[sansbury]

Recently upgraded from 23 to 25, so far happy with that decision. However, the default tool and material libraries are annoying me, because they are loaded with tools and materials I don't have and never will, and pretty much all of the default settings are different from what I want.

Ideally, I'd like to start with something like a blank library, and then just add the tools and materials I actually have as I use them. Is there any way to do something like this, or does anyone have a slimmed-down library they could share? I have a Tormach, so I'd like to set things up so that it doesn't order spindle speeds faster than I have or feed rates well beyond what the machine is happy with.

[mmoe]

There are settings for the maximum spindle speed and feedrate which can be set as default. You'll need to go to "Milling Tools" in the CAM tree, right click on it, then go down to "Default", then "Current Settings" and left click on it. This will bring up the machine setup menu. You could click "Add" and enter a new machine if there isn't one like yours there already. If you want to rename the new machine, you click on Modify and type in the new name. You can also, from the same initial page, change the spindle max RPM and max feedrate. Then you go to the Machine Definition menu and enter your machines parameters, including the work envelope (max/min position for each axis). After that, go to the Posting menu and set up the path to your post processor, which will allow the software to default to that post processor for that machine. If you were to change the machine, the default post processor should change with it, but since most of us probably just use the software for one machine it generally just gets left there.

I have just been slowly deleting tools I don't need and adding tools I have, but I don't know of a way to just delete them all at once. I don't use the materials library much at all, since most of what I cut is wood or plastic and they both run about the same. I make minor tweaks to the spindle speeds and feedrates depending on the specific material, but I just do it on an as needed basis and have generic feed/RPM settings set up for the tools which I use 90% of the time the way they are.

Hope that helps a bit.

[aldepoalo]

Sansbury,

For your tools I would create a crib of standard tools you use and load that crib prior to setting up any tool paths. With that said you can set feeds and speeds for tools, so they will default to settings you want.


The other question is why not just use save and load feature. This is where you can save a tool path feature and it's settings...

Why would you want to save the Feed Rate or Spindle speed for a cutter and not save the DOC LOC or stock for finish.... This is why saving features and loading them is so powerful. Instead of setting up materials you'll save machining features know to work for said material and just load in the feature in the future as needed.

Think of save and load feature and creating templates of how you cut parts and the settings you used for different materials.

[sansbury]

Al, I hadn't really thought of using Features that way, but now that you mention it it makes a lot of sense. I think features were a new feature in 24 or 25 so I hadn't ever really thought of using them.

[jrmach]

Al, I hadn't really thought of using Features that way, but now that you mention it it makes a lot of sense. I think features were a new feature in 24 or 25 so I hadn't ever really thought of using them.

Nah,use them in V23 all the time.Just make sure you edit the tool number every time you load a feature or it will bite you in the a**