ESPRIT Milling Tutorial 01
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Mill a Standard Part Part ESPRIT has very strong capabilies in 2.5D milling, providing both ease-of-use and a high level of control control over every aspect of a milling operaon.
Remove Excess Material ........... 62
The intent of this project is to teach you the process for creang standard milling operaons using ESPRIT’s SolidMill Tradional machining technology.
Mill and Drill Holes .......................77 .......................77
Cut the Pockets an d Slot ......... 70
Create a Shop Floor Report ... 82
ESPRIT gives you several opons for accessing standard milling commands. • Menus and Toolbars. Tradional milling commands are located on the SolidMill Tradional submenu on the Machining menu. You can also use the SolidMil l toolbar. • Process Manager. You can also select SolidMill commands from a single menu within the Pro cess Manager. Manager. The Process Manager lets you apply several machining operaons to a single feature at one me. For this project, you will learn how to use the commands on the SolidMill Tradional toolbar to create standard milling operaons and how to create a machining process usin g the Process Manager Manager..
The files for this project are available for download from ESPRITWeb » File Library » ESPRIT 2009 and from the ESPRIT CD. All dimensions in this tutorial are in millimeters. Make sure System Unit on the Tools menu is set to Metric. Before you start this lesson, you can review and simulate the cung operaons in the following file:
Milling - Standard\standard_milling_complete.esp. Project 2: Mill a Standard Part
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Remove Excess Material At the beginning of any milling job, it is crical to remove as much excess stock as possible before you begin cung the finish passes. In this project, the part is cut from standard rectangular stock. The first thing you need to do is remove the excess material from the top and around the sides of the part. To do this, you will first create a facing operaon to quickly remove as much stock as possible from the top of the part. Then you will create a 3D contour around the island on the top face. You will finish by roughing and finishing the outer profile of the part.
Facing The Facing command is ESPRIT has mulple opons to make facing as fast and effecve as possible. You have full control over depths of cut, opmized cung angle, stock allowance on floors and walls, and how far you want the tool to travel when it reaches the edge of the stoc k. The Facing operaon also automacally creates a final pass around any islands. This guarantees a consistent amount of stock on floors and walls.
Wire Frame Milling The Wire Frame Milling command lets you create a basic 3D milling operaon from simple 2D geometry. The profile of the shape you want to cut is called the drive curve. This profile is driven along a path called the basic curve. Each curve must be created on a separate plane and the end point of the drive curve must lie along the basic curve. When construcng the tool path, the drive curve will be placed perpendicular to the basic curve at the start point of the basic curve.
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Contouring The Contouring command creates cung passes that follow the shape of a selec ted feature. You can center the tool on the feature or offset it to the le or the right. You can enter an offset distance or use the radius of the tool. The Contouring command lets you combine rough and finish passes in a single operaon or you can create separate rough and finish passes. When roughing and finishing passes are combined in one Contouring operaon, the same tool is used for both phases of the operaon. To use different tools, you must create separate contouring operaons. It is recommended that you use separate operaons for roughing and finishing.
Technology Files Machining technology sengs can be easily saved as a separate file and used over and over for the machining of similar parts. For this project, you will load pre-exisng technology files that are located in the following folder: Geng Started\Milling - Standard\Technology Standard\Technology Aer loading the technology for an operaon, you can click on the various tabs to review the individual sengs. For more detailed informaon, click the Help buon located at the lower right corner of the technology page.
Open the Part File 1. Make sure HI mode is enabled. 2. Locate and open the following file: Milling - Standard\standard_milling.esp 3. On the Smart toolbar, click SolidMill Tradional - SolidMill Producon to display the toolbar. If you completed Project 1: Create Features, these milled features should look f amiliar to you.
