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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Transcript
00:02
In this lesson, we will use 2-axis pocketing.
00:06
After completing this lesson, you'll be able to create a 2D pocket toolpath and create a 2D adaptive toolpath.
00:15
For this lesson, we want to carry on with the multi-axis positioning design.
00:19
From here, we have already created a 3D adaptive operation to remove the bulk of the material from the outside of the park.
00:26
We've also created 2D contour to finish up that outside shape.
00:31
We still have a lot of work to do, and we're still working in sort of a 2.5 or 3-axis mentality.
00:38
There's no reason for us to rotate the part around yet until we get to a point where we actually need to.
00:43
The operations still need to happen to create this pocket in the center, this bore pocket, and then we need to drill and tap these holes.
00:52
Once we get all that done and we can move on and take care of the bottom of the part.
00:58
Also note that we never finished off the top of the part.
01:01
We haven't actually faced anything down to the right height.
01:05
If we rotate this around to the right, however, you'll note that the original stock that we started with was already at the appropriate height.
01:13
Again, sometimes when we start these parts, we’re dealing with stock that's already been prepared.
01:18
In this case, it has already been machined on the bottom to have that fixture to be able to be held.
01:24
So from here, what we want to do is we want to take a look at using our 2D pocket and 2D adaptive clearing,
01:31
to see which operation makes the most sense.
01:34
We also want to consider when we're creating these operations, what makes the most sense in terms of the order of operations.
01:41
Does it make the most sense to pocket this first and then drill and tap these holes,
01:45
or should we go ahead and drill and tap them and then do the pocket?
01:49
Because this pocket is relatively small, it doesn't make as much of a difference as it does on some other parts.
01:56
But since we are talking about tapping holes, especially blind holes, I want to use the least amount of that tap as possible.
02:04
I don't want to engage any more material than I have to and risk the chance of chips getting stuck and ruining threads or breaking.
02:11
I want to just use the minimum amount that I can.
02:14
So for that, I want to make sure that I use my 2D pocket.
02:19
So we're going to get started by going to 2D, and we'll start with the 2D pocket to see what that looks like.
02:24
We're going to be using tool number six from our multi-axis library which is a 3/8th flat end mill.
02:30
Then in the geometry section, we want to select our pocket.
02:35
This is going to be an important selection because we can either select a chain or we can select a face.
02:41
When we select a face, notice that it's grabbing a chain for the outside and the inside, and it's not making any chains or anything for the holes.
02:51
So it's smart enough to know that we're not worried about those holes right now.
02:55
We're going to move on to our past this section, and we're going to turn off stock to leave.
03:01
In general, you wouldn't use a 2D pocket or 2D adaptive operation for both roughing and finishing at the same time.
03:08
But we are going to allow this pocket operation to both finish the floors and the wall.
03:13
The 2D pocket is a much better finishing operation than the adaptive operation, but again, it's going to depend on your geometry and what you're using it for.
03:23
We're going to simply say ‘okay’ and allow it to cut this with our 2D pocket.
03:27
Everything looks good, the material has been removed, we can go back down to show our cutting moves to see exactly how it's achieving this.
03:35
What ends up happening is it's going to be engaging a large amount of material when it goes into those corners.
03:42
Because of the size of the tool and the geometry that we're cutting, we are putting a lot of load on the tool using this 2D pocket operation.
03:50
So I want to explore what happens when we use a 2D adaptive clearing.
03:54
We're going to use the same tool and the same selection.
03:58
When we use the same selection, even though we're not selecting those holes,
04:03
the 2D adaptive is still going to be looking at those holes.
04:07
By default stock to leave is on, and I'm going to turn that off for now and take a look at the results.
04:13
When we look at the results, you'll notice that,
04:15
there is a little bit of a differentiation between what happens as this tool gets close to those holes.
04:21
I'm going to make a quick edit, go back to my geometry and for the chain, I actually I'm going to select the edges myself and then say ‘okay’.
