MAS secret

: Process/Material UI Help Home - CyberCut - I.M.L.

Click on the diagram below to get information on each of the MAS search functions and components.

Process Search - Click this button to go to process search mode. This mode is used to explore viable manufacturing processes using facets such as volume, wall thickness, and surface roughness.

Material Search - Click this to go to a material search mode. The program uses the same interaction mechanism, layout and feedback as the process search mode, swapping material categories for manufacturing process and facets such as yield strength, density, and elastic modulus for the process based facets

Results Survey - If both a process search and material search have been completed, the “Results Survey” mode is used to sort the best possibilities from both searches. The best options from each search are tested for material/process compatibility, and the viable combinations are ranked and displayed.

This is also the launching point for both multi-process chains and dollar value cost estimates for the available processes (sand casting and plastic injection molding). To begin either of these options, select a valid combination from the final results (outlined in red), and select the either the 'Cost Estimate' or 'MultiProcess' button.

Get Info - This very useful button locates online help and reference material. Select any material, process, or facet in either search mode or the results survey mode, and click this button to bring up a web page in the secondary window with additional information.

Run Calcs - The real-time update of the ranks occurs whenever the facet data is changed. On older machines, this may prove too much overhead. The preferences window allows you to turn off the automatic update (dynarun). If the real-time update is disabled the “Run Calcs” button ranks the possibilities - a usability option for slow processors.

Preferences - This opens the preferences window allowing the user to modify the rank bars alignments, choose to use facet weights, disable automatic update of possibility ranks, and enable/disable rank bars or numeric ranks.

Set Facet Weights - It is reasonable to assume that in some design scenarios one aspect of the part will outweigh others in terms of overall importance. Clicking this button will open the 'Facet Weight' window, allowing the user to indicate which facets are most important, with a 1 being least important and a 5 being most important. If all the facets the user has entered data for have the same weight (all 1's, 3's, 4's, etc.) there will be no effect on the ranking. Otherwise, the ranks for the possibilities will be more strongly influenced by facets ranks with higher weights.

Sample Parts - Opens a window with a small set of predefined parts. Click on any of the parts in the left hand column, and a brief description will appear in the text area on the right hand side of the window. If you click submit, the sample parts predefined facet values will be entered into the MAS, erasing any data you have entered! Click 'Cancel' to remove the window without modifying the facet values currently used by the MAS.

Ignore Facet - Only useful if a facet in one of the search modes is currently selected in the 'Facet List' column. The value of the facet is reset to 'Ignore.'

Reset - This erases all of the facet values currently entered and switches back to the process search

F-Rank - When you select one of the possible materials or processes from the possibilities list, this column displays each of the facets' current rank for the selected possibility, 0 means the possibility cannot fulfill the facet's value, while a rank of 100 means a perfect match. If 'Ig' appears next to a facet, it means that the current facet is being ignored.

Facet List - This a list of all of the facets considered in the current search.

Facet Value - Each of the facets in the facet list display their current value (corresponding to the conceptual part) here. If the facet hasn't been defined, 'Ignore' is displayed instead.

P-Rank - The most essential feedback of the MAS occurs in this panel. The colored rank bars indicate the rank of the process given the current set of facets. A bar that completely crosses the panel has a rank of 100. The default color scheme emphasizes the rank: Red bars for a 0-33 rank, yellow for 34-66, green for 67-100. The gray history bar are indicators for relative rank change, especially when ranks drops to zero in a single specification.

When the designer specifies the first facet, a bar appears next to each process, with its length proportional to its rank.
Upon switching to the second facet, the gray history bar appears above the rank bar.
While the second facet is adjusted, the current rank bar moves (small blue arrow), but the history bar remains fixed — providing reference to the last design state. This is a guard against overspecification.
Finally, when the user switches to yet another facet and defines it, the history bar takes on the current rank’s value.

If the rank and history bars aren't aligning with the entries in the possibilities list use preferences to change the bar spacing.

Possibilities List - This contains a list of all of the materials or manufacutring processes currently considered by the MAS. Select any of the possibilites and select 'Get Info' to find out additional information.

Data Entry Area - The contents of this area varies whenever a new facet is selected. There are two possible styles: numeric and choice. In both panels the label shows the name of which facet is currently activated.

In the numerical panel, the value box shows the current facet’s specification in the appropriate units. Any value less than zero tells the MAS to ignore this facet. The scroll bar is used to dynamically change the value of a facet, and numbers can also be typed directly into the value box. For some of the facets, the scroll bar is on a logarithmic scale.

The choice style lets the user pick one value from a list. For example, the start up time facet includes these choices: Hours, days, weeks, and months.

Some facets have an additional button at the bottom to switch between a basic and an advanced mode. In basic mode, a single parameter represents the minimum information needed to calculate a ranking. The advanced mode may give a different view of the facet, or provide multiple parameters that allows for more accurate rankings. These options provide a range of design specifications, allowing for more precise rankings if the user is willing to input additional data.

Notify Text Bar - A small region that displays messages to the user during use of the MAS.