When someone is working with a part on a table for welding, there are two things they might want to do:
Shifting: Sometimes they may want to move a specific set of points on the part to a different location on the table. This is called shifting.
Patterning: Other times, they may want to make multiple copies of the same part on the table. This is called patterning.
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Training Exercises
Introduction
Shifting a part (or a subset of a part) takes in a set of points and recalculates their position. The amount a part is shifted is based on the position of the torch relative to the selected Origin. Note that shifting and patterning only translates the part in three-dimensional space (no rotation is considered).
Shifting and patterning are similar concepts and work the same way within Beacon except for one major difference.
Shifting updates the position of all selected points. A common use case for this feature is repositioning your fixture to a new location on the table.
Patterning takes a set of points and creates a copy of them, offset by the distance from the origin point. A common use case for this feature is to create copies of a part to run multiple on your weld table.
Understanding the Origin
When shifting or patterning a part, the amount to offset the selected points is determined by Beacon measuring the distance from the current position of the torch to the Origin point when performing the shifting action. Beacon measures this distance to calculate the amount of translation in three-dimensional space.
Shifting Points
To shift a set of points, take the following actions:
Select the points you wish to shift
On the multi-edit panel, select the Shift action button
Make sure you have the correct Origin point selected (by default, the first point selected is the origin point).
Using the green button on the puck, move the robot arm to your new origin point.
On the shift panel, tap the apply button and select Shift
Patterning Points
To pattern a set of points, take the following actions:
Select the points you wish to pattern
On the multi-edit panel, select the Shift action button
Make sure you have the correct Origin point selected (by default, the first point selected is the origin point).
Using the green button on the puck, move the robot arm to your new origin point.
On the shift panel, tap the apply button and select Pattern. When you select pattern a shifted copy of the selected points will be added to the end of your part, with a new section added at the start of the patterned points.
After selecting pattern, you will see an alert pop up asking if you want to add an air move before the patterned points. To add an air move, simply move the robot arm into position for your air move and click the blue teach button while the alert is still presented. You can cancel this action by tapping cancel on the alert.
To create additional patterned copies, repeat steps 4 - 6 above.
Locking Axis
When shifting or patterning points, it can sometimes be useful to lock out a particular axis of translation. For example, if you are moving your fixture left or right by a few holes, you probably do not want to translate in the Z direction. To lockout, or ignore, particular axes of translation, tap the Distance from Origin on the shift panel to expand the three axes. Notice that the X, Y, and Z translation distances are displayed. Simply click the lock icon to toggle any of the axes on or off.
