Drilling methods holders

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am trying to setup a drilling method to machine fixture holes in powermill. Everything looks great but one thing:

The holder gets messed up when i run the drilling method. The holder is important for us because we use that geometry to export to Vericut.

Does anyone else got that problem or are you guys able to import the holder from the database?

[ChristopherMarion]

Hello @Anonymous 

I am almost positive I reported this issue for a customer about a year ago.  I cannot remember the trigger at the top of my head.  Perhaps someone on the Autodesk side can look into this development task.

[Anonymous]

Messed up how? - can you elaborate?

[dames99]

I have the same issue. If you have the tool loaded in the Pmill project used to create the drilling method, it works just fine. If you don't have the tool when Pmill creates the tool for you it seems to loose the holder and it creates some funky holder itself.

[dames99]

If the tools are loaded before hand it works correctly.

[dames99]

Hi Chris,

I remember this issue from back in the Delcam days as well.

[Anonymous]

You have to have the actual tools in the tool database or as a tool
template preloaded for the proper tools to come in - the Method does not
record the tool data, but rather the tool value information

[image: image.png]

[ChristopherMarion]

@dames99 , @Anonymous 

That is exactly it.  When the tools are not available in the project, the methods creates the holder components out of order.  Unlike a standard toolpath template, where the tool is recreated exactly how it was stored.

Should still be classified as a bug and it was reported.  Looks like it has not been fixed yet.

Workaround is to make sure the tools are loaded into the project before the method is ran.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't call it a bug so much as a compromise. The methods function in 2
ways, pulling a tool from the project that is called out in the Method
(quickest process) vs calling a tool out that is in the tool library
(slowest process, due to the inherent slow process of the tool library) If
you were to add into the code the ability and process to calculate and
build the tool necessary it would slow the calculation down to the point
of being unusable by the end user...exponentially slower depending on the
size of the Method and how many processes are attached to it.

[dames99]

I never noticed that before. I realized that it used the tool when the template was loaded, but I did not realize that without the template tool, it pulled from the database. In an effort to keep my database size down, I have several databases for different machines. When I switch to the right one (in use when the method was created) it works as expected. I agree it's not so much a bug as it is user error. I think that's part of Pmill that could be improved though.

Thanks for all the info!