Create a Facing Operation For this facing operaon, there is an island on the face that must be avoided. The Facing command lets you select and avoid islands and pocketed areas when the Include Islands opon is set to Yes.This operaon will start slightly below the selected feature and cut at incremental depths of 8mm in a simple back and forth tool moon. A stock allowance of 0.5mm will remain on the walls of the island aer the opera on is complete. No stock allowance will remain on the floors. Typically, you would select the feature first and then define the o peraon technology. Because there is an island on the face, you must first define the facing technology and select the Include Islands opon. ESPRIT will then prompt you to selec t features for the boundary, any islands and any pockets you want to avoid. You will selec t the stock profile feature and the island profill e. You want to face across the tops of the pockets on this part, so you will simply answer No when ESPRIT prompts you to select pockets to avoid.
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Step 1 Click Facing
Step 2 Right-click inside the technology page and click Open
Step 3 Open the file: Milling - Standard\Technology\1-Facing.prc
Step 4 Click OK
Step 5 In the work area, select the Stock Profile feature
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Step 6 Select the Facing Island feature
Step 7 This is the only island to avoid, so right-click to connue to the next step
Step 8 When prompted to select non-cross pockets, right-click to answer No. A non-cross pocket designates an open area where the tool cannot rapid across.
Step 9 When prompted to select cross pockets, right-click to answer No. A cross pocket designates an open area where the tool can rapid across.
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Create a Wire Frame Milling Operation For this operaon, you will use two exisng features. The Wireframe Drive Curve defines the curved profile for the walls around the island on the face. The Wireframe Basic Curve feature is located on the top face of the island and defines the path the profile will follow. For Wire Frame Milling, you first define the machining technology and then select the features. The Machine Along opon controls which curve is used to control the direcon of the cung passes. In this case, the tool will follow the direcon of the basic curve.
Step 1 Click Wire Frame Milling
Step 2 Open the file: 2-Wire Frame Milling.prc
Step 3 Click OK
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Step 4 In the work area, select the Wireframe Basic Curve feature located on the top of the island
Step 5 Select the Wireframe Drive Curve feature located on the island wall
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Create Rough and Finish Contouring Operations To cut the external profile of the part, you will first rough the profile with a 30mm end mill that will leave 0.5mm stock on the walls and then finish with a 20mm end mill . Because the roughing and finishing operaons use very different sengs, you will create two separate Contouring operaons. Step 1 Select the External Profile feature
Step 2 Click Contouring
Step 3 Open the file: 3-Contouring Rough.prc
Step 4 Click OK
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Step 5 With the feature sll selected, click Contouring
Step 6 Open the file: 4-Contouring Finish.prc
Step 7 Click OK
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Cut the Pockets and Slot The part in this project contains two pockets and a slot. ESPRIT offers two types of pockeng operaons that you will use to cut each pocket.
pockeng operaons with full control over the process.
Rest Machining Trochoidal Pocketin g The Trochoidal Pockeng command is used to quickly rough parts at a constant material removal rate. Trochoidal Pockeng provides mulple levels of control over tool moon paern, feedrates, and cuer load. Trochoid tool moon is well suited for highspeed machining (HSM) because it uses the biggest possible curve based on the shape of the pocket, allowing for the fastest possible feedrates. Although developed for highspeed machining, Trochoidal Pockeng brings benefits to any type of machine by providing a more constant tool load and a beer surface finish. The Trochoid tool moon paern creates a spiral in the largest area of the pocket to maintain a constant level of tool l oading. When the trochoid paern reaches the maximum radius that will fit, the rest of the tool path uses an adjustable curve that adapts to the shape of the pocket.
Pocketing The Pockeng command removes material within a closed boundary. Within a single pockeng operaon, you have the opon to create separately definable phases for roughing, wall finishing, and floor finishing passes that each let you use a different tool. For example, you can use a standard end mill on the floors to provide the required finish and use a ball or taper end mill on the walls. If you do not want all of these phases combined in a single operaon, you c an create each phase independently. You can choose to create only roughing passes, only wall finishing or floor finishing passes, or a combinaon of your choice. This gives you the flexibility to create 70 |
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The Rest Machining command is used to remove material in areas and corners that previous operaons le behind. You can create rest machining operaons for several parent operaons at one me or you can create rest machining operaons for all operaons associated with a single feature. The previous operaon becomes the “parent” operaon and the rest machining operaon applied to it becomes the “child” operaon. The child operaon inherits many of the sengs from the parent operaon, such as total depth, stock allowance, clearance sengs, and so on. If a parent operaon is modified, the rest machining operaon is automacally recalculated and updated.
