Machining Strategy

Introduction

The third part of setting up any Wizard that utilizes it, is the Machining Strategy dialog box. The Machining Strategy contains Templates, Current Operations, and Available Operations. The Templates are predefined sets of operations (that also set the Cutting Conditions for drilling features). The Current Operations list displays the number and order of operations that are applied to the feature. The Current Operations are updated when you select a template and you can also add operations from the Available Operations list, which displays all available operations that can be added for the selected feature type. This topic describes how to use the Machining Strategy to define the number and order of operations created for the feature.

Machining Strategy

Template

Nesting

Current Operations

Available Operations

Profile Rough

Profile Finish

Pocket

Engraving

Chamfer Mill

Corner Rounding

Note: The Pocket operation is only available when editing an inner profile.

Defining the Machining Strategy

In the Machining Strategy dialog box, there are three groups: Templates, Current Operations, and Available Operations.

The Templates provide predefined groups of operations that can be applied to a feature. Select a template to populate the Current Operations list. (You can customize the DMS Defaults to define the default operations for each template.)

Important: When creating Hole or Tap features, the selected Template sets the Cutting Conditions for the feature operations. For this reason, the Template can't be changed when editing a feature. You can still modify the Current Operations, but the Template can't be changed after you click Finish or Compute the first time. When selecting multiple drill hole sizes for a Mill Hole feature, be sure to select the appropriate Template for each feature that is created in the tree on the left side of the Milling Wizard.

The Available Operations list displays all operations that exist for the selected feature type. After selecting a template, you can use the Available Operations to add operations to the Current Operations.

Finally, you can reorder and/or remove operations from Current Operations to define all of the operations for the feature. (You can modify this list at any time, for example, when editing the feature.)

To learn more about modifying operations, view Customizing Operations.

When defining the machining strategy, create an order of operations that can be effectively applied to the selected feature geometry.

Machining Strategy Buttons

(Add Operation) - adds the selected Available Operations to Current Operations.
(Delete Operations) - removes the selected Current Operations from the list.
(Move Up) - moves the selected Current Operation up one level.
(Move Down) - moves the selected Current Operation down one level.

Apply to All Features

The Apply to All Features button displays at the bottom of the dialog box. This allows you to apply the current machining strategy to all features in the wizard tree (when there is more than one, for example, when selecting more than one diameter hole for a drilling feature).

Tip: What you select for Current Operations will be applied to all profile or dado geometry. Once the nest has been computed, you will be able to alter which operations are being applied to each piece of geometry individually. As an example if only one of many pieces needs a finishing pass, do not add that here. It will be much easier to add a finish to one part than it will be to remove a finish from nearly all the parts.

Note: When a nesting job is first created, all profile geometry will be under one default profile or dado feature. Once the nesting has been computed, each parts features can be customized separately.

Next Topic

click Next>> to go to the Posting page.

The current operations that you selected are created and added to the tree on the left side of the Nesting Wizard.