Create a tool library

00:02

Create a tool library.

00:05

After completing this video, you'll be able to

00:07

create a new tool library, create a custom tool,

00:10

copy and paste tools and update feeds and speeds

00:16

in fusion. We're gonna begin with a new untitled document.

00:19

The first step is to navigate to your user preferences.

00:22

Navigate to the section four,

00:24

manufacture and make sure that enable cloud libraries is checked.

00:29

Next, we're gonna navigate to the manufacture workspace.

00:32

Make sure that we're on the milling tab

00:34

and move over to manage and tool library

00:37

inside of the tool library. We have two areas where we can create a new tool library

00:42

on the cloud or in a local location.

00:45

Now,

00:45

it's good practice to make sure that you're

00:47

creating your tool libraries on the cloud.

00:49

This means if you log into fusion at any other computer,

00:52

you will still have access to those tool libraries.

00:55

At the very bottom. We also have a fusion library

00:58

and at the very bottom of this list, you can also download vendor libraries.

01:02

It's a good idea to download a vendor library.

01:05

If you can find one for the specific tools that you're using,

01:08

but making sure you understand how to create your own tools and

01:10

copy ones from the fusion library is an extremely important step.

01:14

So to get started first, let's go to our cloud library, right?

01:18

Click and create a new library.

01:21

We're gonna be creating one for our module series

01:25

and we're going to title it Metric at the end.

01:28

Once we have this module series metric, notice that it has no data.

01:32

We haven't created any tools inside of here.

01:35

Now there are two ways to get started.

01:36

We can create a new empty tool or we can copy

01:39

a tool that has close parameters to what we need.

01:43

Remember that any tool definition in our tool library is going to

01:46

be used in the programming and the creation of our parts.

01:50

So making sure that the digital tool matches

01:52

the physical tool is an extremely important step

01:55

to get started. Let's scroll all the way down and navigate to our fusion library

01:60

by selecting just the fusion library,

02:02

we can use our filters to start filtering by category

02:05

or we can find a specific sub folder.

02:07

For example, milling tools metric to filter down a little bit further

02:12

from here. I am gonna select milling

02:14

and I wanna select flat and mill.

02:16

This is going to limit the number of tools that we can see

02:19

from here. We want to select a six millimeter flat end mill.

02:23

So locating six millimeter

02:25

and we'll left click on it

02:27

as soon as we do note that we have a preview

02:29

of the tool and its properties on the right hand side.

02:31

And at the bottom, we have a bunch of cutting data presets

02:35

from here. What we need to do is right click and we need to copy this tool.

02:39

Then we'll need to go back to our module series metric,

02:42

right click and paste tool.

02:45

Once we pasted the tool into our library, we can now edit

02:49

anytime we have a tool inside of our fusion library that is gonna be

02:53

read only it can be used any time we want to in a program,

02:56

but we won't be able to modify its parameters

02:58

and it won't contain anything like a tool number

03:01

from here. We're going to right click and we're gonna edit this tool

03:05

once the tool is open, the first section is general,

03:08

which means that we have a description of our tool potential

03:11

information about the vendor product ID and a product link.

03:15

Now, anytime you create a tool, it's a good idea to add that information.

03:19

That way anybody else using the tool will

03:20

have information about where the tool came from.

03:23

And for example, information about its cutting parameters

03:26

when we move over to the cutter section,

03:28

here's where we're going to define things like the rotation of the spindle.

03:32

The number of flutes the tool has whether or

03:34

not the tool has a specific material or coding.

03:37

For example, high speed steel

03:39

and the information about the geometry of the tool.

03:42

Obviously, it's a six millimeter tool with a six millimeter shaft.

03:46

But the overall length of the tool,

03:48

its length below holder or the overall gauge length of

03:51

the tool assembly is going to be extremely important.

03:53

When we select these values, notice that arrows appear on our graphic preview

03:58

on the far right. We can also rotate the tool around and zoom in and out.

