The Lathe Wizard Overview
Introduction
Once you decide on a feature the Lathe Wizard will launch to walk you through the process of selecting geometry, selecting options in the Feature page, selecting operations with the Machining Strategy page, setting posting options in the Posting page, and then setting the parameters f for the operations in the subsequent pages. This is how the actual feature you selected will be completed. This topic serves as a navigation tool for you to find information about the individual pages the Lathe Wizard is comprised of.
The Lathe Wizard
When creating machining features, you use the Lathe Wizard to define the parameters of the operations that will complete the feature. The first four pages of the Lathe Wizard handle the feature-level parameters. The feature-level parameters are explained in the following topics for all Lathe feature types.
Tip: You can start with The Lathe Wizard Getting Started, and then follow the links provided in the topic to learn about each page of the wizard. The topics are listed next in the order that you work though the wizard.
Navigation
To create a Lathe feature:
- In the CAM
Tree, right-click
Machine Setup, and select
a Feature type in the shortcut menu.
The Lathe Wizard displays.
After selecting geometry, defining the feature parameters and finishing the wizard, the Lathe feature is added to the CAM tree. You use the feature in the CAM tree to open the wizard and edit the feature parameters.
To edit a Lathe feature:
-
In the CAM Tree under
Machine Setup, right-click
Feature Name,
and click Edit.
(Feature Name is the top-level item of the feature in the CAM Tree.)
The Lathe Wizard displays.
The Lathe Wizard Overview
-
Add a Lathe feature based on the target geometry.
-
In the first page of the wizard, you assign the feature geometry.
(After finishing the wizard, any changes to the feature geometry are made using the CAM Tree. The geometry item in the wizard is not available when editing a feature.) -
In the second page of the wizard, you define the feature parameters.
The settings you define here are applied to all operations in the feature. -
In the third page of the wizard, the Machining Strategy, select a Template for the feature.
Modify the Current Operations to contain the desired number and order of operations for the feature.
(When editing a feature, the Template of the Machining Strategy can't be changed through the Lathe Wizard. You can still add, remove, or reorder the Current Operations, it is only the template that can't be changed. To change the template, see Tool Pattern.) -
In the remaining pages of the wizard, you define the operation-level parameters. This includes the tool data, parameters, rapids, and leads for each operation that you selected for the feature.
-
After defining the feature parameters, compute the toolpath for the feature, and examine the results.
If any changes need made, edit the feature, and compute to add the changes.
Feature Parameters vary from feature to feature
End Face Feature Parameters
Turning Feature Parameters
Groove Feature Parameters
Hole Feature Parameters
Tap Hole Feature Parameters
Thread Feature Parameters
Cutoff Feature Parameters
Stock Handling Feature Parameters
Machining Strategies vary from feature to feature
End Face Machining Strategy
Turning Machining Strategy
Groove Machining Strategy
Hole Machining Strategy
Tap Hole Machining Strategy
Thread Machining Strategy
Cutoff Machining Strategy
Stock Handling Machining Strategy
Operation Settings
After defining all of the feature parameters of the wizard, you define the parameters for each operation in the feature. These parameters and more can be referenced in the corresponding overview found below.
The Lathe Operations
Modifying the Wizard and Feature Parameters
After finishing the wizard, the Turning Feature in the CAM Tree is used to modify the wizard as well as various feature settings.