NEW Tool Library

[veso58S5W]

😫that's first impression.
What was the reason to change?
Why mess up good things?
How you organize tools? If I want list to be by #. Or by diameters?
Renumber Tool, now I must go through several operations.

[christopher.cooperVHK2N]

@Anonymous  We have tasks for both of the suggestions you have made and it helps that you point them out because it means the team are focusing on developing stuff that adds value to users!

Also, I will attach your comments to the tasks which will help with ranking the work in order of importance.

Ref - CAM-20472 User should be able to sort by description.

Ref - CAM-20019 Sorting not taking units into account.

Thanks

[christopher.cooperVHK2N]

@Anonymous There has been suggestions about adding an advanced tab where users could add comments for 'tool bin' location that would be added to set up sheets and maybe the nc code? Its in the early stages of discussion so could this be used to incorporate your proposed - Maybe the simple approach for now is a generic "notes" box/field in the "general" tool info tab where we can add text? 

Would this just be a reference only field or would you expect the it to be passed on?

With regards to - Also, to mention along with others' comments, the ability to customize by adding or removing columns showing tool info, one would be nice to show corner rad. for bull nose endmills.

Do you mean in the tool list?

[rhdfmail]

My comment about ability to set cornerradius/chamfer for flat endmills instead of having to define tools as bullnose is due to the fact that a bullnose basicly is a endmill with a cornerradius. 

Is a 8mm endmill with 0.2mm cornerradius a bullnose? the majority would say no. But to be able to keep track of them in the library you have to define them as bullnose

My suggestion is to merge flat endmills with bullnose and simply call them "endmill" 

Definining chamfer is probably a bit more work since that need additional fields in the data-structure for tools 
Most basic would be to hav a field for corner-radius and a checkbox to convert the radius to a chamfer

[LibertyMachine]

@rhdfmail I wouldn't go so far as to suggest the majority would agree with you. Bullnose and flat endmills are two distinctly different animals, and often serve different purposes (roughing vs. finishing). Yes, they both remove material and function as endmills, but rads are rads, and flats are flats. Two different tool types. I would not support the merging of them, and I hope the Library team would feel the same. What software are you coming from where they were considered the same animal? 

[rhdfmail]

No, the are not the same animal, but what would you call a 16mm endmill with 0.5mm radius? Or one with 0.2mm ?
Is there a clear definition for a bullnose like: "radius is more than X% of diameter" ?

Is a finishing enmill the same animal as a chipbreaker? No? but they are both called endmills, completly different purpose.

So why not merge all endmill-ish tools into one type and then give us parameters to define how the tip looks like?
Or just simply give us parameter for cornerradius on the endmills.. wich basicly makes them a clone of the bullnose-type but with another default name...

[christopher.cooperVHK2N]

@rhdfmail @LibertyMachine  Having just a meeting with the development team for the tool library adding additional parameters to tool types will not be an easy fix and will need to incorporate multiple teams due to the impact the changes will have on both the toolpath and simulation algorithms. 

Although I am not apposed to these changes I do have to weigh up the work done to users delight and for this I would need more users to show support for the change. 

We have a very ambitious roadmap for FY21 with the potential for both new and improved functionality within the tool library but I will happily rank users suggestions higher in order if that is what the majority of the community deems important.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Hi, 

Yes, the "notes" field can just be used for reference (at least initially). I don't see the need to have this info output to the code at this time to hopefully get this implemented with a little less work on your end.

Yes, in the tool list, there are columns for tool diameter, length, etc. and it would also be nice to have the ability to customize and add/remove columns for tool radius for bull nose endmills and also move them around to sort the info?

Again, kudos to the Fusion team for a great product and your attentiveness to our suggestions and comments.

[nick_p3dcreations]

Just wanted to update- I've been using the new tool library daily since the last update and it's MUCH better now. I think my biggest complaint is simply the filtering performance. I have a huge number of tools (my personal tool library plus the entire Harvey/Helical/Datron catalogs) and it's painfully slow when filtering.

