The Adapter Library

Introduction

This topic explains the Adapter Library for Mill Turn jobs, describes where to access it, the options found in it, and provides links to related topics. .

The Adapter Library

The Adapter Library is used to define all adapters that are available in the system for mounting lathe or mill tools (live tooling) to the turret of a mill turn machine (or lathe with live tooling).

 

What is an Adapter?

The definition of an adapter in BobCAD-CAM is a device that is used to mount either lathe or mill tools to the lathe turret of a mill-turn machine. The adapter is attached to a turret station and one or more tools are attached to the adapter. An adapter may also be called the tool holder or tool mounting block (also known as VDI or BMT tooling). Adapters can hold one or more tools in one or more orientations on the physical machine. Each adapter either holds static lathe tools or it is used to drive live (mill) tools.

 

To access the Adapter Library, do one of the following:

 

  • In the CAM Tree, right-click CAM Defaults, and click Adapter Library.

 

  • In the CAM Tree, right-click Tools, and click Adapter Library.

 

The Adapter Library dialog box displays.

Parameters

The are two main parts to the Adapter Library. The left side displays the categories of adapters, and the right side displays all adapters that are contained in the selected category. You can create categories as needed to help you better organize the adapters, for example, all VDI (driven tool) adapters can be placed in a single category.

How to Add, Remove, or Modify Adapter Categories

The Categories group near the bottom of the dialog box contains the buttons that are used to add, remove, or rename the adapter categories as explained next.

 

Categories

The Categories group contains the following buttons.

 

Add Category

Click this button to add a new adapter category to the Adapter Library. The Adapter Category dialog box displays for you to type a name for the Category, and click OK to create it. The new category is added and displays on the left side of the dialog box.

 

Delete Category

After selecting a Category on the left, click Delete Category to remove the category and all of its adapters from the Adapter Library. A message displays to confirm, because you cannot undo this action.

 

Edit Category

After selecting a Category on the left, click Edit Category to open the Adapter Category dialog box and rename the currently selected Category. Type the new name, and click OK to update the name of the category.

How to Add, Remove, or Edit Adapters

The Adapter group contains buttons that are used to add, remove, or edit adapters in the Adapter Library as explained next.

 

Adapter

The Adapter group contains the following buttons.

 

Add Adapter

After selecting a Category on the left, click Add Adapter to open the Tool Adapter Definition dialog box to define the parameters for a new adapter.

 

Delete Adapter

After selecting an adapter in the list, click Delete Adapter to remove it from the Adapter Library. A message displays to confirm. Click Yes to delete the adapter, or click No to cancel. Note that you cannot undo this action.

 

Edit Adapter

After selecting an adapter in the list, click Edit Adapter to open the Tool Adapter Definition dialog box and modify the parameters of the selected adapter.

Related Topics

Tool Adapter Definition