But going to the original question: So far, the operations that I've been able to get the most out of are the waterline ops. But by default, they'll try to machine everything, it seems. (Yeah, I need to search the forum and re-read how to assign jobs (features) to the waterline ops.) Of course, I limit the depth of the waterline ops in the parameters tab because the part is held in a vise. I picked up a somewhat slimy hack from one of the tutorial videos. If I want SC to leave an area alone, I go to the "2D Geometry" tab and draw a closed shape around it. Either polygon-by-points, circle, whatever. Then go back to the "Machining" tab. Select fixtures. Extrude the 2d shape to the min and max height that I want. I can do this for individual operations, but keep an eye on subsequent ops, because the "fixtures" created this way will, by default, get inherited by later ops.
I had to do this in one of my recent projects. I did a roughing waterline with a roughing mill, then a few drilling and other operations. The last operation was finish waterline with a ball-end mill. It runs around and over the various features until it's nearly done. Then, for some infuriating reason, SC would have the ball-end mill "kiss" a couple of shallow drilled holes. (.250" ball mill plunges about .080" into a couple of .156" holes, pretty much wrecking them.) Gaaaah! I checked the parameters of the operation several times, re-ran over and over, but no luck. So, I wound up creating a couple of "cylindrical fixtures" inside the holes using the method above. This finally got the finishing waterline operation to leave the holes alone.
I now use this technique probably more than I should, but I'll keep doing it until I know better. I need to read this forum more.
-Mark