To interactively reposition the Machine Tool

You can improve the machine tool's access to the workpiece by repositioning the machine tool with the dynamic machine control's interactive features.

Tip: You may find it useful to use the interactive features to reposition the machine tool approximately and then use the Dynamic machine control dialog to position the machine tool more accurately.

The interactive features include:

Jump to a point

Double-clicking on the model makes the machine tool jump to the selected point.

Hold down Shift and double-click on the active toolpath to make the machine tool jump to the selected point and adopt the tool axis specified by the toolpath. To display the tool axes of a toolpath, in the Explorer, right-click the active toolpath and select Drawing Options > Draw Tool Axes.

Grab-handles

Each grab-handle is associated with an axis. By dragging a grab-handle, you move the machine tool within the associated axis. The circular grab-handles rotate the tool axis, and the linear grab-handles move the tool along a single axis. There are two sets of grab-handles that you can toggle between so you can achieve the best tool configuration and tool axis:

Click Dynamic Machine Control tab > Tool Axis Controls panel > Active Workplane Graphics to display the grab-handles aligned to the currently active workplane .

Click Dynamic Machine Control tab > Tool Axis Controls panel > Machine Tool Graphics to display the grab-handles aligned to the axes of the machine tool .

When you hover the cursor over a drag-handle, the drag-handle is highlighted. You can then drag the machine tool into a new position.

Dragging the tool

When you hover the cursor over the tool, the cursor changes to . This enables you to drag the machine tool free-hand across the model.

Tip: Dragging the tool free-hand (or 'scanning' the model with the machine tool) is a useful technique for quickly seeing if the current tool axis is appropriate for machining the surface of interest.