NC Automatic Drill

CimatronE 8.5 Tutorial

Table of Contents
Automated Drill .................................................................................................................. 1
Basic ................................................................................................................................ 1
Sequences ...................................................................................................................... 12
Drill with Stock.............................................................................................................. 18
Advanced ....................................................................................................................... 24
Pocket ............................................................................................................................ 57
Profile ............................................................................................................................ 69

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Automated Drill
Basic
Create standard cycles for drilling operations. Automated drill is a multi tools procedure, that is defined using:
A Groups Handling tool, which selects holes and sorts them into groups (according to similarity criteria).
An Attach Sequence tool, which attaches a Drill sequence to a group. The sequence can be defined on-the-fly
or taken from the catalog.
Drill procedures can be 3, 4, or 5 axis.
Sequence Control
Open the Simple demo 1.elt file.
Here is a simple block with three holes. Two of the same depth and one deeper.

Create an Automated Drill 3x procedure.

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While the procedure is opening, the following occur:

The entire model is scanned for holes regardless of whether the holes are displayed or not.
An Automated Drill Guide is loaded (1)
All the default Drill parameters are loaded into the parameters table. (2)
An Automated Drill Tree is displayed to view the data that is of interest.(3)
An optimization is done to minimize the tool changes. The procedure stores all the data for the next edit.

Click on the Group Manager icon from the Guide.

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Hole selection
Select one of the shorter holes.

Click on the Select Similar Holes button.

Notice how the second hole of the same depth is automatically selected also.
Click on the Select All icon (from the main menu). To Auto Group the holes either click on the Auto
Group button or simply press the Middle Mouse Button.

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Auto Sequence Attach

The holes have been added to the tree as Group_1 (the 2 small holes) and Group_2 (the larger one).

We will now attach a sequence to the Unassigned Groups. Select the Auto Fit & Attach Sequence icon
from the Guide.

You may also right-click a single group or all Unassigned groups and select the option Auto Sequence Attach
from the sub-menu.

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Press the Auto Fit Options button.

Click on the button to invoke the browser.

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Choose the directory called Simple demo1 in the Automatic Drill folder.

Select OK
Toggle the option All Unassigned Groups to single group.

You may select all unassigned groups or select a specific single group from the display area or through the tree.
Accept the default option. Select OK.

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Notice the message informing that both of the groups have been assigned suitable drill sequences.

Looking at the tree we see that there are no longer any Unassigned Groups and that both groups use the DrillD8 sequence.
Sequences parameter table
Double click on one of the Group leaves.

The system changes the view to show one of the holes and marks the reference points.
(If you ZPR away from this view you can always return easily by clicking the Reset View button).

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Click the arrow next to the Show only active group, select the option: Show active group + rest in WF.

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The pane on the left side of the screen consists of three parts:
Geometrical Data
Cutter Sequence Data
Drill parameters.

In the Cutter Sequence data, we see that both a Center drill and an 8 mm drill are used. Both start at 1 mm
above the hole (DP). The Center Drills tip goes down 3mm. The 8 mm drill goes down to B.
A saved sequence is like a template using criteria.

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Click on the Expand icon of the Geometrical Data section on the left side of the parameter table.

The various parameters can be given a range of allowable values for application.

Notice the parameters of the Tool Trajectory

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Display the cutter in its highest position DP = 0.

Display the cutter at the Bot. Ref. B = -3 position.

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Execute the procedure.

Note that the procedure uses Multi Cutters as both a Center and 8 mm drill are used.

Sequences
Sequences1
Open the SequenceRange.elt file.

Create a new Automated Drill 3X Procedure.

Define Groups, using the Group Manager, and select all the holes.

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Select Auto Group (or Exit, using the Middle Mouse Button).

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Sequences2
Detach the green hole with the chamfer, by selecting it, and click the Detach button.

Define a New Group, Select the detached hole, and attach it to the new group

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Sequences3
Define a new sequence to the pink group (Center Drill + Drill 12)

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Select OK.

As you can see, the other groups are not part of the sequence (because they have different depths).

Edit the sequence and expand the Geometrical data area.

Change the range to be 20 to 50" and select OK.

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Perform an Auto Fit Sequence.

Check the option: Sequences used in this procedure. Select OK .

Note that additional groups are now also included in the cycle.

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Drill with Stock

Drill with Stock1
Open the Simple Stock.elt file.

This Geometry contains 2 holes of identical height starting from different Z heights.
Create an Automated Drill 3x procedure. Select the Group Manager icon and select one of the holes.

Press the select similar and note the other hole was selected also.

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Press Auto Group.

