SolidCam Default Settings.

SolidCam is used through SolidWorks.
Because SolidCam is used by industry, which does not have the same security headache’s education has, the program has been written by default, to save to the users profile area and local program folders.
As students use a fixed profile, and are not able to save to the local C:\drive (which would also negate our backup strategy) we have to re-address a few settings in registry.
Also C:\ drive is hidden so they cannot install anything to it!

After many moons of testing with the help of Ronnie Smart @ SolidCam it has been found that certain settings needed re-directing to shared folders, Registry settings need re-directing and a Temp folder needs creating: -

In Summary:

Create Shared folders that are write enabled for both Staff & Students.
Create group policy \ policies to add \ Change Solidcam registry settings to: -
• Point to the shared folders.
• Point to the Temp folder.
• Change render engine.
• Replace ‘Posts’ if required.

To accomplish this we first created three shared folders in a central location

One Visible Folder to be used to store the student projects. ~ \\ ServerName\camparts\
Each student creates their own folder within here.
One Hidden Folder to house the System files.~ \\ ServerName\SolidCam$\
We created individual folders within here to house each type of file, and then copied the required system files plus the gpp files we required, created by Ronnie.
OneTemp folder, created within the Visible shared folder ~ \\ ServerName\camparts\TempFolder, the system uses this during the creation of projects.
All three have read write permissions for allstaff & allstudents.
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SolidCam Settings need changing to point to the above folders.
These can be changed manually to test but, Staff & Students cannot write to the registry, therefore the settings will revert to default when logged off
Change the settings (SolidCam\Settings\User Directories) to point to your System Shares: -

CPath = \\ ServerName\solidcam$\GPPTOOL\
Tables Directory = \\ ServerName\solidcam$\System Files
Threading Tables File = \\ ServerName\solidcam$\Tables\Metric\ThreadingStandard_Metric.xls
iMachining_DB_Directory_2012 = \\ ServerName\solidcam$\Tables\iDatabase
User Directory = \\ServerShare\camparts\Projects\
Highlight GCode
Tick "Open generated GCode"
Ensure this is pointed at "C:\Windows\NOTEPAD.exe"
Select the save icon, bottom left "Save settings to a file"
This will save the registry settings & create a Reg file that can be run on all new machine installs.
Select ok

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Within the College we could not get the final project to complete, this was found to be the rendering settings which were incompatible with our system.
To change this we needed to change a registry setting to RenderEngine ~ DWord value = 2.
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A group policy has been created and applied to the computer OU’s that use Solidcam, this adds the following registry changes on computer start: -

Folder Directories: - (Hidden folder = \\ServerName\Solidcamgpp$)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software\SolidCAM\SolidCAM2013\Paths\
CPath = \\ ServerName\solidcamgpp$\GPPTOOL\
Tables Directory = \\ ServerName\solidcamgpp$\System Files
Threading Tables File = \\ ServerName\solidcamgpp$\Tables\Metric\ThreadingStandard_Metric.xls
iMachining_DB_Directory_2012 = \\ ServerName\solidcamgpp$\Tables\iDatabase
User Directory = \\ ServerName\camparts\Projects\

Rendering
HKEY_Current_User\Software\SolidCam\Solidcam2013\Simulation\Machworks\Machworkssettings\
RenderEngine ~ DWord value = 2
This setting changes the rendering setting to Directx

Temporary Folder
HKEY_CURRENT_User\Software\SolidCam\Solidcam2013\Single Source\
Temporary Folder = \\ ServerName\camparts\TempFolder\

Dave has found that, although the program is now running through to completion, and everything is set to Metric, the end program is in Imperial.
Ronnie has created a new set of ‘Posts’ which seems to have cured this.