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Any referenced datasets can be downloaded from "Module downloads" in the module overview.
Transcript
00:09
With our project successfully setup, we're ready to start programming features.
00:14
Features in FeatureCAM allow us to eliminate a lot of the repetitive tasks associated with programming toolpath in a CAM software.
00:23
So with features, we’re essentially describing our end product, and FeatureCAM’ built-in intelligence and automation is handling a lot of the details for us.
00:34
We'll get a deeper look at that as we work through this course.
00:37
But for this project, let's create a feature from dimensions and a feature from curves.
00:43
And let's start with the feature from curves.
00:45
As it sounds, features from curves in dimensions require a curve or a profile to help define the feature that we would like to mill.
00:55
So, before we create our features from curves, let's create a profile to define our feature.
01:01
To do this, let's use FeatureCAM’s geometry constructor tools.
01:06
These can be found in one of two places.
01:08
First, we can find it in our Home tab in the Create section, we have a geometry drop-down, that breaks down our constructors into their different types, line constructors, circle constructors, fillets, arcs, dimensioning tools, and editing tools.
01:24
The second place we can find our geometry constructors is in the Construct tab of our ribbon.
01:29
Here we can see there's an entire geometry section with the different types of constructors already organized.
01:36
Let's start by creating three circles in a triangular formation.
01:41
So to do this, I'm going to select the circle drop-down, and let's select the center radius option.
01:47
Down below, you'll now see that I have the option to define a radius for the circle
01:52
and where I want the X, Y, Z location of the center of the circle to be.
01:57
Let's use a radius of half of an inch.
02:00
And rather than entering in an exact value for the X, Y, Z, let's physically place the circle in the graphics window inside of our part.
02:10
So I'll place three circles in a triangular formation.
02:13
Don't worry if it's not perfect.
02:16
And with those three circles placed, let's connect those circles using some line constructors.
02:22
When creating geometry in FeatureCAM, FeatureCAM has something called snapping modes to help us physically place geometry in our graphics window.
02:33
These snap modes help us to find relationships between different pieces of geometry.
02:38
For this exercise, let's make sure that tangent to objects is selected.
02:43
This means that as I create a new line using the two points line constructor, as I hover over the circle, you'll notice in the bottom left corner, in very small font, it says tangent to circle.
02:56
So now I know that I'm snapping the first point of these two points to define this line to a tangency of this top circle.
03:04
So I'll select that, and then I'll select this bottom circle.
03:08
Continue to do so until we've created a profile connecting these three circles.
03:15
Now that we've created our geometry, we need to turn it into a single profile.
03:20
Right now, we essentially have six different segments, three circles and three lines.
03:26
So to turn this into one entity or profile for FeatureCAM to look at and use to define our pocket that we'll be machining, we're going to want to use what's called Curves.
03:38
You'll notice just to the right of my geometry section is a section called Curves.
03:43
Specifically we’ll want to look at the curve chaining options.
03:46
Now we're creating a closed curve here, so we could select closed, but to do the exact same thing, I want to show you the pick pieces option.
03:55
With "Pick Pieces" selected, I can simply click along the outer profile of this curve.
04:01
See the blue highlight of what this curve will be, until I've gone around the circle completely.
04:08
So with that curve defined, that blue preview looks good.
04:11
I'll select "Create" and we're ready to turn this curve into a feature from curves.
04:17
Similar to our geometry, our new feature wizard can be found in one of two locations, either in the features in Manufacturing tab of our ribbon, we can do different mill features from curves.
04:29
Or we could go back to our Home tab and select Feature in the Part Program section.
04:35
Here, we'll see the different features we can create in FeatureCAM using a variety of methods.
04:42
We have features from dimensions where we'll simply describe the size and dimension of a given feature, features from curves that will require a pre-created profile, and then features from features.
04:53
But let's start by creating a pocket in the From Curve section.
04:58
Here we can see curve 1, which we just created, is already there.