04:03

That way, we can get a good idea of what the tool looks like in 3D.

04:07

Next,

04:07

we're gonna skip the shaft section because this is gonna be

04:10

empty based on our tool definition and move to our holder section

04:13

by default. This is using AC

04:15

A T 4032 call

04:17

it style holder.

04:18

If we need to select a different holder,

04:20

it's a good idea to locate those holders or

04:23

to create or download your own holder for use.

04:26

You can see there are plenty of different BT and CT 40

04:29

type holders and we've got some metric variations here as well.

04:33

When we select a holder, if we want to swap it out for our tool assembly,

04:37

we can use select holder

04:39

and you can see that it changes on the screen

04:41

from here. We're gonna move over to cutting data.

04:44

This is where we're gonna define things like the spindle speed, the surface speed,

04:48

the feed rate and other information such as the vertical feed rates

04:52

and whether or not we want to use information for things like passes and linking.

04:56

Keep in mind that on the far left,

04:58

our cutting data presets are gonna change based on the preset we have selected.

05:03

For example,

05:03

if we're going to use this tool for aluminum

05:05

finishing and we click the aluminum finishing preset.

05:08

Notice it's now using a 12,000 R PM spindle speed.

05:12

If you're using a machine that's limited to say 8500 or 10,000 R PM,

05:17

it would automatically throw a warning or an error.

05:20

So making sure that we do have presets that match those values is gonna be important

05:25

for our purposes.

05:26

We're gonna use this aluminum finishing and aluminum roughing,

05:29

cutting data preset.

05:31

So we're gonna move on to post processor

05:33

in here. We want to dictate what the tool number is.

05:36

So we're going to say tool number two and hit enter.

05:39

This is the value that's going to be passed along in the G

05:43

code that we output that's going to be sent to the CNC machine.

05:46

This is gonna tell it which tool to get out of its tool turret.

05:49

And it's important that this information matches

05:51

everything from the tool diameter,

05:53

the gauge length of the tool as well as the tool number

05:57

we're gonna hit accept and that's gonna automatically save

05:60

all of those changes inside of that tool library.

06:03

Now that we've seen how to copy a tool from the fusion library,

06:07

let's go ahead and create our own

06:09

in this case, we're gonna hit the plus icon in the upper left corner

06:12

and we need to start by selecting what type of tool

06:15

many of these will come preloaded with values.

06:18

So make sure that you do pick the correct one.

06:20

For example, we want to use a flat end mill.

06:23

And if we were to start with a face mill, some of those values would not be correct.

06:27

So select flat end mill,

06:29

then we want to start with a description.

06:31

We're gonna be creating a 12 millimeter flat end mill.

06:34

So we use a very basic description.

06:37

Next, we want to move to our cutter section

06:40

in the cutter section. We're gonna dictate again the type

06:43

we can change this but make sure that it's set to a flat end mill.

06:47

Otherwise, some of the values that we see in the geometry will not be correct.

06:50

We're gonna change the diameter value to 12 millimeters.

06:54

We're gonna change the overall length to 42 millimeters

06:58

and we're gonna leave the length below holder at 24.

07:01

Next, we're gonna move over to our holder section.

07:04

We wanna scroll down until we find the metric holders.

07:07

And we're gonna select the BT 40 B four C three OO 40,

07:12

select the holder

07:14

and then we can move on to our cutting data

07:16

right now. There's only a single default preset.

07:19

And when we copy a tool from the Fusion Library,

07:21

it came preloaded with many different

07:23

presets for different materials and operations.

07:27

If we want to add our own preset, we can use the plus icon

07:30

and we can use

07:31

a L ruffing as our preset name.

07:35

From here, we can modify values like the spindle speed. In

07:38

this case, we're gonna say 8500 R PM.

07:41

Note that some of these values have an FX next to them.

07:44

The FX is going to tell us that this is linked to another parameter or value.

