Multiple spot drill depths?

[neurosis]

So what does everyone do in a case where you need to spot drill lots of holes with multiple depths? Do you create points at the multiple depths and use incremental depth or... ?

[Guest]

I generally do them in multiple ops, one for each size.

 

I'm not "hung" up on HAVING to have everything in one op.

[Thee Rickster ™]

Neuorsis

 

if you mean they are at different z levels

then:

 

retract, top of stock and depth, all incremental

 

Different depths as well then I only know of

picking them in separate ops

 

2c'S

[Thee Rickster ™]

'I'm not "hung"'

 

join the club

 

(meaning I wrote the book on not HAVING to have everything in one op.)

 

[ 02-18-2008, 11:15 AM: Message edited by: Rickster ]

[mtnflyr]

If it's at different z levels, then like Rick said. If it's due to different dia's, then change at point in drill point manager depending on the size of the part.

If it's a big part I will edit so table is not running back and forth too much. If it's a small part then different ops is fine.

[neurosis]

Once again, I am not hung up on having only one operation per say, but the part is 40 " long with 100's of holes at different diameters and all spread out over the entire length of the part. It doesnt make sense to have the machine travel over 40" for one diameter of hole and then over the same 40" to do a different diameter. Especially when there are several different diameters. Luckily they are all on the same z level this time so that isnt an issue.

[gms1]

I always use edit point options to get what I want but if I had that many holes to do I would probably make points in the holes to the depth i wanted and made the depth incremental in the toolpath.

[Steve Biehl - Cimquest Inc]

neurosis,

what i would do is select the locations by arc size, then edit the geometry of the op to set the different depthes, then sort the geometry in a better order

[neurosis]

quote:

---

I always use edit point options to get what I want but if I had that many holes to do I would probably make points in the holes to the depth i wanted and made the depth incremental in the toolpath.

---

Im sorry for my ignorance, but what is edit point options?

[Thee Rickster ™]

bump

[Mike S @ S4A]

picking points at the target z depths in a single spotting op (then sorting for the shortest travel) sounds like the output you want.

So to set that up you need the points generated.

Q: have you tried:

1- making each diameter arc a different color (for masking)

2- running drillpt.dll in each color for point gen

3- xform each color point to target depth

4- window the points into one spotting op w/inc. depth

 

While this gives you what you asked for it limits your restart options in the finished code

 

Like JP sez we ain't hung up on having short mastercam files...we WANT screaming fast efficient NC code. I would rather spend extra time in the Mcam file and get more efficent code output than fluff thru the easy way and put out a mediocre program

[Greg_J]

Change at point works well for me, depends on how many holes you are doing. It could take a while.

 

In your program geometry click on the point you want from the ones listed, then right click, a small window opens with some options in it find change on point. Click it, then another window will open, and find the check box for depth and manually type in the depth that you want it to go to.

 

Greg

[1 master]

draw points at z location the toolpath in incremental

[Scott Garrison@Weiler Engineering]

Why can't MC come out with a chamfer option similar to that for contouring that lets you pick an arc and give it a chamfer size? Then whatever Z depth that arc is at it will work. This would also be done in one operation and have the option to sort by hole size (efficient code for small parts) or by an optimized path for large parts (save positioning time). As long as the tool is larger than the (arc + chamfer size + a small cushion), this should be an easy improvement.

 

The best thing is the arcs are at the level they are needed. It is very easy to make a mistake by drawing the points at the incorrect Z-level (anyone remember SmartCam?)

 

Scott

[neurosis]

I do.

[G10X0Y0Z0]

use the mask on arcs in the drill menu pick the arc you want set the tolerance and window the arcs. the z depths are all incremental at that point- don't know if this is what yo guys mean

[tryon]

I agree with scott. Mastercam should easily handle this without all the workarounds. If the geometry is arcs and the tool is defined then Mastercam should be able to spot different depths EASILY.