& 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
Drilling and hole making operations. Selecting holes and drilling cycles.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
5 min.
Transcript
00:03
The drill toolpath is a common machining process for creating holes in the work piece.
00:09
In Fusion, it functions the same in the milling and turning environments.
00:14
In this example, you need to configure a toolpath to drill 1/8-inch diameter holes into the part.
00:21
You could start a new drill toolpath, but in this case, a spot drill toolpath was used previously to create a pilot for the drill.
00:29
It is easier to duplicate this toolpath and then change the settings, as needed.
00:34
To create a duplicate operation, from the Browser, right-click the Drill1 operation and select Duplicate.
00:42
Then, right-click the new operation and select Edit.
00:47
In the Drill dialog, on the Tool tab, click Select to open the Select Tool library, where you can choose the cutting tool.
00:56
Under the Documents heading, select Intro to 2D Machining to show only the tools for this project.
01:03
Optionally, you could set the Tool category to Hole making to further narrow the tool selection.
01:10
Here, select tool 7, the 1/8-inch diameter drill, and then click Select.
01:16
Back in the Drill dialog, for now, leave the default Feed & Speed settings for this tool.
01:23
Switch to the Geometry tab.
01:26
Click the X next to the Hole Faces selection to delete it.
01:31
On the model, select the hole face below the chamfer.
01:36
Because Select Same Diameter is selected, Fusion will locate and select all the other matching holes.
01:43
Since you want to start drilling from the surface above the chamfer,
01:47
rather than from the top of the hole cylinder, next, select Auto-Merge Hole Segments.
01:53
This adds all the hole segments above the selection to the starting height.
01:58
Switch to the Heights tab and confirm that the Top Height is From the Hole top.
02:03
While you could also select Model top, since they all start from the top of the model, it is better practice to set it from the Hole top.
02:11
Then, if all the holes are at different shelf heights, Fusion will drill each one starting from the appropriate location.
02:19
Similarly, set the Bottom Height to Hole bottom.
02:23
If you have many holes, and they all have different depths, Fusion will determine the hole bottom from each feature.
02:30
To make sure that the hole is drilled all the way through, select Drill Tip Through Bottom.
02:36
Then, set the now-available Break-Through Depth parameter to 0.030.
02:43
This will force the lip of the drill past the bottom edge of the hole.
02:48
Place your pointer over the setting to open a tooltip with more details and an illustration.
02:54
You do not have to enter negative 0.030, since Fusion automatically drills further in the negative direction.
03:03
You only need to specify how much further.
03:06
Switch to the Cycle tab, then expand the Cycle Type drop-down.
03:11
These are all the cycles that Fusion supports, but your CNC machine may not support all of them.
03:18
The most common cycles are drilling, counter boring, chip braking, deep hole drilling, and tapping.
03:26
For this part, set the option to Deep drilling – full retract, commonly called a pecking or peck drilling cycle.
03:34
Fusion automatically determines the increment Pecking Depth, based on a percentage of the tool diameter.
03:40
Here, it is the tool diameter times 0.25.
03:45
You can change this to any value, as needed.
03:49
To see how the value is calculated,
03:51
place your pointer over the value and click the menu icon for these parameters and select Edit Expression.
03:59
You can change the expression if you need to.
04:03
For now, leave the expression as is and click Cancel to close the dialog.
04:09
Now you know how to configure a drill toolpath by duplicating and updating an existing drill operation.
Video transcript
00:03
The drill toolpath is a common machining process for creating holes in the work piece.
00:09
In Fusion, it functions the same in the milling and turning environments.
00:14
In this example, you need to configure a toolpath to drill 1/8-inch diameter holes into the part.
00:21
You could start a new drill toolpath, but in this case, a spot drill toolpath was used previously to create a pilot for the drill.
00:29
It is easier to duplicate this toolpath and then change the settings, as needed.
00:34
To create a duplicate operation, from the Browser, right-click the Drill1 operation and select Duplicate.
00:42
Then, right-click the new operation and select Edit.
00:47
In the Drill dialog, on the Tool tab, click Select to open the Select Tool library, where you can choose the cutting tool.
00:56
Under the Documents heading, select Intro to 2D Machining to show only the tools for this project.
01:03
Optionally, you could set the Tool category to Hole making to further narrow the tool selection.
01:10
Here, select tool 7, the 1/8-inch diameter drill, and then click Select.
01:16
Back in the Drill dialog, for now, leave the default Feed & Speed settings for this tool.
01:23
Switch to the Geometry tab.
01:26
Click the X next to the Hole Faces selection to delete it.
01:31
On the model, select the hole face below the chamfer.
01:36
Because Select Same Diameter is selected, Fusion will locate and select all the other matching holes.
01:43
Since you want to start drilling from the surface above the chamfer,
01:47
rather than from the top of the hole cylinder, next, select Auto-Merge Hole Segments.
01:53
This adds all the hole segments above the selection to the starting height.
01:58
Switch to the Heights tab and confirm that the Top Height is From the Hole top.
02:03
While you could also select Model top, since they all start from the top of the model, it is better practice to set it from the Hole top.
02:11
Then, if all the holes are at different shelf heights, Fusion will drill each one starting from the appropriate location.
02:19
Similarly, set the Bottom Height to Hole bottom.
02:23
If you have many holes, and they all have different depths, Fusion will determine the hole bottom from each feature.
02:30
To make sure that the hole is drilled all the way through, select Drill Tip Through Bottom.
02:36
Then, set the now-available Break-Through Depth parameter to 0.030.
02:43
This will force the lip of the drill past the bottom edge of the hole.
02:48
Place your pointer over the setting to open a tooltip with more details and an illustration.
02:54
You do not have to enter negative 0.030, since Fusion automatically drills further in the negative direction.
03:03
You only need to specify how much further.
03:06
Switch to the Cycle tab, then expand the Cycle Type drop-down.
03:11
These are all the cycles that Fusion supports, but your CNC machine may not support all of them.
03:18
The most common cycles are drilling, counter boring, chip braking, deep hole drilling, and tapping.
03:26
For this part, set the option to Deep drilling – full retract, commonly called a pecking or peck drilling cycle.
03:34
Fusion automatically determines the increment Pecking Depth, based on a percentage of the tool diameter.
03:40
Here, it is the tool diameter times 0.25.
03:45
You can change this to any value, as needed.
03:49
To see how the value is calculated,
03:51
place your pointer over the value and click the menu icon for these parameters and select Edit Expression.
03:59
You can change the expression if you need to.
04:03
For now, leave the expression as is and click Cancel to close the dialog.
04:09
Now you know how to configure a drill toolpath by duplicating and updating an existing drill operation.
Manufacture > Milling > Drilling > Drill
On the Geometry Tab page, clear the currently selected Hole Faces. Check the box for Auto-Merge Hole Segments and then select the cylinder that represents the hole itself. This tells Fusion to check and see if our selections shares a common centerline with any holes above it. If they do, it combines the length of the entire hole. This is so it wont start drilling from the bottom of the spot drill, but from the top of both holes.
On the Heights Tab set the Top Height is From: Hole Top and the Bottom Height From: Model Bottom. But this time we want to make sure the lip of the drill cuts past the bottom of the part. So we have to check the box for Drill Tip Through Bottom and set a Break-Through Depth of .030.
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.