One group was created containing both holes.

Use the Auto Fit Sequence selecting the Simple Demo1 directory and execute the procedure.

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Drill with Stock2

Use the Navigator to simulate the resulted toolpath.

The same technology was applied starting from different heights.

Edit the Stock procedure and show the remaining stock prior to this procedure

Set the Consider Previous Stock to Yes.

Delete the sequence, select both holes again and auto group them.

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Note that two groups were created this time.

Drill with Stock3

Use Auto-Attach with the same directory as before.
The saved sequence is only appropriate for one of the groups.

Delete the sequence and Auto attach using the Simple Stock directory.
Now both groups have sequences.

Double-click on the group to see the parameters set in the sequence.

Note that the Top Reference is ST (Stock) rather than DP as it was in the Simple Demo 1.
ST: The highest stock point about the largest diameter of the hole. This is available only for 3X Drill, if you use
the Consider Remaining Stock parameter.

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If the Consider Remaining Stock parameter is changed from No to Yes, The system checks if there is a certain
height above the hole; if so, this is the stock. The anchor point ST is then created.

Drill with Stock4

Open the drill-using-Stock.elt file.

Create a new Automated Drill 3X Procedure.

Define Groups by selecting all the holes and Auto Attach.
See that there are 2 groups detected.

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Delete all groups and change the parameter Hole Geometry Consider Previous Stock for Connections to
Yes.

Redefine Groups by selecting all the holes and Auto Attach.

See that now there are 5 groups.

Due to the stock status, the groups look different because the drill operation will be different with the current
stock status.

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Create a sequence to one of the groups.

Advanced
Advanced1
Open the Automated Drill.elt file.
Create a new Automated Drill 3X Procedure.
Note that the system immediately displays all potential holes to be drilled from the current orientation.
When you invoke the Automated Drill procedure, identification of holes is done in all directions. Since this is a 3X
procedure only holes along the Z axis of the procedure UCS are displayed as Free Holes.
All colors and visibility default values can be controlled through the Preferences. (Further details can be
found at the end of the exercise).
Switch off the "Other Faces" bulb.

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Note that holes in the other directions are also hidden.

Turn on the "Free Holes / Through (Opposite)" bulb to show holes with an appropriate orientation but
with a structure that most likely would be drilled from the other direction.

Turn off the Free Holes / Through (Opposite).

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Advanced2
Set the "Hole Geometry Consider Previous Stock" to "No"
Invoke the Groups Manager tool by pressing its icon.
Select the hole indicated in the picture below and press the "Select Similar Holes" button.

You may also select more than one hole prior to pressing the "Select Similar Holes" button.
Press on the Auto Group button to create a group of holes to be drilled in this procedure.

In the Automated Drill tree a new group was created. The selected holes have the color of the group and the
number of holes this group contains is seen in brackets (8).

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Select 'by box' the entire holes or press the 'Select All' button.
Press the "Auto Group" and get the holes sorted into groups.

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Note: A group contains similar holes, i.e. the shape, diameters, depths and attributes are identical.
Tolerances for identification are defined in the preferences.

Advanced3
Select the Auto Fit Sequence icon.

Press Auto Fit Options, to select a sequences library.

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Select: \Automated Drill sequences Library\.

Press OK.

The groups have been moved from the Unassigned holes branch to branches with predefined drilling
technology ("sequences") that fit the geometry of the selected groups.

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Note that a sequence may handle more the one group with different dimensions (usually different depths).

Save & Calculate the procedure.

Investigate the resulting TP using the Navigator.
Play with the display options, step forward and back, movies, etc..

Note that for a certain drill point the tool moves between the rapid plane, drilling start point and lower point in
the hole.
Exit the Navigator.

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Advanced4
Create a new Automated Drill procedure. Set the render mode to Global Mixed.
Set the UCS to Model.
Change the procedure subselection to Automated Drill 5X.

Change the value of Max. Inclination Angle from 90 to 45.

Max. Inclination Angle: The Maximum Angle of the cutter movement from the drilling position.
The usage of the 90 degree default value, automatically removes the holes at the bottom of the plate from the
scope of the procedure. This means that the holes that cannot be drilled, because the cutter cannot reach them,
are not displayed.

90:

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45:

The Conic Range Angle represents the limits of the machine rotary axis.
Change the value of Max. Inclination Angle to 60
Max. Inclination Angle: The Maximum Angle of the cutter movement from the drilling position.
The usage of the 90 degree default value, automatically removes the holes at the bottom of the plate from the
scope of the procedure. This means that the holes that cannot be drilled, because the cutter cannot reach them,
are not displayed.

