[UFILUKY]

I am a newbie to the programming software scene. Only 3 months under my belt so far. My company wanted to upgrade software and so we had quite a few companies come in and give us a demo. So now that we made our decision and purchase, I am trying to go about getting .STL Files together from a lot of the Manufacturers of the machines and tooling and so forth we use for a more accurate simulation of programs. During the Demos, the companies we demo'd all made it sound like getting these .STL's was no sweat. But I am finding that some manufacturers seem to be trying to move in that direction but are slow and others seem to not have them at all. Some have 2D .dxf files only. I am struggling to even get some machine tool holders. I know I can draw all my own stuff and save it as an .STL and be done but don't want to spend all that time doing so. We use a lot of different things.

So I am wondering what does everyone else do and if everyone else's experiences are the same as mine?

Thanks guys

[headscraper]

Most people don't seem to bother with getting a model from the manufacturer and draw a simplified version of their machine with basic shapes like cylinders and rectangles, detailed models are only important for software sales and making the simulations look impressive in demos and on Utube but serve no real practical benefit. I don't know what machine you have but it is usually the parts of the machine that are near the 'action' that are important, like the head, tool holder, bed and maybe clamps and fixtures. You can usually forget about the rest. If you are lucky enough to get a model from the manufacturer be prepared to strip 95% of it as they come with every single nut, bolt and a multitude of other components that are irrelevant.

Tool folders - I have managed.to get most of the standard ones from free 3D CAD websites.

[UFILUKY]

Thank you very much for the response. I was shocked that I hadn't received a single reply. So I am glad you did. You kind of verified what I had been thinking as far as too much detail and just drawing what matters on your own. I just figured that if it was as easy and readily available as all the different CAM salesman were saying...why not. Well its not and as you stated they show you the most tricked out Sim's they have for the demo. It kinda sucks looking for 1 and for 2 most the stuff I cannot even find models for. Iscar so far is the best. They have had about everything I have looked for 3D model wise. Good job Iscar! As far as all the darn CAM salesman and there bull crap misleading sales tactics go.....you stink!!!

[headscraper]

If you ask nicely you might get a model from them. A few manufacturers even let you download from their websites. It probably won't be STL but your software will probably be able to take other CAD files also. So when you ask the manufacturers it is probably best not to specify STL. Just take what you can get. If needed convert it later.
I managed to get a nice model of the head of a 5 axis I was working with, including A and C axis, by going to the people that made the part rather than the manufacturers of the machine.