05:02
But in case it weren't there, I'm going to select curve 1 and hit the red X, this takes it out of our window.
05:09
And I can either select the curve here in the graphics window, or I can select it on the left in our Part View under the curves section.
05:17
If I select curve 1 and hit the green add button, I've added that into our new feature curves window.
05:24
Since I've selected the curve we want to use to define this pocket, I'll press "Next" and now we can define where we want this feature located in the Z.
05:33
Now as you'll recall, we placed the touch off point on the top face of this part in the lower left corner.
05:40
So at this point, we can simply enter an offset Z location of zero because we want the top of this feature starting at Z equals zero, which is the top of our part.
05:53
With the top of our feature defined, now we can define the specific dimensions of this part.
05:59
We could give the walls a draft angle, the top edge a chamfer, the full depth of the pocket.
06:06
We can even include a bottom radius for this pocket.
06:09
Let's keep this pocket simple by going with a draft angle, chamfer, and bottom radius of zero and a depth of half of an inch.
06:18
At any point through this wizard, I can select preview and see a preview of what this will look like in the graphics window.
06:25
Finally, we can indicate what strategies we would like to use for the physical machining of this feature.
06:31
By default, we can see that FeatureCAM has checked climb mill, rough pass, and finish pass.
06:38
So in this case, we’ll be climb milling both a roughing and a finishing operation.
06:43
With that, we can hit "Next" and see an overview of the operations we just created.
06:50
Like I mentioned, FeatureCAM has created a roughing operation and a finishing operation for us.
06:55
It's selected an appropriate tool to machine this part, and it's determined feeds and speeds based off of the feature and the material we'll be cutting with.
07:05
Let's press "Finish".
07:07
And again, just like our stock, we’re met with a Pocket Properties window
07:11
where we can go back and change any of the properties of this pocket at any point.
07:16
Let's hit "OK" to close that and move on to creating a feature from dimensions.
07:22
In this case, let's create a hole feature in the From Dimension section.
07:26
And we'll step through this wizard and define the location and the size of this hole.
07:32
But before we move on, let's also check to make a pattern from this feature.
07:37
This way, we can create multiple holes by stepping through this wizard only once.
07:44
FeatureCAM gives us the option to create a variety of different holes, plain holes, counter bored, tapped, and so on.
07:51
For this case, let's go with a plain hole that simply has a depth of an inch and a diameter of a quarter of an inch.
08:00
And next, let's define how we would like to pattern this hole.
08:04
We have a few different options.
08:06
We could do a linear pattern, a radial pattern, a rectangular pattern, or a points-less pattern, where we specify exact locations for each individual hole.
08:17
Let's keep it easy and go with a rectangular pattern.
08:20
And in this case, let's define a row number of two, a row spacing of five.
08:27
A number which you can think of as your column number also of two and a spacing of five for that as well.
08:36
Before we move on, I can select Preview and see a quick little preview of what this pattern will look like.
08:42
That looks good right now.
08:44
So now let's just define where we want this pattern to be located.
08:47
In this case, we're locating the lower left corner of this pattern.
08:52
In this case, what we enter in as our position is going to be where this lower left hole is located.
08:60
Let's locate this lower left hole at 1.5 in the X, 1.5 in the Y, and 0 in the Z.
09:11
As I select Preview, we can now see we have a rectangular pattern of holes surrounding our triangular pocket.
09:18
With that, we can hit "Next", define our strategies.
09:22
This one will be simple, we just have spot drill and drill checked, so as I press "Next", we'll see that FeatureCAM has created a spot drilling operation, using a center drill and a drilling operation using a standard quarter inch twist drill.
09:37
Now we can select "Finish", change any parameters if we want.
09:41
Let's just hit "OK".
09:43
And with that, we've created two features, a feature from curves to create a triangular shaped pocket and a pattern feature from dimensions to create four identical holes patterned in a rectangular fashion.
09:58
With that, we're ready to simulate the machining of our features and make any necessary revisions.
