Selecting a New drilling method from the Strategy selector dialog displays the Drilling methods dialog.
Stock model — Select a stock model to reference when you create a drilling toolpath. This enables you to drill holes from the start of the material, not the block, which minimises air moves.
Processes
Processes — This area displays the defined drilling methods.
Delete — Click to delete the selected process or strategy. If no process or strategy is selected then all the processes are deleted.
Add process — Click to add a new process to the drilling method. A process is a collection of selections and strategies.
Process name — Enter the name of the Process. This field is available when you:
- Have just created a new process (by clicking on the New process button); or
- Click on a process in the Processes area.
Add strategy — Click to display the Drilling strategy dialog. Use this to define a strategy which is added to the current process. You can change the values in the Drilling dialog to reflect your requirements.
Strategy name — Enter a name for this strategy. By default this is the same as the Cycle type specified in the Drilling dialog.
Insert toolpath — Select an existing drilling toolpath, then click
to add it to the drilling method.
Insert — Click to insert the selected toolpath into the drilling method.
Note — Click to display the
Method Notes dialog. Use the dialog to enter a note about the drilling method. The notes appear at the top of the method xml file.
Save — Click to save the drilling method. This displays the
Export method
dialog.
Selection
Select by — Select how to select the required holes.
The remaining fields change their name depending on the option selected in the Select by list.
Minimum — Enter the minimum value of the item selected in the Select by list.
Maximum — Enter the maximum value of the item selected in the Select by list.
Text — Enter some text. This field changes depending on the item selected in the Select by list.
List of available values — Displays a list of all available values.
Tolerance — Enter a value to specify the selection tolerance.
List of selected values — Displays a list of all selected values. Select a value on the left hand side and click
to populate this area. These are the criteria which must be met to select a hole.
Component — Enables you to select by diameter or length of a particular hole component. This selects the Compound Hole and not just the hole component.
You can select all holes with one hole index and then drill to another. For example, you can select all compound holes with a diameter of 20 and a length of 5, and then drill them using another tool index with a diameter of 12 and a length of 25.
Clear — Click to clear all the selection criteria. This removes all the entries in the list of selected values.