Using a materials alias file

You can use the electrode material alias file to associate custom material names with one of the internal materials of Electrode.

This means that you can use your own product codes for EDM materials and have them displayed in the setup sheets and summary spreadsheets. The electrode will be shaded correctly, the undersizes calculated automatically, and the EDM materials will be exported correctly.

For example:

1. Using a text editor, open the file called electrode_materials_alias.con in:

   C:\Program Files\Autodesk\PowerShapexxxxx\file\electrode

   where xxxxx is the version number of PowerShape and C is the disk on which PowerShape is installed.

2. For each custom material name add a line using the following syntax:

   custom name: internal name

   For example GRA-1: Graphite-1

   The internal name must be one of the following

   Graphite-1

   Graphite-2

   Graphite-3

   Copper

   If you specify a custom name, it is displayed in the Material list on the Specify Electrode Blank page of the Electrode Wizard; the default internal names are not displayed. If you want a mixture of custom names and default names, specify a custom name to match each default name. For example, an alias file containing:

   Fred: Graphite-1

   Graphite-2: Graphite-2

   Graphite-3: Graphite-3

   Copper: Copper

   displays the following in the Material list:

   Fred

   Graphite-2

   Graphite-3

   Copper

3. If you modified the default file, copy it into the shareddbarea, otherwise, when PowerShape is updated, the changes and additions are lost.