Video transcript
00:09
With our project successfully setup, we're ready to start programming features.
00:14
Features in FeatureCAM allow us to eliminate a lot of the repetitive tasks associated with programming toolpath in a CAM software.
00:23
So with features, we’re essentially describing our end product, and FeatureCAM’ built-in intelligence and automation is handling a lot of the details for us.
00:34
We'll get a deeper look at that as we work through this course.
00:37
But for this project, let's create a feature from dimensions and a feature from curves.
00:43
And let's start with the feature from curves.
00:45
As it sounds, features from curves in dimensions require a curve or a profile to help define the feature that we would like to mill.
00:55
So, before we create our features from curves, let's create a profile to define our feature.
01:01
To do this, let's use FeatureCAM’s geometry constructor tools.
01:06
These can be found in one of two places.
01:08
First, we can find it in our Home tab in the Create section, we have a geometry drop-down, that breaks down our constructors into their different types, line constructors, circle constructors, fillets, arcs, dimensioning tools, and editing tools.
01:24
The second place we can find our geometry constructors is in the Construct tab of our ribbon.
01:29
Here we can see there's an entire geometry section with the different types of constructors already organized.
01:36
Let's start by creating three circles in a triangular formation.
01:41
So to do this, I'm going to select the circle drop-down, and let's select the center radius option.
01:47
Down below, you'll now see that I have the option to define a radius for the circle
01:52
and where I want the X, Y, Z location of the center of the circle to be.
01:57
Let's use a radius of half of an inch.
02:00
And rather than entering in an exact value for the X, Y, Z, let's physically place the circle in the graphics window inside of our part.
02:10
So I'll place three circles in a triangular formation.
02:13
Don't worry if it's not perfect.
02:16
And with those three circles placed, let's connect those circles using some line constructors.
02:22
When creating geometry in FeatureCAM, FeatureCAM has something called snapping modes to help us physically place geometry in our graphics window.
02:33
These snap modes help us to find relationships between different pieces of geometry.
02:38
For this exercise, let's make sure that tangent to objects is selected.
02:43
This means that as I create a new line using the two points line constructor, as I hover over the circle, you'll notice in the bottom left corner, in very small font, it says tangent to circle.
02:56
So now I know that I'm snapping the first point of these two points to define this line to a tangency of this top circle.
03:04
So I'll select that, and then I'll select this bottom circle.
03:08
Continue to do so until we've created a profile connecting these three circles.
03:15
Now that we've created our geometry, we need to turn it into a single profile.
03:20
Right now, we essentially have six different segments, three circles and three lines.
03:26
So to turn this into one entity or profile for FeatureCAM to look at and use to define our pocket that we'll be machining, we're going to want to use what's called Curves.
03:38
You'll notice just to the right of my geometry section is a section called Curves.
03:43
Specifically we’ll want to look at the curve chaining options.
03:46
Now we're creating a closed curve here, so we could select closed, but to do the exact same thing, I want to show you the pick pieces option.
03:55
With "Pick Pieces" selected, I can simply click along the outer profile of this curve.
04:01
See the blue highlight of what this curve will be, until I've gone around the circle completely.
04:08
So with that curve defined, that blue preview looks good.
04:11
I'll select "Create" and we're ready to turn this curve into a feature from curves.
04:17
Similar to our geometry, our new feature wizard can be found in one of two locations, either in the features in Manufacturing tab of our ribbon, we can do different mill features from curves.
04:29
Or we could go back to our Home tab and select Feature in the Part Program section.
04:35
Here, we'll see the different features we can create in FeatureCAM using a variety of methods.
04:42
We have features from dimensions where we'll simply describe the size and dimension of a given feature, features from curves that will require a pre-created profile, and then features from features.
04:53
But let's start by creating a pocket in the From Curve section.
04:58
Here we can see curve 1, which we just created, is already there.