07:50

So changes to things like this spindle speed will update this.

07:53

When you hover over these areas, the tool tip will pop up telling you what this does.

07:58

And if you hover for a little bit longer,

07:60

the values at the bottom will tell you more about the parameter name.

08:03

We can see here that its tool underscores surface speed.

08:06

Its value currently is 320.

08:09

And the expression is based on the spindle speed times the tool diameter.

08:14

As we move down the list,

08:15

you can see there are many other parameters such as the cutting feed rate,

08:18

feed per tooth lead in and lead out feed rates.

08:21

And there's a section down here for you, step down and you step over.

08:26

If you want these values to automatically be populated based on your tool,

08:30

make sure that you do check those values

08:32

whenever you're using a new tool,

08:34

starting out with the manufacturer's suggested values

08:37

is a great way to get started.

08:39

But you'll find that once you start machining or make some test cuts

08:42

that you can likely uh change or increase or decrease these values.

08:46

We're gonna leave all these values as is for now,

08:48

since we won't be using this tool in our course, we're gonna select accept

08:52

and now we've got two tools.

08:54

However, we did make one mistake.

08:56

We didn't enter a value for the tool number for the 12 millimeter tool.

09:01

However, it came prepopulated as tool number one,

09:04

anytime we create a tool, that tool value will not be set to zero,

09:08

it's automatically gonna increment based on the

09:10

available numbers inside of our tool library.

09:12

At

09:13

this point, both of the tools are saved in this library and it's on the cloud.

09:17

We don't have to click save. All we need to do is close out our tool library.

09:20

Once we're done making edits

09:22

because the library is independent of our specific design.

09:26

We can also close our untitled document

09:28

and the tool library will be ready whenever we need it at

09:31

this point, no saves are needed. So go ahead and move on to the next step.

Video transcript

00:02

Create a tool library.

00:05

After completing this video, you'll be able to

00:07

create a new tool library, create a custom tool,

00:10

copy and paste tools and update feeds and speeds

00:16

in fusion. We're gonna begin with a new untitled document.

00:19

The first step is to navigate to your user preferences.

00:22

Navigate to the section four,

00:24

manufacture and make sure that enable cloud libraries is checked.

00:29

Next, we're gonna navigate to the manufacture workspace.

00:32

Make sure that we're on the milling tab

00:34

and move over to manage and tool library

00:37

inside of the tool library. We have two areas where we can create a new tool library

00:42

on the cloud or in a local location.

00:45

Now,

00:45

it's good practice to make sure that you're

00:47

creating your tool libraries on the cloud.

00:49

This means if you log into fusion at any other computer,

00:52

you will still have access to those tool libraries.

00:55

At the very bottom. We also have a fusion library

00:58

and at the very bottom of this list, you can also download vendor libraries.

01:02

It's a good idea to download a vendor library.

01:05

If you can find one for the specific tools that you're using,

01:08

but making sure you understand how to create your own tools and

01:10

copy ones from the fusion library is an extremely important step.

01:14

So to get started first, let's go to our cloud library, right?

01:18

Click and create a new library.

01:21

We're gonna be creating one for our module series

01:25

and we're going to title it Metric at the end.

01:28

Once we have this module series metric, notice that it has no data.

01:32

We haven't created any tools inside of here.

01:35

Now there are two ways to get started.

01:36

We can create a new empty tool or we can copy

01:39

a tool that has close parameters to what we need.

01:43

Remember that any tool definition in our tool library is going to

01:46

be used in the programming and the creation of our parts.

01:50

So making sure that the digital tool matches

01:52

the physical tool is an extremely important step

01:55

to get started. Let's scroll all the way down and navigate to our fusion library

01:60

by selecting just the fusion library,

02:02

we can use our filters to start filtering by category

02:05

or we can find a specific sub folder.

02:07

For example, milling tools metric to filter down a little bit further

02:12

from here. I am gonna select milling

02:14

and I wanna select flat and mill.