Aside from that (and the other known shortcomings that have been beat to death/ are WIP) though, I'm loving it. Can't wait for the next update to come out. It's already helping me save a ton of time by having the speeds and feeds presets.

I'd love a "save new preset" button from the operation dialog too, so I can push new recipes back to the library instead of having to stop, open the library, input the data, and reselect the tool. I don't know if that would work with the current way tools are duplicated into the design though- A change might only affect the tool for the current Fusion design and not propagate back to the main library.

[christopher.cooperVHK2N]

@nick_p3dcreations Its great to here that you can start using the library practically now and are benefiting from the additional features the team have worked hard to implement over the last few months.

I will raise your suggestion with the team as I think it would be beneficial to the community and update you on the outcome.

Thankyou for your feedback and continued use on the new tool library.

[rhdfmail]

To be able to push presets back to main library is a great idea. 
To extend that it would sometimes be usefull to be able to push edits of a tool back to the library instead of having to remember to edit the library version too "later" (I.E never)

[nick_p3dcreations]

Absolutely, that would be wonderful as well. I have the same problem. Even just a dialog that says "update tool in original library? (Yes/No/Cancel)" would be great.

While we're on features we'd like to see,  maybe add a field for quantity in stock, or at least some other customizable user fields. Unique ID/Barcode, maybe user pictures?

I currently maintain a separate tool database in Airtable, but I hate having to keep the two synced just to know what I have in the drawer. It'd be great to be able to at least manage inventory at a super basic level from within Fusion. When setting up a job and selecting tools, being able to filter by "in stock" would be a lifesaver for us job shops.

I've been seriously considering building a tool that can parse the Fusion tool library format, import it into my database, and allow me to add my fields and make edits offline, and then push updates back into Fusion. Maybe even see if I can use the API to automate the export/import process and upload only new tools and delete/re-import changed ones. But that's more of an undertaking than I've had time for thus far. Maybe with the current isolation situation I'll look into it.

[dennyreedjr]

This new tool UI is a vast improvement over the initial preview. Some things I would still like to see changed, are:

1. We probably all can agree that it needs to open with the same view it was left in. Having every library opened up is ridiculous, to say the least. Having to re-sort the table every time sucks.

1a. Modifying a tool from the document library doesn't update the tool from the original library it came from. WTH is that about? It means I have very little use for the library created for the document I'm programming. It becomes a useless list in the way of the library I'm using, it's only useful to me at the end of programming to verify tool numbers, which I get that info from my setup sheets.

2. Store formulas in the data fields. I like to use formulas to determine my ramp and plunge feeds. As it is you can use the formulas but they are overwritten by the result as soon as you exit that particular tool. 

2a. The use of formulas that are saved in each data filed would bring me to want a (save tool as) button. With these two options, one could simply set up a master tool and only modify the few terms needed when adding new tools. This would especially be useful with drills as I generally use the same feeds and speeds for a whole size range of tools.

3. Tool holders. Where to start? Oh, I don't know. For a cad system to not allow you to upload a cad file for any tool holder, or form tool for that matter is also ridiculous. I don't even bother with the tool holder avoidance unless I'm programming for five-axis machining. At the very least F360 should have the major brand name tool holders in the system to start with.

I think if these 3 major items get resolved it will be very useful until then I dunno, it is clucky, it's taking far to many clicks and workarounds to accomplish pretty basic things that result in more time in front of the computer instead of out on the shop floor, where ultimately the money is made.

[nick_p3dcreations]

Hey, just wanted to check in since I noticed we got a new update to this (V0.50.2) in the update today.