04:32
When I select the edges myself and allow it to recalculate,
04:35
we're going to notice that we're no longer seeing that jagged edge where it goes over the hole.
04:40
So even though it didn't take into account the hole specifically by creating a chain, it is actually altering the operation.
04:48
Because we know that the hole hasn't been drilled or tapped yet, it's not an open cavity.
04:52
We want to make sure that we make the selection based on the edge and not the face.
04:58
Now that we have our adaptive operation, I also want to take a look at the machining time by right clicking and taking a look.
05:05
Here, we can see that the machining time is just under six minutes.
05:10
If we take a look at the pocket operation, the machining time is just under five minutes.
05:15
So the pocket operation is actually performing this a little bit quicker.
05:20
However, again it is engaging more material, which means that it's putting more load on the tool.
05:25
So this kind of an operation difference, you need to make sure that you are really looking at the pros and cons of each based on your geometry.
05:35
In the case of this operation where it's engaging a lot of material in the corner, what I would actually do is not use a pocket operation.
05:44
If I was going to use a pocket operation, I might have it just come back and clean out the corners,
05:49
and clean off the floor if I needed that surface finish or that tolerance.
05:53
But what I want to do in this case is delete the pocket operation.
05:58
And even though we're spending about a minute more on the adaptive,
06:02
we can increase that efficiency by making some changes to some of the operational defaults.
06:08
So this can be done by going into our passes and increasing the optimal load, maybe changing some of the options.
06:15
For example, if it's going to be using slot clearance, which is going to be based on a specific slot type geometry,
06:22
we can use these options to speed the process up.
06:26
For our purposes, I'm not going to adjust any of those values.
06:29
I'm going to leave them as default, which is always my go to whenever I'm creating a new operation.
06:34
I like to start by creating the default to make sure it can be created and then modify the operational parameters from there.
06:42
For here, I want to go back to a home view and save this design before moving onto the next step.
Video transcript
00:02
In this lesson, we will use 2-axis pocketing.
00:06
After completing this lesson, you'll be able to create a 2D pocket toolpath and create a 2D adaptive toolpath.
00:15
For this lesson, we want to carry on with the multi-axis positioning design.
00:19
From here, we have already created a 3D adaptive operation to remove the bulk of the material from the outside of the park.
00:26
We've also created 2D contour to finish up that outside shape.
00:31
We still have a lot of work to do, and we're still working in sort of a 2.5 or 3-axis mentality.
00:38
There's no reason for us to rotate the part around yet until we get to a point where we actually need to.
00:43
The operations still need to happen to create this pocket in the center, this bore pocket, and then we need to drill and tap these holes.
00:52
Once we get all that done and we can move on and take care of the bottom of the part.
00:58
Also note that we never finished off the top of the part.
01:01
We haven't actually faced anything down to the right height.
01:05
If we rotate this around to the right, however, you'll note that the original stock that we started with was already at the appropriate height.
01:13
Again, sometimes when we start these parts, we’re dealing with stock that's already been prepared.
01:18
In this case, it has already been machined on the bottom to have that fixture to be able to be held.
01:24
So from here, what we want to do is we want to take a look at using our 2D pocket and 2D adaptive clearing,
01:31
to see which operation makes the most sense.
01:34
We also want to consider when we're creating these operations, what makes the most sense in terms of the order of operations.
01:41
Does it make the most sense to pocket this first and then drill and tap these holes,
01:45
or should we go ahead and drill and tap them and then do the pocket?
01:49
Because this pocket is relatively small, it doesn't make as much of a difference as it does on some other parts.
01:56
But since we are talking about tapping holes, especially blind holes, I want to use the least amount of that tap as possible.
02:04
I don't want to engage any more material than I have to and risk the chance of chips getting stuck and ruining threads or breaking.
02:11
I want to just use the minimum amount that I can.
