Creating Machining Activities

You can create and edit a Manufacturing Program.

This task shows you how to:

Create a Tool and Machining Activities

  1. Open the product containing the part to machine.
    1. Select a machining app then the Programming section.
      An empty Manufacturing Cell is created with an Activities Process Tree.
    2. Create a generic machine or assign a machine from the database.
      As soon as a machine is assigned to the Manufacturing Cell, a Part Operation and a Manufacturing Program are created in the Activities Process Tree.
    3. Alternatively, open an existing Machining Process or PPR Context.

      By default, the Activities Process Tree is available.



  2. Click Setup tab and create a End Mill tool.

    See Creating and Editing Milling, Drilling, and Probing Tools and Creating and Editing a Lathe Tool.

    A T0EndMill D10_xxx tool is added in the PPR Context.

  3. Create three Machining Operations with the same tool.
    1. Select the Manufacturing Program, then click a Machining Operation icon.
    2. Go to the Geometry tab and define the part for the Machining Operation.
      Go to the Tool tab and select a tool, in our example T0 End Mill D 10. See Assigning a Tool Element to a Machining Operation.
    3. Click OK to validate and exit the dialog box.
      A Tool Change and the Machining Operation are created under the Manufacturing Program.
    4. Keep the Machining Operation you have just created active and repeat the steps above for each following Machining Operations.

      The Tool tab of the following Machining Operation is populated with the tool of the previous one, as long as the tool is compatible.

    The three Machining Operations (in our example Roughing.1, Sweeping.2, and ZLevel.1) are created under the same Tool Change: The three Machining Operations are assigned the same tool.

  4. Double-click the second Machining Operation and change its tool.
    Each Machining Operation now has an associated Tool Change.

  5. Select the last Machining Operation, cut it and past it under the first Machining Operation (which has the same tool).
    The Manufacturing Program is updated according to the tool changes:

    Note: Cut, Copy, Paste, of a Tool Change does not copy associated Machining Operations.
  6. Right-click the empty Tool Change and delete it.

Assign the Tool Assembly or Tool to the Turret in a Manufacturing Program

You can define a turret to use in the Manufacturing Program when a Multi-slide Lathe machine is assigned to the Part Operation.

See Creating a Part Operation.

By default, turrets are assigned as follows:

  • When unused turrets exist, the first unused turret is assigned to the Manufacturing Program.
  • When no unused turret exists, the first used turret of the machine is assigned to the Manufacturing Program.
  • The first created Manufacturing Program uses the first turret, subsequent Manufacturing Programs receive unused turrets, if any, otherwise the first turret.
  • A turret is assigned to several Manufacturing Programs.
  • For FBDI, the option None is replaced with the first unused turret, if any, otherwise with the first used turret.

Note: This rule applies to Manufacturing Programs existing at, or created after the time of the machine assignment or FBDI.

  1. Double-click the Manufacturing Program.
    The Manufacturing Program dialog box contains an additional option to specify the turret.
  2. Select the turret to be used in the Manufacturing Program from the Turret Name list.

    Starting with R2011, the Turret Station Editor is removed and now Machine Configuration View is used to assign tool assemblies to the turrets.

  3. Click Machine Configuration View .
    The Machine Configuration View is displayed.

  4. Right-click a tool mount point and select Assign to assign tool assemblies.