Set it back to 90 and access the Group Manager tool.

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Advanced5
Select the long through hole and notice the blue arrow on one side this represents the default drilling side.

In a procedure a hole could be drilled from one side. To drill it from the other side as well define a new
procedure.
You may flip the drilling side by clicking the base of the arrow.
Usually it is enough to drill a hole once. To avoid unintentional selection of holes that were used in other
procedure, all holes that were grouped in any other procedure (before or after this procedure; executed or not)
are part of "Used Holes" branch and visibility is switched off as default.
In some cases you would like to drill the same hole more than in one procedure:
To perform a complementary drilling operation from the other side.
To split the drill to Rough and finish
Turn on the leaf of "Used Through Holes", now you may select to drill holes that were already drilled from
the other side.

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Hide the leaf of "Used Through Holes".

Select all other holes (by box) and unpick the intersecting holes in the Y direction.
Drilling Holes with intersections would be performed later.

Exit to Auto Attach the holes.

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Advanced6
From the content menu (right click) the Unassigned holes branch select the Auto Fit Sequence.

Select the proper path and Press OK.

Several groups received appropriate sequences while other didn't.

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Switch off the Other faces, Free Holes and Sequences bulbs, for better handling the list of unassigned
groups.

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Advanced7
Invoke the Define/Modify Sequence tool by pressing its icon in the guide.

.
The first stage is the Group Selection. Select a hole from the graphic area or a hole group from the tree.
Select one of the indicated holes and jump to the next stage by pressing the middle mouse button.

In the second stage you are required to "Create/Edit the Sequence". We will define the sequence of tools
with all their parameters required to drill this group.

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Press the second hole in the group to activate it. Note that now the display was set to put the new hole in
focus.

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Advanced8
On the Active hole you can see labels docked to anchor points. The 'DP' stands for "Drill Point". Each letter
represents the segment of the hole above it.
The geometrical table displays the dimension and attributes (if they exist) for each segment.

In the Cutter Sequence Data table, select the New Cutter tab.

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Select the Center3/10 tool and select OK.

Check the "Preview tool at upper position"

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The selected tool is displayed at the DP.

To start the drill operation 3 mm above the DP key in 3 in the "Top Delta" field under the Tool Trajectory in
the Drill Parameters.

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Notice the tool figure instantly moves to reflect the new setting.

Advanced9
Now check the "Preview tool at Lower position". The tool figure is once again displayed at the DP.

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Set the "Bottom Delta" to be -3 and see the tool figure in the new bottom position.

Note: the "Bottom Reference" is DP since for the center drill I'd like to use the same drill depth regardless of
the Hole Depth.

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Set the rest of the drilling parameters i.e. Drill Type, Feed Spin, Coolant etc,.

The default values for Spin, Feed, Coolant etc, are taken from the machine Parameters of the tool in the
cutter table.

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Advanced10
Click the New Cutter tab in the second row to add a new tool.

From the geometric table you can see that the Diameter of segment A is 8.5.
Create a new Drill tool of 8.5mm Diameter and OK.

Set the Top delta to be 3 and the Bottom reference ('Bot. Ref') to be A. now the Tip is placed at the
anchor point A.

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Change the Bot. type from 'Tool Tip' to 'Full Diameter' and the tool will move down till the first point where
the diameter = 8.5 will be at the A anchor.

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To create a chamfer use the Bot. Type: 'Chamfer' and set the Chamfer Diameter.
To check that the sequence you have defined fully covers the hole and is not gouging anything, show all drill
tools and the bottom position. Since the tools are displayed with different degrees of transparency, you can see
all the cutters and check if their silhouette fully fills the hole without gouges.

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Advanced11
The technological sequence you have defined could be used in the future for a range of geometries.
Press the "Expand" button on the geometrical table and set the range of heights for segment A to be 10
(Min.) to 60 (Max.).

Constraints are used for future automatic sequence selection. Each dimension can be set to:
Fix Exact fit required.
Range Define a range of values based on the nominal value for use when scanning for an appropriate
sequence. The Min./Max. columns become available.
N/A

The dimension is not applicable in the check.

For attributes, only exact and N/A are available.

Rename the Sequence by pressing on the Name button.

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Save the sequence to Catalog.

The black frame represents the capture area of the catalog picture. Rotate and Zoom in the hole as shown
in the picture below:
Select Apply to save the sequence catalog with its picture.

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The CimatronE Explorer is invoked allowing you to save the sequence anywhere you like on your computer or
on the network.

