This example explains how to assign thickness values to a set of components.
- Click Home tab > Toolpath Setup panel > Thickness to display the
Component Thickness dialog and select the
Surfaces tab.
- Select an
Entity of either
Toolpaths
or
Boundaries
, depending on whether the component thickness data is to be associated with a toolpath or a boundary.
- Expand the
Filter by Toolpaths or Boundary list and select the particular toolpath or boundary to which the thickness data refers. Alternatively click
to copy thickness data from an existing toolpath or boundary.
- Select a set from the thickness list table.
- You can acquire additional components from the graphics area for the set. To do so, select the additional components using the left mouse button and then click
Acquire Components.
A component can only belong to one set at a time. If you acquire a component that is already acquired by a set, the component is removed from the first set and acquired by the second.
To display all the components of a set in the graphics area, select the set and then click
Select Components.
- To remove individual components from the selected set, select them in the graphics area and then click
Remove Components.
- To remove all the components from the selected set, click
Remove All Components.
- To copy in the values from the
Surface Defaults tab, click
Copy in Default Thickness Data.
When you create a new set of thickness data for a toolpath or boundary, the values currently in the
Surface Defaults
tab are automatically copied into this dialog, but if you change the
Surface Defaults they are not updated unless you click
.
- Click
to bring up the
Selection dialog to select components by
Model,
Colour, or
Levels and Sets.
- Having acquired all the necessary components for a set, specify the
Thickness values:
- Select
Use Axial Thickness if you want to specify separate
Radial
and
Axial Thickness values. When deselected, you can only enter a single
Thickness value.
- Thickness applies the thickness as an offset to the tool in all directions.
- Radial Thickness
applies the thickness as an offset to the tool radially. This controls the size of tool used for machining relative to the actual tool.
- Axial Thickness
applies the thickness as an offset to the tool in the tool axis direction only. This controls the tip position of the tool used for machining relative to the actual tool.
- Select the
Machining Mode for the set.
The option selected here determines the colour displayed in the
Mode
column below. The default colours are white for
Machine, yellow for
Collision, and red for
Ignore. Click File tab > Options > Customise Colours > Machining Mode and use the
Customise Colours dialog to change the colours..
- Repeat from step 4 as required, and review your sets when they are complete:
- The
Set
column displays either the toolpath
or the boundary
icon, depending on the option selected in the
Entity list.
- The
Mode
column displays the type of machining mode selected for these components.
- The
Thickness
column displays the thickness (or
Radial Thickness) applied to the set's components within this dialog.
- The
Axial
column displays the
Axial Thickness applied to the set's components within this dialog.
- The
Total Thickness
column displays the total
Thickness (or
Radial Thickness) applied to the set's components (that is
Area Clearance plus
Finishing plus
Components plus
Collision Checking).
- The
Total Axial
column displays the total
Axial Thickness applied to the set's components (that is
Area Clearance plus
Finishing plus
Components plus
Collision Checking).
- The
Components column displays the number of components selected to have the associated thickness values.
- Each set when selected has a colour alongside it. This is the colour that is used to shade the set's components when
Thickness Shade
is selected from the
Shading
toolbar. If you want to change these colours, click File tab > Options > Customise Colours to display the
Customise Colours dialog and select
Default Thickness Sets.