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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    499

    Cutting conditions and tool libraries

    I have a question regarding the use of tool libraries and the cutting conditions feature in SolidCAM.

    For many years I have just machined Aluminium on our 5 axis machines, but a couple of years ago our business changed direction a little and increasingly I call upon to machine Cast Iron, SG Iron and Steel in addition to my 'normal' 7075 or 2618. In the beginning I just had separate tool libraries for each material, but now that solution is getting messy, especially with drills, taps, reamers and other tools of a general purpose nature, so I have begun to think about one "master" tool library with each tool having multiple cutting conditions (or only one as the case may be).

    The trouble is the SolidCAM help on this issue is as clear as mud, so I thought I would ask here to see if anyone else has been done this road and whether it is a dead end.

    From what I can see of the 'Cutting Conditions' page in the Help, you can only set generic condition and then import them, which to my mind is a complete waste of time. What I want to do is set for each individual tool the speed & feed for Aluminium, Cast Iron, SG Iron and Steel, but I am not sure if this is possible. I think it may be possible as when you export a tool library out to Excel, you get a worksheet called "Cutting Conditions" and some garbage data purporting to be for Steel, Cast Iron, Aluminium and Titanium. I have tried editing this but once edited the data will not import back into SolidCAM.

    I hope it can be done through Excel, as using a spreadsheet makes mass editing so much easier, especially when you are trying to combine multiple databases.

    If anyone from SolidCAM is reading this (and I know they lurk on this forum from time to time), how about a really in-depth tutorial on getting the best out of your tool libraries with examples of best practice and some better resources such as what SolidCAM demands from a tool library held in Excel in the way of formatting, use of formulae etc.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    378
    Ok, so you set your tool libary with different materails. How would you select the material that you're working with so you don't have to update every tool. Back in Inventor2011?, there was a button in the part setup window (where you select your post processor) that would let you select the material that your part is made of. This would up date all your speeds and feeds based on your cutting condition. In Inventorcam2012, they did away with the material button so you had to manualy select the material condition for every tool. It is in my opion that you would be better to have a tool libary for each material/machine type. Becides, tools that work good for alumuim don't work so good for steel. So unless your machine has a large tool changer or the ability to renumber the tool pods, you will end up changing your tool numbers around anyway based on material type.

    I just wished Soildcam would produce videos on 'best pratice' for reduceing programing time (tool libaries, templates, generating custom stock, file managment, etc.)

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    499
    I have separate endmills and milling cutters for Aluminium and for 'Ferrous' i.e. Steel, Cast Iron, SG Iron and Stainless (no Titanium yet and hopefully never), but all these milling cutters together only make up about 20% of my tool library. The bulk of my tooling is made up of drills, reamers, formtools etc. and these are by design 'general purpose'. Set-up time is absolutely critical to what we do, far more important than cycle time (with batches of 3 or 4 parts you have to save an awful lot of cutting time to make up for 3 hours of setting) so many of our machines do have big tool magazines, normally 120 tools or more. My gripe with having different SolidCAM tool libraries for each material is the need to maintain 4 different libraries when I add a drill, or change a stick-out or substitute one holder type for another. We drive VeriCut and our production documentation from within SolidCAM so keeping these separate tool libraries up to date is crucial to making sure the job progresses smoothly out on the shop. And I am finding the task of keeping up to date a bloody big ball-ache.

    I have started playing around in my 'Master' tool library and on the 'Tool' tab for a job is button called 'Cutting Conditions'. Editing the data in the table exposed by pressing that button just affects the data for that particular tool. So for my Aluminium geometry cutters I just delete out all the other lines, for my general purpose drills, I have lines for Aluminium, Steel CI etc. But doing it tool by tool is another bloody ball-ache, so I am looking to do it in Excel. Not easy, but I am making (slow) progress.

    I hadn't noticed that the 'Work Material' button had disappeared. I had never used it.

    I am in complete agreement with you about SolidCAM producing some 'best practice' video's. There is so much unused potential in the software and a fair number of 'bear traps' for the unwary. But I suppose it's a lot more fun showing how impressive iMachining is (and it is, make no mistake) than doing foundation stuff for us old school CAM jockeys who have to do more than a flat piece of steel with some multi-level pockets in it.

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