The Hole Wizard

The Hole Wizard gives you the ability to easily define a hole making strategy, associate the geometry, and define the parameters for every tool used in the hole making process. Each machining feature is a combination of multiple machining operations. The wizard allows you to first specify what type of machining feature, then specify the geometry to machine, followed by cycling through the tool and machining parameters of each type of operation contained inside the machining feature.

To access the Hole Wizard, in the CAM tree, right-click Milling Stock, and click Drill.

The first step to machining any hole is selecting what type of machining strategy to use. The following multi-tool machining operations are available on the first page of The Hole Wizard.

• Center Drill - This type of feature simply center drills the specified locations in the graphics area.

• Hole - The Hole feature typically center drills first, followed by a standard drill and an optional chamfer.

• Tap - The Tap feature first center drills the hole locations, then follows with a drill, optional chamfer, and then a tap.

• Rolled Tap - The Rolled Tap follows the same general format as the standard Tap, but allows you to choose a roll tap (or form tap) as the final tool and adjusts the speed of machining accordingly.

• Bore - This feature first center drills the hole locations, then drills to rough size. The feature is completed with a semi-finish with an end mill, then the bore tool to finish and an optional chamfer.

• Ream - Similar to the Bore feature, the Ream feature center drills and drills all locations first, followed by the optional chamfer, semi-finish with an end mill, and the ream.

• Counter Bore Hole - This feature center drills the hole first, drills it to depth, counter bores to size and ends with an optional chamfer.

• Counter Bore Tap - This feature center drills the hole first, drills it to depth, and then counter bores to size. It ends with the optional chamfer and then taps the hole.

• Counter Bore Rolled Tap - This feature center drills the hole first, drills it to depth, and then counter bores to size. It follows the same general procedure as the Counter Bore Tap but allows you to choose a roll tap (or form tap) as the final tool and adjusts the speed of machining accordingly.

• Counter Bore Ream - This feature center drills the hole first and drills it to depth before counter boring to size. It then allows an optional chamfer before it uses an end mill to get a semi-finish before the final ream.

After selecting the machining strategy, click Next to move to the Geometry Selection page.

Select Geometry - Clicking this button enables selection mode, allowing you to select any number of arcs and points to define the locations and sizes of the drill holes.

Hole Sizes - Each hole Diameter, Depth, and Through Hole type selected from the graphics area is listed inside of this list box.

NOTE: For each separate hole diameter, a separate machining feature is created in the following step of the wizard.

Geometry Parameters - After selecting an entry from the Hole Sizes list box, the values are displayed here to allow for easy editing.

• Diameter - This indicates the diameter of the final hole size.

• Depth - This depth is defined as the positive incremental value starting from the Top Of the Part as defined on the Approach and Entry page.

• Through Hole - When this check box is selected the system treats the hole as a through hole and applies the Length Through Cut parameter. When this check box is cleared the system treats the hole as a blind hole.

Machining Order

• Optimized - If this option is selected, BobCAM reorganizes the selected points to try to reduce the tool movement in the resulting NC program.

• Pick Order - If this option is selected, BobCAM outputs the points in the program in the order they were selected for the feature.

After defining the machining strategy and feature geometry, click Next to start editing the feature parameters.