& Construction

Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing

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
Create a Spot Drill operation to chamfer the holes.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
4 min.
Transcript
00:03
Drilling is a common machining task for creating holes in your work piece.
00:08
Generally, a spot drill or a center drill is used to create a pilot for the drill.
00:13
This keeps the drill point from walking away from the location,
00:17
and is especially useful for smaller drills that might bend or flex when starting the hole.
00:22
This sample part has six 1/8-inch diameter holes, and there is a chamfer on the top rim of each hole.
00:29
You will be creating the chamfer during the spot drilling process by using a tool with a 90° point.
00:35
Most CNC machines support a wide variety of hole machining canned cycles, and Fusion can support these through the post processor.
00:43
A canned cycle enables you to describe the parameters to drill the hole once,
00:48
and then simply specify any additional locations that need to be drilled.
00:53
The cycle repeats at each location.
00:56
This reduces the amount of code the NC control needs to machine the holes.
01:01
To set this up, on the Manufacture workspace toolbar, Milling tab, in the Drilling group, click Drill to open the Drill dialog.
01:10
On the Tool tab, click Select to open the Select Tool library.
01:16
Under Documents, select Intro to 2D Machining to show only the tools for this project.
01:22
Select tool number 6, the half-inch diameter spot drill, and then click Select.
01:29
In the Drill dialog, switch to the Geometry tab.
01:34
There are many options for selecting the holes to be machined.
01:38
Place your pointer over the Geometry group name to view a tooltip that explains the type of geometry you can select for the drilling location.
01:46
The Selection Mode tooltip provides even more information about the selection options.
01:52
For this example, leave the Selection Mode set to Selected Faces.
01:58
Select the chamfer face on any hole, making sure to select only the chamfer face, and not the cylinder face of the full hole.
02:06
You may need to zoom in to make the selection easier.
02:11
Fusion identifies the selected face as a cone and will use the bottom of that cone as the final depth for the spot drill.
02:19
Back in the Drill dialog, select the Select Same Diameter option.
02:24
This will locate every other hole that matches the one you just selected.
02:29
Other selection filters are now available, such as options to match the depth or the top height.
02:36
Review the tooltips for additional information.
02:40
You can also access online Help by clicking the information icon.
02:45
Once the six holes are selected, switch to the Heights tab.
02:50
Make sure the Bottom Height is set From the Hole bottom with an Offset value of 0.
02:56
This will drive the spot drill to the bottom of the cone, so you do not have to figure out any value for the depth.
03:03
Switch to the Cycle tab, where you can select the drilling cycle to use for the holes.
03:09
You want to use a cycle that will feed to the depth and then rapid out.
03:14
Review the Cycle Type tooltip for a description of the cycles and their drilling motion.
03:20
Be advised that your machine control or post processor may not support all these cycles.
03:26
In that case, Fusion outputs all the individual moves to create that style of drilling, which may make a lot of NC code.
03:35
The default Drilling - rapid out cycle is all you need for this spot drilling operation.
03:41
Click OK, and the spot drilling is complete.
Video transcript
00:03
Drilling is a common machining task for creating holes in your work piece.
00:08
Generally, a spot drill or a center drill is used to create a pilot for the drill.
00:13
This keeps the drill point from walking away from the location,
00:17
and is especially useful for smaller drills that might bend or flex when starting the hole.
00:22
This sample part has six 1/8-inch diameter holes, and there is a chamfer on the top rim of each hole.
00:29
You will be creating the chamfer during the spot drilling process by using a tool with a 90° point.
00:35
Most CNC machines support a wide variety of hole machining canned cycles, and Fusion can support these through the post processor.
00:43
A canned cycle enables you to describe the parameters to drill the hole once,
00:48
and then simply specify any additional locations that need to be drilled.
00:53
The cycle repeats at each location.
00:56
This reduces the amount of code the NC control needs to machine the holes.
01:01
To set this up, on the Manufacture workspace toolbar, Milling tab, in the Drilling group, click Drill to open the Drill dialog.
01:10
On the Tool tab, click Select to open the Select Tool library.
01:16
Under Documents, select Intro to 2D Machining to show only the tools for this project.
01:22
Select tool number 6, the half-inch diameter spot drill, and then click Select.
01:29
In the Drill dialog, switch to the Geometry tab.
01:34
There are many options for selecting the holes to be machined.
01:38
Place your pointer over the Geometry group name to view a tooltip that explains the type of geometry you can select for the drilling location.
01:46
The Selection Mode tooltip provides even more information about the selection options.
01:52
For this example, leave the Selection Mode set to Selected Faces.
01:58
Select the chamfer face on any hole, making sure to select only the chamfer face, and not the cylinder face of the full hole.
02:06
You may need to zoom in to make the selection easier.
02:11
Fusion identifies the selected face as a cone and will use the bottom of that cone as the final depth for the spot drill.
02:19
Back in the Drill dialog, select the Select Same Diameter option.
02:24
This will locate every other hole that matches the one you just selected.
02:29
Other selection filters are now available, such as options to match the depth or the top height.
02:36
Review the tooltips for additional information.
02:40
You can also access online Help by clicking the information icon.
02:45
Once the six holes are selected, switch to the Heights tab.
02:50
Make sure the Bottom Height is set From the Hole bottom with an Offset value of 0.
02:56
This will drive the spot drill to the bottom of the cone, so you do not have to figure out any value for the depth.
03:03
Switch to the Cycle tab, where you can select the drilling cycle to use for the holes.
03:09
You want to use a cycle that will feed to the depth and then rapid out.
03:14
Review the Cycle Type tooltip for a description of the cycles and their drilling motion.
03:20
Be advised that your machine control or post processor may not support all these cycles.
03:26
In that case, Fusion outputs all the individual moves to create that style of drilling, which may make a lot of NC code.
03:35
The default Drilling - rapid out cycle is all you need for this spot drilling operation.
03:41
Click OK, and the spot drilling is complete.
Manufacture > Milling > Drilling > Drill
Spot Drilling and Drilling are both hole machining operations. There are many hole machining cycles in Fusion. They are mostly derivatives of these 2 basic cycles. Our part has a chamfer on the top of the hole. We'll be creating that chamfer during the Spot Drilling process with a 90° spot drill. Fusion will determine the diameter of the chamfer, from the information on the model.
On the Geometry Tab we can select the locations to spot drill. For this video we'll be selecting by Hole Face. Or in this case the Hole Chamfer Face. But first I want you to check the box that says Select Same Diameter. This tells Fusion to scan the model for any features that match the characteristics of your selection. You should also check Optimize Order. This will sort the holes in the most efficient machining path. Now you can select the face of any chamfer at the top of the hole.
How to buy
Privacy | Do not sell or share my personal information | Cookie preferences | Report noncompliance | Terms of use | Legal | © 2025 Autodesk Inc. All rights reserved
Sign in for the best experience
Save your progress
Get access to courses
Receive personalized recommendations
May we collect and use your data?
Learn more about the Third Party Services we use and our Privacy Statement.May we collect and use your data to tailor your experience?
Explore the benefits of a customized experience by managing your privacy settings for this site or visit our Privacy Statement to learn more about your options.