NC program menu

Use the NC Programs menu to create and manage NC programs in the current project.

To display the menu, in the Explorer, right-click NC Programs.

NC Programs — This is the name of the menu.

Create NC Programs — Select to create a new NC program. This displays the NC Program dialog.

Type in an appropriate Name and click Accept if you are happy with the default values. This NC Program is now the active NC program and any toolpaths that you create is added to the NC Program list as well as to the Toolpaths list. For more information see Creating Toolpaths in an NC program.

NC Program Names — Select to specify the template used to name new NC programs.

This controls the naming convention used when creating multiple entities.

• Rename — Select to display the Enter Template dialog which enables you to specify a new template.

  Enter the name of the template prefix you want to insert, and then click . This displays the prefixon the menu. New NC programs use this prefix.

  NC Program Names > Rename: None — When displayed, PowerMill does not add a prefix to new NC program names.

  NC Program Names > Rename: prefix— When displayed, PowerMill adds the prefix to new NC program names.

• Off — Select to remove the template so that all new NC programs do not use a template. Existing NC program names remain unchanged. Selecting this option changes the rename option to NC Program Names > Rename: None.

Folder Names — Select to specify the template used for all new folders.

These menu options control the naming convention used when creating multiple folders.

• Rename — Select to display the Enter Template dialog which enables you to specify a new template.

  Enter the name of the template prefix you want to insert, and then click . This displays the prefixon the menu. New folders use this prefix.

  Folder Names > Rename: None — When displayed, PowerMill does not add a prefix to new folder names.

  Folder Names > Rename: prefix— When displayed, PowerMill adds the prefix to new folder names.

• Off — Select to remove the template so that all new folders do not use a template. Existing folder names remain unchanged. Selecting this option changes the rename option to Folder Names > Rename: None.

Verify All — Select to display the NC program verification dialog.

Clear all NC Program verification — Select to clear verification for all NC programs.

Deactivate — Select to deactivate the currently active NC program.

Draw All — Select to display (draw ) all the NC programs. Toolpaths within the NC programs that are not drawn () are not displayed.

Undraw All — Select to hide (undraw ) all the NC programs.

Write All — Select to postprocess all the NC programs in the current project. Before you can do this, you need to specify the output file and the machine option file on the NC Program dialog. See postprocessing toolpaths for an example.

Setup Sheets — Select to display the Setup Sheets menu options. The options enable you to specify the settings for the setup sheets, as well as generate setup sheets.

Preferences — Select to display the NC Preferences dialog. This enables you to specify the general settings required for outputting NC programs.

Edit All — Select to display the Edit All NC Programs dialog. This enables you to specify settings for all the NC programs in the project. The fields on the dialog are the same as those on the Edit Selected NC Programs dialog.

Create Folder — Select to create a folder so you can organise entities in the Explorer. You can rename a folder in the normal way and drag and drop entities into it. See Explorer for more information.

Text Blocks — Select to display the NC Program Text dialog. This enables you to create a command item that can be added anywhere into a NC program, just like a workplane. The command items are passed directly through to the machine tool.

Statistics— Select to display the length and time of all the leads, links, and cutting moves, as well as the number of lifts in the selected NC program.

Delete All — Click to delete all the NC programs in the current project. The toolpaths in the deleted NC programs are not deleted from the project.