02:16

This is going to limit the number of tools that we can see

02:19

from here. We want to select a six millimeter flat end mill.

02:23

So locating six millimeter

02:25

and we'll left click on it

02:27

as soon as we do note that we have a preview

02:29

of the tool and its properties on the right hand side.

02:31

And at the bottom, we have a bunch of cutting data presets

02:35

from here. What we need to do is right click and we need to copy this tool.

02:39

Then we'll need to go back to our module series metric,

02:42

right click and paste tool.

02:45

Once we pasted the tool into our library, we can now edit

02:49

anytime we have a tool inside of our fusion library that is gonna be

02:53

read only it can be used any time we want to in a program,

02:56

but we won't be able to modify its parameters

02:58

and it won't contain anything like a tool number

03:01

from here. We're going to right click and we're gonna edit this tool

03:05

once the tool is open, the first section is general,

03:08

which means that we have a description of our tool potential

03:11

information about the vendor product ID and a product link.

03:15

Now, anytime you create a tool, it's a good idea to add that information.

03:19

That way anybody else using the tool will

03:20

have information about where the tool came from.

03:23

And for example, information about its cutting parameters

03:26

when we move over to the cutter section,

03:28

here's where we're going to define things like the rotation of the spindle.

03:32

The number of flutes the tool has whether or

03:34

not the tool has a specific material or coding.

03:37

For example, high speed steel

03:39

and the information about the geometry of the tool.

03:42

Obviously, it's a six millimeter tool with a six millimeter shaft.

03:46

But the overall length of the tool,

03:48

its length below holder or the overall gauge length of

03:51

the tool assembly is going to be extremely important.

03:53

When we select these values, notice that arrows appear on our graphic preview

03:58

on the far right. We can also rotate the tool around and zoom in and out.

04:03

That way, we can get a good idea of what the tool looks like in 3D.

04:07

Next,

04:07

we're gonna skip the shaft section because this is gonna be

04:10

empty based on our tool definition and move to our holder section

04:13

by default. This is using AC

04:15

A T 4032 call

04:17

it style holder.

04:18

If we need to select a different holder,

04:20

it's a good idea to locate those holders or

04:23

to create or download your own holder for use.

04:26

You can see there are plenty of different BT and CT 40

04:29

type holders and we've got some metric variations here as well.

04:33

When we select a holder, if we want to swap it out for our tool assembly,

04:37

we can use select holder

04:39

and you can see that it changes on the screen

04:41

from here. We're gonna move over to cutting data.

04:44

This is where we're gonna define things like the spindle speed, the surface speed,

04:48

the feed rate and other information such as the vertical feed rates

04:52

and whether or not we want to use information for things like passes and linking.

04:56

Keep in mind that on the far left,

04:58

our cutting data presets are gonna change based on the preset we have selected.

05:03

For example,

05:03

if we're going to use this tool for aluminum

05:05

finishing and we click the aluminum finishing preset.

05:08

Notice it's now using a 12,000 R PM spindle speed.

05:12

If you're using a machine that's limited to say 8500 or 10,000 R PM,

05:17

it would automatically throw a warning or an error.

05:20

So making sure that we do have presets that match those values is gonna be important

05:25

for our purposes.

05:26

We're gonna use this aluminum finishing and aluminum roughing,

05:29

cutting data preset.

05:31

So we're gonna move on to post processor

05:33

in here. We want to dictate what the tool number is.

05:36

So we're going to say tool number two and hit enter.

05:39

This is the value that's going to be passed along in the G

05:43

code that we output that's going to be sent to the CNC machine.

05:46

This is gonna tell it which tool to get out of its tool turret.

05:49

And it's important that this information matches

05:51

everything from the tool diameter,

05:53

the gauge length of the tool as well as the tool number

05:57

we're gonna hit accept and that's gonna automatically save

05:60

all of those changes inside of that tool library.