02:14
So for that, I want to make sure that I use my 2D pocket.
02:19
So we're going to get started by going to 2D, and we'll start with the 2D pocket to see what that looks like.
02:24
We're going to be using tool number six from our multi-axis library which is a 3/8th flat end mill.
02:30
Then in the geometry section, we want to select our pocket.
02:35
This is going to be an important selection because we can either select a chain or we can select a face.
02:41
When we select a face, notice that it's grabbing a chain for the outside and the inside, and it's not making any chains or anything for the holes.
02:51
So it's smart enough to know that we're not worried about those holes right now.
02:55
We're going to move on to our past this section, and we're going to turn off stock to leave.
03:01
In general, you wouldn't use a 2D pocket or 2D adaptive operation for both roughing and finishing at the same time.
03:08
But we are going to allow this pocket operation to both finish the floors and the wall.
03:13
The 2D pocket is a much better finishing operation than the adaptive operation, but again, it's going to depend on your geometry and what you're using it for.
03:23
We're going to simply say ‘okay’ and allow it to cut this with our 2D pocket.
03:27
Everything looks good, the material has been removed, we can go back down to show our cutting moves to see exactly how it's achieving this.
03:35
What ends up happening is it's going to be engaging a large amount of material when it goes into those corners.
03:42
Because of the size of the tool and the geometry that we're cutting, we are putting a lot of load on the tool using this 2D pocket operation.
03:50
So I want to explore what happens when we use a 2D adaptive clearing.
03:54
We're going to use the same tool and the same selection.
03:58
When we use the same selection, even though we're not selecting those holes,
04:03
the 2D adaptive is still going to be looking at those holes.
04:07
By default stock to leave is on, and I'm going to turn that off for now and take a look at the results.
04:13
When we look at the results, you'll notice that,
04:15
there is a little bit of a differentiation between what happens as this tool gets close to those holes.
04:21
I'm going to make a quick edit, go back to my geometry and for the chain, I actually I'm going to select the edges myself and then say ‘okay’.
04:32
When I select the edges myself and allow it to recalculate,
04:35
we're going to notice that we're no longer seeing that jagged edge where it goes over the hole.
04:40
So even though it didn't take into account the hole specifically by creating a chain, it is actually altering the operation.
04:48
Because we know that the hole hasn't been drilled or tapped yet, it's not an open cavity.
04:52
We want to make sure that we make the selection based on the edge and not the face.
04:58
Now that we have our adaptive operation, I also want to take a look at the machining time by right clicking and taking a look.
05:05
Here, we can see that the machining time is just under six minutes.
05:10
If we take a look at the pocket operation, the machining time is just under five minutes.
05:15
So the pocket operation is actually performing this a little bit quicker.
05:20
However, again it is engaging more material, which means that it's putting more load on the tool.
05:25
So this kind of an operation difference, you need to make sure that you are really looking at the pros and cons of each based on your geometry.
05:35
In the case of this operation where it's engaging a lot of material in the corner, what I would actually do is not use a pocket operation.
05:44
If I was going to use a pocket operation, I might have it just come back and clean out the corners,
05:49
and clean off the floor if I needed that surface finish or that tolerance.
05:53
But what I want to do in this case is delete the pocket operation.
05:58
And even though we're spending about a minute more on the adaptive,
06:02
we can increase that efficiency by making some changes to some of the operational defaults.
06:08
So this can be done by going into our passes and increasing the optimal load, maybe changing some of the options.
06:15
For example, if it's going to be using slot clearance, which is going to be based on a specific slot type geometry,
06:22
we can use these options to speed the process up.
06:26
For our purposes, I'm not going to adjust any of those values.
06:29
I'm going to leave them as default, which is always my go to whenever I'm creating a new operation.
06:34
I like to start by creating the default to make sure it can be created and then modify the operational parameters from there.
06:42
For here, I want to go back to a home view and save this design before moving onto the next step.
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