[countryguy]

I have a plate (image below) that needs to be drilled and then mill-cut out. I wanted to continue my learning w/ Dolphin and figured I would learn how to let the CAM tool and gCode to the drilling work for me. I cannot seem to figure out how to get a CAM contour linked to a drill operation? I have read the manual for the Drill operations. The canned patterns do not fit my need I think. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

Attachment 293792

[andre-dolphin]

Hello,

I assume you mean that you want Mill the circular contours rather than drilling them, although you may need to drill them first to start the tool ?

There are a couple of way to do this.

Using Goround - set the Approach to Whole Contour and then set the Z step depth under the Z axis tab - this will in effect produce a spiral toolpath.

Using Area Clear - use the Ramp option - Spiral drilling - this will also produce a spiral path but will clear the area as well. Check the "Machine out from centre" box on the Options tab.

I have attached a zip file contains an example.

Hope this helps

ATB
Andre

[countryguy]

Hi Andre- I just wanted to drill them. Rather than do all the layout work by hand and then drill them 1 by 1 on the drill press- I thought it would be easier to just pop in a chuck & drill at the mill and let Dolphin do the work. Or would folk normally put in a center cutting end mill of the size hole they needed and just do an area clear?

[andre-dolphin]

Hello,

It depends on the size of the holes and the finish / size you need.

If you have drills of the right size and surface finish / tolerance is not an issue, then simple drilling is the best way.

If you have odd sized holes then you will need to "mill" them to size.

If tolerance is an issue you may need to ream the holes after drilling - but again this depends on the size of the holes and the tools you have. Rather than investing in a large range od drill bits, it's often easier to pre-drill the holes with a drill bit and then mill to size.

Hope this helps

ATB
Andre
ATB
Andre

[countryguy]

I have figured out how to setup my DolphinCAD/CAM for my drilling on a plate. The two JPG drawings show some info on what I did.
1) I imported my DXF of the plate with the holes center-marked. This could be as easy as putting a dot on your CAD or DXF. As long as you can select it, you can make it a drill point later.
2) Once the part is on the PartmasterCAD screen, I used a 'right-click' and selected 'Point Pattern' I usually am using the CAD product in 'contours' mode for Milling but in this case for Drilling Operations, the 'Point Pattern' is needed. See image below.
3) Remember to setup and use your "Group Numbers" to make it easy on yourself. In this case I make 4 point patterns. Pat_A1 thru A4. All group 0.
4) Save the CAD drawing and select "Milling Module".
5) When the CAM module loads you will see your point data on the screen. Start by selecting your drill tool.
6) From the CAM screen I used the 'drill' icon. From the small popupscreen you will see all your point-data you named and defined in PartmasterCAD.
7) I selected the label I gave my first spot. This was ' pat_A1' and insured the checkbox for machining all patterns with the same group number was checked.
8) Run the CAM scenario and Viola' The 4 holes are set to drill.

I am not sure if I need to rally label each point with a label or not, but will explore/experiment. This was really easy and the checkbox for working on items with the same group-id is a big time saver if you have not used this feature in other parts of the software.

IMAGES:
Attachment 293910

[countryguy]

A few added points- I was able to finally get my part fully laid out and simulated with 2 different drill point and drill sizes plus a contour Mill task set. Some notes on the use of 'point patterns' from a DXF import.....
- I had to flatten my drawing and remove all but a single layer in the DXF. I could not get the mix of contours and point pattern for drilling to co-exist until I had 1 single layer.
- Do not ask me why but on the point pattern w/ a bullet shape- It would move the point patterns around eveytime I selected "milling module". Once I selected "cross" as the point patten marke it all lined up and things were fine.

Just a few notes on this end. Oveall, I think this will come out really cool and it's a neat set of featues for making 'point patterns' in the CAM to act upon.

Here is the final setup.
Attachment 293942

Attachment 293944