Hey guys, I just wanted to share a easily customizable and low maintenance way of keeping track of cutter parameters.
The way I have it laid out is a bit rudimentary on the hardcode side but it works out quite well.
Basically what I have done is create various CSV files that store all the cutters that are used. Within that is the RPM, feed rate, step over and step down for each process of cutting; Rough, Semi and Finish, and material based on the machine used as well.
I’ve also integrated the same thing for our 2D tooling; Drills, Threadmills, etc.
Using a short macro, I extract the data during the toolpath creation and inject that data into the toolpath.
I’ve done it this way, for the sole purpose of tweaking settings during test environments. Basically, if the cutter isn’t running the way we want to, instead of going into the tool data and changing the settings and then resaving out a new ptf, we can open the csv, and change the value. This way we don’t have to track the revisions on any ptfs, and it also cuts down on the amount of ptfs.
I’ve included both an example CSV and the script to extract the information from the CSV.
Hopefully this will help someone out that is getting overwhelmed with ptfs as I was.
Thanks
Jarryd
Example Tool List.csv (2.6 KB)
Powermill Master Tool Library.txt (6.7 KB)