05:02
But in case it weren't there, I'm going to select curve 1 and hit the red X, this takes it out of our window.
05:09
And I can either select the curve here in the graphics window, or I can select it on the left in our Part View under the curves section.
05:17
If I select curve 1 and hit the green add button, I've added that into our new feature curves window.
05:24
Since I've selected the curve we want to use to define this pocket, I'll press "Next" and now we can define where we want this feature located in the Z.
05:33
Now as you'll recall, we placed the touch off point on the top face of this part in the lower left corner.
05:40
So at this point, we can simply enter an offset Z location of zero because we want the top of this feature starting at Z equals zero, which is the top of our part.
05:53
With the top of our feature defined, now we can define the specific dimensions of this part.
05:59
We could give the walls a draft angle, the top edge a chamfer, the full depth of the pocket.
06:06
We can even include a bottom radius for this pocket.
06:09
Let's keep this pocket simple by going with a draft angle, chamfer, and bottom radius of zero and a depth of half of an inch.
06:18
At any point through this wizard, I can select preview and see a preview of what this will look like in the graphics window.
06:25
Finally, we can indicate what strategies we would like to use for the physical machining of this feature.
06:31
By default, we can see that FeatureCAM has checked climb mill, rough pass, and finish pass.
06:38
So in this case, we’ll be climb milling both a roughing and a finishing operation.
06:43
With that, we can hit "Next" and see an overview of the operations we just created.
06:50
Like I mentioned, FeatureCAM has created a roughing operation and a finishing operation for us.
06:55
It's selected an appropriate tool to machine this part, and it's determined feeds and speeds based off of the feature and the material we'll be cutting with.
07:05
Let's press "Finish".
07:07
And again, just like our stock, we’re met with a Pocket Properties window
07:11
where we can go back and change any of the properties of this pocket at any point.
07:16
Let's hit "OK" to close that and move on to creating a feature from dimensions.
07:22
In this case, let's create a hole feature in the From Dimension section.
07:26
And we'll step through this wizard and define the location and the size of this hole.
07:32
But before we move on, let's also check to make a pattern from this feature.
07:37
This way, we can create multiple holes by stepping through this wizard only once.
07:44
FeatureCAM gives us the option to create a variety of different holes, plain holes, counter bored, tapped, and so on.
07:51
For this case, let's go with a plain hole that simply has a depth of an inch and a diameter of a quarter of an inch.
08:00
And next, let's define how we would like to pattern this hole.
08:04
We have a few different options.
08:06
We could do a linear pattern, a radial pattern, a rectangular pattern, or a points-less pattern, where we specify exact locations for each individual hole.
08:17
Let's keep it easy and go with a rectangular pattern.
08:20
And in this case, let's define a row number of two, a row spacing of five.
08:27
A number which you can think of as your column number also of two and a spacing of five for that as well.
08:36
Before we move on, I can select Preview and see a quick little preview of what this pattern will look like.
08:42
That looks good right now.
08:44
So now let's just define where we want this pattern to be located.
08:47
In this case, we're locating the lower left corner of this pattern.
08:52
In this case, what we enter in as our position is going to be where this lower left hole is located.
08:60
Let's locate this lower left hole at 1.5 in the X, 1.5 in the Y, and 0 in the Z.
09:11
As I select Preview, we can now see we have a rectangular pattern of holes surrounding our triangular pocket.
09:18
With that, we can hit "Next", define our strategies.
09:22
This one will be simple, we just have spot drill and drill checked, so as I press "Next", we'll see that FeatureCAM has created a spot drilling operation, using a center drill and a drilling operation using a standard quarter inch twist drill.
09:37
Now we can select "Finish", change any parameters if we want.
09:41
Let's just hit "OK".
09:43
And with that, we've created two features, a feature from curves to create a triangular shaped pocket and a pattern feature from dimensions to create four identical holes patterned in a rectangular fashion.
09:58
With that, we're ready to simulate the machining of our features and make any necessary revisions.
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