Form Tool

You can create your own complex tools by defining a half-profile of your Form Tool in terms of line and arc spans.

PowerMill enables fast and easy construction of accurate and complex tool assemblies by importing a pattern or using the curve editor.

• You can import a tool profile with any shape and in any file format.
• You can create tool profiles using the curve editor.
• You can create tool profiles from arcs, curves, lines, or other .dgk curves.
• You can create tool profiles from patterns.
• The resulting curve does not have to be one single composite curve.
• As long as the geometry contains a valid profile, PowerMill imports the components.
• Tool profiles containing negative Y moves are imported, but the negative moves are ignored.
• Gaps between curves in the tool profile must be less that 10-5 mm.

Note: The tool profile is a polygonised approximation of the input profile.

To display the Form tool dialog, click Home tab > Tool panel > Create Tool > Form. The dialog contains the following settings:

Name — Enter the name of the tool.

Geometry — This area of the tab displays the form tool you are currently creating.

Selected pattern — Select a pattern from the list. If no pattern is displayed, or is selected, then no pattern is selected. The list contains a list of all available patterns.

Select picked pattern — Click to select a pattern by picking in the graphics window, rather than by name in the Select pattern list.

Clicking displays the Pick Entity tab. Select a pattern in the graphics window to close the Pick Entity tab and display the pattern in the Selected Pattern field.

Create profile from pattern — Click to create the profile from the selected pattern.

Add line span — Click to add a line span to the profile. When you add a span specify its dimensions in the Span dimensions area.

Add arc span — Click to add an arc span to the profile. When you add a span specify its dimensions in the Span dimensions area.

Remove span — Click to remove the last span.

Clear tool profile — Click to clear all spans from the profile.

Load tool profile — Click to load an existing tool profile.

You can import form tools and routing tools from any supported file and patterns with complex geometry and negative Y moves.

Gaps between curves in the profile shank must be less than 10-5.

Save tool profile — Click to save the tip only. The shank and holder are not saved.

Span Dimensions — Enter values to specify the length and location of spans as you add them to the tool profile.

Start (X,Y) — Enter a value to specify the start point of the next segment.

Centre (X,Y) — Enter a value to specify the centre point of an arc segment.

End (X,Y) — Enter a value to specify the end point of the next segment.

Update Span — Click to update a span after changing its dimensions.

Tool Status — Check the field to make sure you are creating a valid tool. When you change the tool geometry the status is automatically updated.

Tool Number — Enter the tool number. This is allocated to the tool and added to the cut file.

Number of Flutes — Enter the number of flutes on the tool.

Tool Assembly — This area displays the defined parts of the tool assembly as well as the holder profile.

tool

shank

holder

holder profile

— Select a value from the list to zoom in or out of the tool assembly. You can then use the mouse to pan the image.

— Use the slide bar to zoom in or out of the tool assembly. You can then use the mouse to pan the image.

Tool Assembly Preview — Click to display the Tool Assembly Preview dialog. The dialog is useful for looking in detail at large tool assemblies that are too large to be seen effectively in the Tool Assembly pane.

Load Tool Assembly — Click to display the Import Tool Assembly dialog. The dialog enables you to load a tool, shank and holder profile that has been created in PowerShape or an alternative CAD program. A tool assembly must have the tool defined in yellow, the shank in green and the holder in pink.

Copy Tool — Click to create a new tool entity based on the current tool. It has the same name as the previous tool with the addition of _1. You can then change any parameters you want without changing the original tool, but you need to bear in mind that, where the original tool is used in an active toolpath, the new tool assembly replaces the original tool assembly. Use this to create a shank and/or holder for an existing tool definition and is useful when collision checking.

Clear Tool Assembly — Click to delete all items in the tool assembly. This is displayed in the Explorer to tell you that the tool is not valid.

Add Tool to Tool Database — Click to display the Tool Database Export dialog. Adding a tool to the Tool Database is useful if you want to reuse the tool in the future.

For more information, see Creating a form tool and Creating a form tool, shank and holder in PowerShape.