric representations of the workpiece at the end of each step, or operation, or both, using the workpiece_instances configuration option. This functionality lets you design fixtures for holding the workpiece during the next step or operation based on the up-to-date workpiece geometry.
1. Define the necessary operations and steps.
2. Apply the changes to the manufacturing process.
3. In the Process Table menu bar, click Features > Update Workpiece Instances. Creo NC creates Family Table workpiece instances containing the appropriate material removal features for each step or operation. The number of instances corresponds to the number of steps or operations. The default instance names are generated according to the convention <WorkpieceName>_<StepName> or <WorkpieceName>_<OperationName>, where WorkpieceName is the name of the generic workpiece model, StepName is the step name, and OperationName is the operation name. Each subsequent instance contains the material removal features from the previous instances, and additional material removal features generated from the current operation or steps. The last instance represents the final workpiece geometry.
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Only operations and steps that are applied to the manufacturing process are considered when generating the in-process geometry.
If the visibility level of a material removal feature is different from that of the earlier one, a warning is displayed. PTC recommends that the visibility level be set to part level for all material removal features.
4. As you define additional operations or steps, you can use the Update Workpiece Instances command again to update the in-process geometry.
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In the link session, if you delete a step or an operation, the corresponding workpiece instance is not deleted because of PDM issues. However, no additional material removal is performed on it.
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