PowerMill drilling automation\hole tagging plugin

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Hi Everyone!

We’re excited to share the following news… PowerMill Elite users have been asking for a better way to automate their custom drilling processes within PowerMill. Today we’re thrilled to announce a plugin that allows users to tag holes in PowerMill according to a user-defined CSV database. That database can be manually accessed but everything you need to build it also has a interactive UX inside the plugin. Users can now take more custom control of their drilling automation to suit their company’s needs.

Please view the teaser video below, to see if this will be of value to you

If you wish to investigate further, install the plugin and put it through its paces. Please go to the following page where you’ll have access to the full length tutorial recording, the sample files, and also a link to download the plugin.

[video]

https://mfghub.autodesk.com/resources/

Please note that this plugin was written as a giveaway and that the source code will also be made available soon. This will allow power-users to modify or enhance features to your exact needs.  Please send an email to na_mfg@autodesk.com, once the code is available, and we will make sure you receive instructions for access.

[jelrod]

Thank you to all involved in this plugin. I look forward to seeing what it can do for us. 

Do you know when the plugin and source code will be made available?  I sent an email and am looking forward to gaining access to the associated files. 

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

The plugin installer should be made available really soon, like this week or next at the worst I hope.  We are just looking for the easiest place to put it.  About the source code, I'm still working on the plugin with two customers that are testing it for me but once they are happy, I'll have it be public.  The process to making it public should take about a month internally so I would say 6-8 weeks before I can release it.  I wanted everyone to have access to the current state of the plugin as quick as possible simply because it's been asked for a long time so that's why I've decided to share a bit earlier.

Have a great day!

[jelrod]

Thank you for the update.

[Beta_Librae]

Hi Micheal,

You mentioned that Powermill Elite users were asking for this. Will it only be available for Elite users or will Premium users have this advantage as well?

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Hi, the source code will be public.  By elite users I mesnt people with knowledge to modify it.  The plugin installer is now available for download where the tutorial video is.

[cfastNJWK6]

I like where were this plug in is heading.  I downloaded it and installed it earlier today.  I am waiting for the source code to be made available before moving forward.  If I were to move forward with this as is, I would have to re-write and re-organize my drilling methods and quite a few macros.  I would like to see how much work it would be to rewrite the code to fit into the organizational structure I have built for my users.

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

It will all depend on what is it that you would need to change.  The big part of the plugin is around tagging the holes, not really applying toolpaths.  If the main concern is because of the way you've setupped your drilling methods or toolpaths, then it should not be too hard to change.

[Jonathan.Artiss-DSI]

@michael.grenier4GVTU 

You never fail to amaze 😉 

Great work!

Cheers,

Jonathan

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

The download link should appear at the end of the video.

[jelrod]

I have noticed that with the plugin enabled and told to load at startup that my 3d connection mouse no longer works properly with Powermill. It does for everything else. You have to disable and uncheck the load on startup box and everything works properly again. Has anyone else seen this, and is there a chance it's specific to this plugin or could it be caused by plugins in general?  Thanks

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Hi,

I've noticed the same issue with many plugin so I doubt it comes from the drilling plugin itself.  That is something that should be reported to development.  Could you create a case and send it to support to it can be looked at by one of our specialist?  If you create it, that way you'll be notified once it is fixed.

Thanks

Michael

[5axes]

I've made a quick test of the plugin, compare to a pure macro solution.