06:03

Now that we've seen how to copy a tool from the fusion library,

06:07

let's go ahead and create our own

06:09

in this case, we're gonna hit the plus icon in the upper left corner

06:12

and we need to start by selecting what type of tool

06:15

many of these will come preloaded with values.

06:18

So make sure that you do pick the correct one.

06:20

For example, we want to use a flat end mill.

06:23

And if we were to start with a face mill, some of those values would not be correct.

06:27

So select flat end mill,

06:29

then we want to start with a description.

06:31

We're gonna be creating a 12 millimeter flat end mill.

06:34

So we use a very basic description.

06:37

Next, we want to move to our cutter section

06:40

in the cutter section. We're gonna dictate again the type

06:43

we can change this but make sure that it's set to a flat end mill.

06:47

Otherwise, some of the values that we see in the geometry will not be correct.

06:50

We're gonna change the diameter value to 12 millimeters.

06:54

We're gonna change the overall length to 42 millimeters

06:58

and we're gonna leave the length below holder at 24.

07:01

Next, we're gonna move over to our holder section.

07:04

We wanna scroll down until we find the metric holders.

07:07

And we're gonna select the BT 40 B four C three OO 40,

07:12

select the holder

07:14

and then we can move on to our cutting data

07:16

right now. There's only a single default preset.

07:19

And when we copy a tool from the Fusion Library,

07:21

it came preloaded with many different

07:23

presets for different materials and operations.

07:27

If we want to add our own preset, we can use the plus icon

07:30

and we can use

07:31

a L ruffing as our preset name.

07:35

From here, we can modify values like the spindle speed. In

07:38

this case, we're gonna say 8500 R PM.

07:41

Note that some of these values have an FX next to them.

07:44

The FX is going to tell us that this is linked to another parameter or value.

07:50

So changes to things like this spindle speed will update this.

07:53

When you hover over these areas, the tool tip will pop up telling you what this does.

07:58

And if you hover for a little bit longer,

07:60

the values at the bottom will tell you more about the parameter name.

08:03

We can see here that its tool underscores surface speed.

08:06

Its value currently is 320.

08:09

And the expression is based on the spindle speed times the tool diameter.

08:14

As we move down the list,

08:15

you can see there are many other parameters such as the cutting feed rate,

08:18

feed per tooth lead in and lead out feed rates.

08:21

And there's a section down here for you, step down and you step over.

08:26

If you want these values to automatically be populated based on your tool,

08:30

make sure that you do check those values

08:32

whenever you're using a new tool,

08:34

starting out with the manufacturer's suggested values

08:37

is a great way to get started.

08:39

But you'll find that once you start machining or make some test cuts

08:42

that you can likely uh change or increase or decrease these values.

08:46

We're gonna leave all these values as is for now,

08:48

since we won't be using this tool in our course, we're gonna select accept

08:52

and now we've got two tools.

08:54

However, we did make one mistake.

08:56

We didn't enter a value for the tool number for the 12 millimeter tool.

09:01

However, it came prepopulated as tool number one,

09:04

anytime we create a tool, that tool value will not be set to zero,

09:08

it's automatically gonna increment based on the

09:10

available numbers inside of our tool library.

09:12

At

09:13

this point, both of the tools are saved in this library and it's on the cloud.

09:17

We don't have to click save. All we need to do is close out our tool library.

09:20

Once we're done making edits

09:22

because the library is independent of our specific design.

09:26

We can also close our untitled document

09:28

and the tool library will be ready whenever we need it at

09:31

this point, no saves are needed. So go ahead and move on to the next step.

After completing this video, you’ll be able to:

  • Create a new tool library.
  • Create a custom tool.
  • Copy and paste tools.
  • Update feeds and speeds.

Video quiz

How can tools in the Fusion 360 sample tools library be edited and saved for reuse?

(Select one)
Select an answer

1/1 questions left unanswered

Step-by-step guide

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