It is recommended to create a different folder for each technology you use and save the sequence to the
appropriate folder. Examples:
Aluminum / Steel
Rough / Finish
For Machine A / For Machine B
mm / Inch
etc,.
In order to see the sequence files, make sure the Filter is by Catalog Templates.

Press the Save button to save the sequence.

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Advanced12
Back inside the document, the sequence has to be saved by pressing the Apply button.

The Group has moved from the Unassigned Groups to a sequence with the name you gave.

Press the Define/Modify Sequence icon in the guide.

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Select the hole indicated in the picture below to demonstrate the handling of intersected holes. Exit.

Insert a new cutter.

Expand the dialog to Full dialog mode

cutter.

. In the Cutter dialog, select the 'Another Elt' option to import a

Select the file:Automated Drill_Work.elt

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Use the 'GUN DRILLING 6' drill.

Select OK to import the cutter.

Select he previously imported cutter. Select OK.

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Set the following settings:

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Rename the sequence and attach it to the group by pressing OK

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Advanced13
To remove the predefine groups that do not have sequences from this procedure, right-click the
'Unassigned Groups' branch and select 'Delete all Groups'

Press the 'Cutters List' button, to view the sequence of cutters this procedure uses.

To minimize the number of tool changes, an optimization is done to use the same tool for required
sequences at once (as long as the sequences internal order is kept).
Close the cutters list, Save and calculate the procedure.

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Invoke the Navigator and use the 'By Tool' option. Investigate the toolpath using the Navigator controls.

Jump to the tool 'Gun Drilling 6' and follow the driller motion, step by step. Note the feed reduction along the
intersections starts before the tool tip reaches the intersection and goes back to nominal after the full diameter
passes it.

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Pocket
It is possible to apply a Pocket technology within the Automated Drill procedure.
Pocket Step1
Open the pocket&profile.elt file.
Create a new Automated Drill 3X procedure.
Invoke the Groups Manager tool and select the hole. Exit.

Press the Define/Modify Sequence icon.

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Select the hole.

Pocket Step2
Create a new Cutter.

Select F10.

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Change the Drill Type to Pocket.

Set the following parameters.

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Pocket Step3

Top Reference is DP with top delta 34.

Top Reference is A with top delta -16

Select OK.

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Save and calculate the procedure.

The DZ/Feed Start is the start point above the Top Delta point. In the cutter approach, this is the Z level at which
the cutter starts moving at the Plunge feed rate.
The first layer is performed in a Down step distance from the Top Delta point.

Note that the Diameter reference was defined as A Bot diameter.

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The final pass of each layer is determined by this value, taking into account the diameter of the cutter.

Pocket Step4
Edit the procedure, double click the sequence.

Change the Diameter Reference to Auto.

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Select OK. Save & Calculate the procedure.

The diameter of the final passes of each layer is according to the hole shape.

Edit the procedure and its sequence. Change the cutter to Tapper 30.
Select OK.
Save and calculate the procedure.

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The final pass of each layer is determined by the tool shape.

Copy the procedure.

Edit the procedure and its sequence.

Set the parameters as shown in the picture below:

Change the cutter back to F10.

Select OK. Save & Calculate the procedure.

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Notice the plunge milling. Note that although the bottom delta is -16, the system recognized that it is a closed
hole, and will therefore mill to its end, and not further.

The Pre-Drill parameter defines the calculated stock. This will prevent "cutting air".

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Pocket Step5
Edit the procedure and its sequence.
Set the parameters as shown in the picture below:

Select OK. Save & Calculate the procedure.

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Note the True Spiral toolpath.

Edit the procedure and its sequence.

Set the parameters as shown in the picture below:

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Change the Margin for Pre-Final Pass to 2.00.

Select OK. Save & Calculate the procedure.

Notice the additional pass at a distance of 2 mm from the final pass.

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Profile
It is possible to apply a Profile technology within the Automated Drill procedure.
Profile Step1
Copy paste the last procedure. Edit the sequence. Set the parameters as follows:

Approach Radius: The approach / retract are performed with a tangential arc using this radius.
Note to avoid plunging into material, use a value > the remaining material thickness.
Save and calculate the procedure.

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Notice the Approach radius.

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Profile Step2
Edit the procedure.
Change the Approach radius to 4, and the Entry angle to 45.
Entry angle: Angle at which the milling starts.

Save and Calculate the procedure.

The entry motion is at 45 degrees to the X direction.

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Notice the Approach Radius.

Profile Step3
Edit the procedure. Set the Overlap Angle to 3.
Overlap Angle: Each finish pass performs a 360 + lane (where is the overlap angle).

Save and Calculate the procedure. Notice the overlap angle.

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Analyze the motions within the Navigator.

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