Drilling in SW CAM Turning

[Titaniumboy]

I have a turned part that has a 1.25" diameter bore and then a 1/2" hole that is at the bottom of the bore and goes the rest of the way through the part.

Initially I used a 15/32" drill to go all the way through the part and then used a small boring bar to chew out the large bore and then finish the entire ID. The small size of the boring bar required to fit in the 15/32" hole led to an excessive number of passes along with a not-so-great finish.

So I decided to experiment with using a 1" diameter drill to hog out the majority of the large bore, and it would let me use a larger, more rigid boring bar.

I thought that SW CAM would only drill out the large bore and then only do the beginning part of the 1/2" hole, but instead the CAM is insisting on drilling completely through the part. I have tried modifying the ID Feature1 [Drill] by choosing just the large 1.25" bore in Edit Definition, but the toolpath is still showing the drill going completely through the part.

Am I missing something simple here? If I have to I will manually limit the depth of the 1" drill, but that seems like a hack.

Thanks!

P.S. Normally I would have posed this question to the Solidworks Cam forum, but that seems to have turned into a complete SNAFU. Very sad. And beyond infuriating to try to use for productive work.

[MJuric]

I have a turned part that has a 1.25" diameter bore and then a 1/2" hole that is at the bottom of the bore and goes the rest of the way through the part.

Initially I used a 15/32" drill to go all the way through the part and then used a small boring bar to chew out the large bore and then finish the entire ID. The small size of the boring bar required to fit in the 15/32" hole led to an excessive number of passes along with a not-so-great finish.

So I decided to experiment with using a 1" diameter drill to hog out the majority of the large bore, and it would let me use a larger, more rigid boring bar.

I thought that SW CAM would only drill out the large bore and then only do the beginning part of the 1/2" hole, but instead the CAM is insisting on drilling completely through the part. I have tried modifying the ID Feature1 [Drill] by choosing just the large 1.25" bore in Edit Definition, but the toolpath is still showing the drill going completely through the part.

Am I missing something simple here? If I have to I will manually limit the depth of the 1" drill, but that seems like a hack.

Thanks!

P.S. Normally I would have posed this question to the Solidworks Cam forum, but that seems to have turned into a complete SNAFU. Very sad. And beyond infuriating to try to use for productive work.

Take a look at the machinable hole parameters. Could be that the top and bottom of the cylinder are set to the wrong place.

Not 100% sure but if the two holes where put in as two different features you may have to process them as two different features. IE if you are processing the 1/2 hole that goes all the way thru and drill with a 1" hole it will go all the way thru. You may be able to set the parameters above "Bottom" to "Cylinder top". Otherwise make two different features.

[Titaniumboy]

Thanks for the reply.

These features were not created as holes, but rather were created with a revolve. So the CAM Feature Tree shows "ID Feature1 [Drill]" for everything inside including the 1.25" bore and the 1/2" bottom hole . When I click on Parameters I get a "ID Profile Parameters" screen instead of the "Machinable Hole Parameters" screen that you showed.

I had always thought it was better to include as much in the initial revolve as compared to adding in features one by one later. But maybe this is just true for 3D modeling and does not work well for CAM?

Any other ideas? Or maybe I am stuck modifying the model to include the bore and hole as dedicated features, or maybe just setting the drill depth manually.

Thanks again.

[Tim R. Halvorsen]

Hi

Can you share a concept of your file?
I can try to program this and share a recording with you.

Tim

[MJuric]

Thanks for the reply.

These features were not created as holes, but rather were created with a revolve. So the CAM Feature Tree shows "ID Feature1 [Drill]" for everything inside including the 1.25" bore and the 1/2" bottom hole . When I click on Parameters I get a "ID Profile Parameters" screen instead of the "Machinable Hole Parameters" screen that you showed.

I had always thought it was better to include as much in the initial revolve as compared to adding in features one by one later. But maybe this is just true for 3D modeling and does not work well for CAM?

Any other ideas? Or maybe I am stuck modifying the model to include the bore and hole as dedicated features, or maybe just setting the drill depth manually.

Thanks again.

In most cases as a programmer you have no control over how it's modeled so you have to figure out how to program what you have so I'm not sure it matters.

That being said how did you create the feature? Does it make a difference if you do a feature recognition versus create the feature yourself? I'm not sure it matters if you adjust the depth manually or not.

As Tim noted it might be easier to look at the model if you can share it.

[mike miller]

In my experience SWX CAM likes to make decisions for you, especially if it is a native SWX file with a FeatureTree. It might work if you export the part to Parasolid and bring it back in. This will remove all "smart data" and keep only the geometry. Alternatively, if you are allowed to remodel it, you could reconstruct the hole using Hole Wizard or with separate Cut-Extrude features.

TL;DR Revolve doesn't always play nicely with native CAM.

[Titaniumboy]

Thanks for all of the ideas and suggestios.

I tried uploading an lathe example, but I keep getting the message:

Error
Invalid file extension: Lathe Drilling Example.SLDPRT

[matt]

Thanks for all of the ideas and suggestios.

I tried uploading an lathe example, but I keep getting the message:

Error
Invalid file extension: Lathe Drilling Example.SLDPRT

Ok, try attaching the file again. The Cam forum may not have had that option turned on.

[Titaniumboy]

Thanks matt. Let's try it again...

Success !!

[Tim R. Halvorsen]

Hi Titaniumboy

Here is a video explaining the case, as I read it.


If you would like me to remove this video, please let me know and I'll take it off.
I do hope you will let me keep it there as others might benefit from it.

Tim

[Titaniumboy]

Wow Tim, that is outstanding! I think that will solve the present problem quite nicely.

I’m going to have to watch that video several times to fully digest all of the other tidbits that you dropped.

Thanks again.

[Titaniumboy]

Hello Tim,

I was able to play some more with the part in SW CAM using your video. I tried editing the ID Feature1 [Drill] by deleting all of the Selected Features and picking the same line that you did at 3:33 in the video. Then I noticed that a bunch of stuff in that Edit Turn Feature screen were grayed out such as the Through Checkbox and the Define From Part Profile. So the line that you picked in the video was not shown because the Define From Plane Section was unavailable.

But when I added a second ID Feature like you did, all of those things were available.

Is there something special about the first ID Feature that differentiates it from a subsequent ID Feature?

Thanks again.

[Tim R. Halvorsen]

Hi again

Not sure what reason is, but I confirm your finding.
Might be because file is Educational Version and somehow limited for edits.

Extract Machinable Features can limit these features a bit, but as far as I have experienced, there is an 'Edit Feature' at top of dialogs in those cases.

Not a real answer this time - more an assumption

Tim

[Titaniumboy]

Tim,

Thank you again for your help. It is indeed strange behavior.

While the ability to control the depth of the drill by either Z-planes or picking ID geometry is very useful, this appears to affect the depth of the drill tip. What would be useful is for the drill to go deep enough that the drill flank is just shy of the part ID corner. In other works, the drill would take out the maximum amount of material without chewing into the final part geometry.