Pro :

• Reconition process time is faster with the plugin
• Hole database used for the hole recognition can be stored as a plugin option 
• Possility to modify directly via the Plugin the Hole database ( Add/Delete/Modify) 
• Possibility to specify the Hole component used for the Tag assignation

Cons :

• No recognition based on the hole Depth_type parameter
• No solution to enforce the Depth_type
• Tag and Name use the same code, so one information associate to a hole cannot be used as optional information to improve the Drilling automation process
• No tool database automaticaly associated with a Machine Cell
• No sorting option of the tagged hole or Reorder in different Feature Set
• No possibility to assign a Drilling method to a hole type  ( Hole type D10_X  -> Drilling method D10.ptf )
• No default naming of a unrecognized hole (Just Unrecognized_X that doesn't help to select  and manage this new hole in the 'Add to database' section. One solution could be to assign a default name like D25_D10_X to give a first quick information on the hole) 

So for me the choice will stay on the customized user macro, sorry 

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Hi 5 axes,

thanks for the feedback.  Couple precisions on your comments:

-The hole depth is meant for information only but the min/max hole depth are there to be used for recognition.  If you want a specific depth to be recognized, then you need to enter the same value in both fields and it will do what you want.  The reason behind that is quite simple, some people only want to look at diameters and colors.

-Sorting was never really requested by the customers I wrote it for so no the featureset won't be sorted.  The toolpaths will be though once computed.  But, when I wrote the plugin, I gave access to few user macros that are launched at different time of the processing.  In the release from the forum there is not much you can do, but in the one I'm currently working on and will update soon, there will be a macro called EndOfTagging which you'll have the ability to modify and sort your holes if you want to.

-I'm not sure about your point that we can't assign a drilling method to a specific hole tag cause we can.  If you go in the option for and select to use drilling methods, then in your selection filter in the drilling method you'll be able to set the selection method to use Hole_Type which should display the hole that was tagged by the plugin.  This way your method will only select those specific holes.

-You are right, there are no naming convention for unrecognized hole since you can click on them on the screen and see their name in the explorer on the left so I didn't bother doing it.  Problem is that I did it originally but if I show only the first component, then many holes are the same.  If I show all component, then it's a big mess and we end up simply selecting them on the screen anyway.

Hope it helps

[5axes]

So one Point for EndOfTagging.mac 

and I never mention any limitation concerning HoleDepth  but no reconition and use of the Depth_type  parameter.

Depth_type ( Through , Blind ... )  have ( for me ) a great influence on the drilling method used to realize the feature.  As we cannot modify this information directly on an existing hole, I'm using the Hole Type to store this information in the Feature, and modified if necessary a wrong description to use it in the drilling method. And this point is on my point of view the biggest limitation of your actual solution.

Not sure to share your point of you on the default name .. If  have let say 30 holes Unrecognized_1  ..  Unrecognized_2  etc etc but they are all the same  I have no fast solution to know if they are really different except clic on every hole instance.   You can call Unrecognized if you want but supress similar hole definition in the list will really simplify the process to add new detected reference in the database. 

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Haaa I see.  Sorry I misunderstood your point.  Well you are right, I use the Hole_Type to put the tag in it so it's not anymore the PowerMILL hole type.  Once I'm done with the plugin and the source code is available to you, you'll have the ability to do whatever works for you with it.

[5axes]

I dont think so  

Unfortunatly, writing a macro or a plugin doesn't  use the same competences and complexity 

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

I agree, writing a plugin is way more complicated when we start from scratch.  Modifying one is way easier if you understand the language.  I'll admit that a year ago I had never written any plugin, but I had done some Visual Basic and used Visual Studio so I had an idea how it works in general.  If you are interested in learning more about writing plugins, you can always review the advanced macro webinar I recorded last year.  It shows a basic example inside visual studio and gives you an idea of how it works.

https://mfghub.autodesk.com/resources/

Hope it helps!

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Hi Everyone,

just want to apologize for the delay in making the source code available to everyone.  There are few things internally that made the process way longer than expected.  Just want to reassure everyone that it is still coming.  I hope to be able to post the link to the repository before the end of august.  I'll keep you all posted once it's available.

[michael.grenier4GVTU]

Hi Everyone,

it's finally here!  You can now get access to the plugin source code at the following link:

https://github.com/Autodesk/powermill-api-examples/tree/master/addin-drilling-automation

Hope you enjoy it!

Michael