Can we get a changelog? I already noticed the settings icon for the columns. I can now see the comment field with my tool ID numbers, and it looks like I can drag those up and down to reorder them. Nice!!
I'll go exploring some more after I get this part programmed. Looking good guys 🙂

Edit: Other things I noticed-
-IMMENSE performance improvements.
-When right clicking on tools, there's a new "Apply Holder to Tool" option. I'm unclear on what this does right now.
-Ability to edit cutting data presets with the button right above the cutting data preview (without first right clicking to edit the tool)

Things we're still missing that are important (at least to me?):
-No renumber tools option (but it's at least easier to do it manually since it's fast now)
-ANSI insert codes for threading still not quite right, not filling in size data. Not a big deal, that's just a convenience thing and I can always use the ISO equivalent if I'm feeling that lazy
-I still have a lot of tools that pop up as "Failed to load" from my lathe tools library as well as the Harvey Tool library. Is there a place to find a logfile for that? I'm curious if I can find a pattern on the tools that don't load.

[nick_p3dcreations]

Apparently it's too late to edit the last post.

I also noticed the gui isn't "sticky". That is, if you change your columns and such it does not remember it after you close and re-open the tool library. Looking forward to that being added in the future 🙂

This is getting super close though, I'll keep using it and report back if I find anything funky.
Thanks Autodesk!

[MatthewPBryant]

Hi @nick_p3dcreations, 

It's great to hear you've seen the new features and are enjoying them. You can find the full list of new features on the What's New page for Fusion360, which you can get to by clicking my link, or by clicking the 'help' question mark in the top right of Fusion and then selecting 'What's New'. There are more details on that page but it looks like you've already found the new features we've added in this release: 

1. Customisable columns
2. Apply holder to tools
3. Edit preset button

To use the 'Apply holder to tools' feature, copy a holder (using the right-click menu or the button at the top of the tool list), then select any number of tools in one of your tool libraries and select 'Apply holder to tools'. The holder you've copied will be applied to all the selected tools. If any of the tools already had a holder, you will receive a warning message checking you would like to overwrite the holders.

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions for improvement. We have already identified all the issues you raised and will be working hard to get the features you've asked for in your hands soon! Please keep posting with any other feedback you have, its all really helpful for us!

Matt

[rhdfmail]

latest update looks a lot better.  The description-field is still not sortable AND you cant have only the description you type in. Instead it is  toolnumber-<diameter> <lengt below holder> (My own description). The 3 first "parameters" has its own columns so, what are they doing glued together with the  description?

[christopher.cooperVHK2N]

@rhdfmail We have worked lined up to rename the description field to 'Name' and add the description field to filters.

The 'Name' column will be filterable and the we envisage the contents to be;

On creating a new Milling tool the Name defined should incorporate - Diameter - Radi or chamfer if applicable - tool type - (Tool Description if applicable).

On creating a new Turning tool the Name defined should incorporate - Insert code - Holder code - (Tool Description if applicable).

Thanks

[SADIM_cnc1]

Hi everyone,

first, thank you very much for the constant effort to improve the product, this is happening on a steady pace which is great.

I like the new tool library, but I miss the "suppress unused tools" in the open documents tool list.

The feature exists on the standard tool library but has not been kept in the new one. Do we have a chance to get it back?

Beside, it would be nice to see some improvement for the setup and graphic representation of this particular tool:

turning/internal tool holder/threading tool

As of today we use a workaround by using a face tool and a rotation, but it isn't as slick as we want it to be. not a biggie, but you know.. 🙂

keep it coming! thanks,

Remi

[christopher.cooperVHK2N]

@SADIM_cnc1  The development team have completed the work already on adding the 'Remove unused tools' in the new library and you should see that soon hopefully.

Turning tool improvements are on the roadmap and will include threading tools.

Glad you are having a positive experience and thanks for the feedback.

[rhdfmail]

In my oppinion it should be the other way around..
name = what you call the tool in, for example, the tooltable in the machine  ("DRILL-8.0-HSS")
description =  Diameter - Radi or chamfer if applicable - tool type - (Tool NAME).

There is various places in the software where you find settins for  "tool by NAME" 
in the tooltable for Heidenhain and Sinumerik its Name and I have always been a bit annoyed about the fact it is called description in the old (and new) tool library

a name is just a name, a description gives more info about what that name really is, like: "8.0mm HSS-Drill tip-angle 130"