Tech Tuesday is a weekly blog that addresses some of the most common questions and concerns that I hear throughout the previous week from users of BobCAD’s CNC software. Both customers and future customers are more than welcome to leave a comment on what they would like to see covered for the following Tech Tuesday.
There is a new feature in BobCAD for pocketing, Drill Tip Positions to define the pilot hole location for your pocketing cycles to start the tool in. Prior to versions being limited to a single position, V33 now supports multiple Drill Tip Positions (pilot hole locations) for a single pocket operation.
Did you know BobCAD now offers multiple pilot hole locations for pocket features? When cutting pockets sometimes it makes sense to drill a feeder hole for the pocket cycle to start in. Instead of ramping down, users drill pilot holes for the pocket cycle to start in. In the past if you had multiple pocket boundaries with pilot holes, you would need to create a machining feature for each pocket boundary to allow for multiple pilot hole starts. New in BobCAD’s pocket features is supporting multiple pilot hole locations for a single pocketing machining feature.
The workflow for the new Drill Tip Position feature is very simple. After you have completed your pocketing operation, you expand the operation in the CAM Tree. Right-click on the Drill Tip Position option below the pocket operation and click Select. Pick the points you want to create pilot holes in before starting your pocketing operation. Click OK, then compute the new toolpath for your pilot holes.
BobCAD now makes it easier to program pocketing cycles with multiple pilot hole locations. To define the pilot hole location (what we call the drill tip position in BobCAD) make sure to select points that the Z depth the holes were drilled to. A common workflow issue for new users is to select points that are at Z0, vs the absolute depth of the pilot hole. Make sure you select drill tip position points that at the Z level the pilot holes were drilled to.
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