Machining Processes A machining process is a convenient way to create and apply several operaons at once. The Process Manager lets you create any number and type of machining operaons and apply them to any number of features.
Important: To use the Process Manager, your security key must be aached to your computer and you must have a valid license. If you are running ESPRIT in demo mode, use the commands on the SolidMill Tradional toolbar to cut the pockets.
Set Up the KnowledgeBase 1. On the Smart toolbar, click Common Machining and then click KnowledgeBase Document Sengs. 2. Set Part Type to Milled Part Std - Metric . 3. Set Default Technology to Default Technology - Inch / Metric. 4. Click OK. 5. Click KnowlegeBase Sengs. 6. Make sure ‘Apply selected process to all features’ is checked and click OK.
Create a Process to Mill the Me dium Pocket To mill the medium pocket, you will first remove as muc h material as possible as quickly as possible with a Trochoidal Pockeng operaon. A stock allowance of 0.5mm wil l remain on the walls and floors of the pocket. A tradional Pockeng operaon will then be applied to first finish the walls and then the floors. To remove any material remaining in the corners, you wi ll then apply a Rest Machining operaon. You will create a machining process to perform all three operaons.
Step 1 Select the Medium Pocket feature and then click Process Manager
Step 2 A process already exists in the KnowledgeBase. Click New Process to create your own process.
Step 3 Select SolidMill Tradional Trochoidal Pockeng
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Step 4 Open the file: 5-Pocket1 Trochoidal Pockeng.prc and click OK
Step 5 Select SolidMill Tradional Tradional Pockeng
Step 6 Open the file: 6-Pocket1 Finish Pockeng.prc and click OK
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Step 7 Select SolidMill Tradional Rest Machining
Step 8 Open the file: 7-Pocket1 Rest Machining.prc and click OK
Step 9 Click Apply Do not click Exit yet
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Create a Process to Mill the Sm all Pocket The process to machine the small pocket is similar to the medium pocket, except that a Rest Machining operaon is not required.
Step 1 Select the Small Pocket feature
Step 2 Click New Process
Step 3 Select SolidMill Tradional Trochoidal Pockeng
Step 4 Open the file: 8-Pocket2 Trochoidal Pockeng.prc and click OK
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Step 5 Select SolidMill Tradional Tradional Pockeng
Step 6 Open the file: 9-Pocket2 Finish Pockeng.prc and click OK
Step 7 Click Apply
Step 8 Click Exit
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Cut the Slot To cut the slot, you will use a tradional Pockeng operaon using a tool with a diameter the same width as the slot. The tool will enter the material using a long ramping move and then cut the slot with a single pass.
Step 1 Select the Slot feature Step 2 Click SolidMill Tradional
Step 3 Click Pockeng
Step 4 Open the file: 10-Slot with Ramping.prc and click OK
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Mill and Drill Holes This part has different types of holes, including a milled hole. For this project, you will create drilling and spiraling operaons depending on the type and size of the hole.
Drilling The Drilling command is applied to hole features or point-to-point (PTOP) features. The drilling order is defined by the path of the PTOP feature. SolidMill Drilling supports several types of drilling, including drill, tap, peck, and bore. The operaon drills to a specified depth and you have the opon to include the length of the tool p in the total depth value. You can also use SolidMill Drilling to spot drill holes to the correct depth based on the diameter of the tool and the chamfer diameter.
Spiraling The Spiraling command creates spiral or helical cung passes based on the selecon of a circle or a feature in the shape of a circle. A spiraling operaon is typically used when you want to mill a hole that is too large to drill.
Bottom Up Spiraling Spiraling passes can be created from the top d own or from the boom up. B oom up spiraling can be used to avoid having to rotate your part using index milling. Boom up toolpath will be automacally generated when the incremental depth is set to a negave value. When using boom up technology, the tool origin is very important. By default, all ESPRIT tools have the origin set on the boom. The boom up technology does not shi the tool origin, so you have to be aware of the tool thickness when creang yo ur tool path. However, you can create a custom tool where the tool origin is set on the top of the cung tool edge.
