Tool Reorder not working with Cloud Tool Library

[Ethibaudeau]

This was my first time trying to use "Reorder to minimize tool changes" in NC Programs.

Reorder has no effect if I:

1. Pull Tool 1 from my Cloud Library, apply it to a path in Setup 1 (WCS #1)
2. Pull Tool 1 from the same Cloud Library, apply to a path in Setup 2 (WCS #2)

Reorder works as expected if I:

1. Pull Tool 1 from my Cloud Library, apply it to a path in Setup 1 (WCS #1)
2. Pull Tool 1 from Setup 1, apply to a path in Setup 2 (WCS #2)

In fact, if I pick the same tool from any other open file, tool reorder does not recognize it as the same tool. Only if the tool is pulled from the previous setup, in that same file. I was expecting tool reorder to just go by tool position number.

Fusion Version: 2.0.9512

[MatthewPBryant · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ethibaudeau, 

Every time you select a tool for an operation another it gets copied into the active document's tool library again. This results in multiple copies of the same tool in the document tool library in the first scenario you've outlined, which Fusion will not recognise as the same tool. To avoid this, you should select the tool for the second operation from the document library, as you have done in the second scenario you outlined. This way, the tool won't get re-copied into the document tool library but instead, Fusion will use the exact same tool for the second operation as for the first. As you've noted, Fusion now recognises this is the same tool and so the reorder works as expected. 

Hope that helps!

[bbrownellLS4J4]

Can you explain why the tool is copied to a local library and does not just link directly to the cloud library?  I think it would be more efficient and less chance for error if there was only a single reference to a tool.  My preference would be to select a tool from the cloud library and keep a dynamic link between the cloud library and my toolpaths, or at least have that be an option.  This way when i trial my program with a new tool and dial in speeds and feeds i go back to the cloud library and update the info and the new cutting data is then active in my CAM programs.  Then i can just post the code and not have to go through the operations and reselect the tool.  Other people programming w/ that cloud library get my updated cutting data.

[MatthewPBryant]

It mostly comes down to technical limitations. If someone else (who potentially doesn't have access to the same tool libraries) opened the Fusion file, or if the library the tool was in got deleted, we need to make sure that the tool is still there for use in the operation it's been selected for. To achieve that, we copy it at the point you select it for an operation and save it separately. Another issue is that you might change the original tool (in the cloud library for instance) without having a Fusion document where that tool was used open. That makes it very difficult for us to update the toolpath in the (unopened) document. 

I can see that this isn't the ideal solution and it's possible that we'll make some improvements in the future to move closer to what you've outlined above, where there's some sort of link between the tool in the document and the originally selected tool. Changes to tool values syncing with the original tool is something we've thought about too - great suggestion. 

In the near term, we're hoping to make a couple of small changes like automatically selecting the active document in the tool library when you go to select a tool, which will hopefully mean accidentally re-selecting the tool from a cloud or local library when it's already in your document is less likely. 

[Ethibaudeau]

Thanks for the feedback. Just the ability to refresh (overwrite) the local copy's tool parameters from the original library the tool was pulled from would be a time saver.

So now I think I understand the intended workflow a bit better: Copy tool from external library once, but once it is in the local document, choose that local copy for any additional toolpaths so that it doesn't create a copy. I can see now that when there is a single copy within a document, not only does tool reorder work, but changing speeds/feed parameters also get updated to all the toolpaths where that tool is used.

When I look from setup 1 to setup 2 within a document, it is very confusing. I don't know if I'm looking at copies of tools, or just references to a single tool used within the document. I don't realize it until I look at the document level tool library and see multiple tools with the same name. It would be helpful if Fusion somehow indicate at the toolpath and setup levels that the tool is a reference to a single copy within the document.