Pre-Drill and Mill the Milled Hole The milled hole has an upper diameter of 42mm and a lower diameter of 50mm. You will cut this hole in three steps. First, you will pre-drill the hole with a 30mm drill. Then, you will create a Spiraling operaon to mill the upper diameter to a depth of 30mm. You will then create a boom up Spiraling operaon using a custom tool to mill the lower hole.
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Step 1 Select the Spiral Rough feature
Step 2 Click Drilling
Step 3 Open the file: 11-Milled Hole Drilling.prc and click OK
Step 4 Select the Milled Hole Upper feature
Step 6 Open the file: 12-Milled Hole Spiraling.prc and click OK
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Step 5 Click Spiraling
Step 7 Select the Milled Hole Lower feature
Step 8 Click Spiraling
Step 9 Open the file: 13-Milled Hole Boom Up Spiraling.prc and click OK
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Apply Existing Processes to Drill the Holes The ESPRIT KnowledgeBase provides several standard machining processes. Based on the type of feature you select, the ESPRI T KnowledgeBase will search for the most appropriate machining process. You will select the two hole features and use standard processes in the Knowled geBase to drill them. The KnowledgeBase will find one process for the countersink holes and another process for the counterbore holes. The order in which you sel ect the features controls the order of the operaons in the operaons list. To make sure the correct drilling process is created for each feature, you must use KnowledgeBase Opons to specify that you do not want the same process applied to all features. Otherwise, the first process found will be applied to all the selected features. 1. On the Common Machining toolbar, click KnowledgeBase Sengs. 2. Uncheck ‘Apply selected process to all features’. 3. Click OK.
Step 4 Hold down the Ctrl key and select the Countersink and Counterbore features
Step 5 Click Process Manager
Step 6 Click Apply
Step 7 Click Exit
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Simulate
Step 1 On the Smart toolbar, click Simulaon
Step 2 Click Run to start the simulaon
Step 3 Click Stop to exit the simulaon
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Create a Shop Floor Report The Report Generator creates HTML and PDF reports that detail the tools and operaons for any of your part files. The preformaed reports are an important NC post processing tool and invaluable shop floor resource. They provide the machining details required to correctly set up a machine and perform the required machining operaons. Reports contain informaon about the machine, the tools, the part, operaons, and the NC program. In addion, each page in the report displays a full-color image showing how the part should look at each stage of the machining process. Two types of standard reports are available: Summary and Detail ed.
Summary Report Basic informaon about the machining process is provided on a single summary page. The summary report contains a header with general informaon about the program and an operaon list with one row per operaon. Each row displays the main informaon about the operaon like the operaon name, the tool name, the tool ID, feeds and speed, and so o n.
Detailed Report This report provides the same summary page along with detailed pages for each operaon and a complete tool list. Click on an operaon hyperlink in the summary page to access the operaon details. Click on a tool hyperlink to access the tool details. Operaon report pages provide detailed operaon-specific informaon such as the tool details and available cung parameters.
Default Folders for Report Files By default, report files are saved to your user folder under the ESPRIT\Data\ReportGenerator\ Reports directory, but you can change it to any other locaon by clicking the Opons buon on the Report Generator dialog. Generated reports are saved to a subfolder in the distribuon locaon. The subfolder is always named the same as your part file. If you regenerate any report, all files in the subfol der, including any output from a previous repor t, are deleted. If you intend to save any previous version of a report, copy it from the distribuon folder before you regenerate the report.
Important: To use the Report Generator, your security key must be aached to your computer and you must have a valid license. I f you are running ESPRIT i n demo mode, the Create Reports... command is not available on the File menu.
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Step 1 On the File menu, click Create Reports...
Step 2 Select Milling-Detailed, then click Create Reports
It will take several moments to generate a detailed repor t of all the operaons and tools used in this part file. Aer the report is generated, Windows Explorer will launch and open to the folder where the report files were generated.
Step 3 Right-click on OpSummary.htm and click Open
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Step 4 Click on a hyperlink to view the operaon or tool details
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