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Hi
all,
I thought I would shake things
up a little here; you know -- wake up the dead. I thought it would be a good
exercise to have the forum group here collectively work on something together.
It would also serve as a macro tutorial for some. I am going to share a pocketing macro I
wrote which works, but one I never quite developed enough for me to be satisfied
with the end product. Create the following directory:
"c:\sc_macro\pocket" and store the attached macros there. You have to add
the pcb panel to your app.ini file.
I haven't done any further
development on it because I transferred to our design department. There is
some interesting logic in the loops which tests for a condition to be met and
will "redo" the operation within the "while" statement until the condition is
met. The macro is limited in use in that it will only work on rectangular
pockets split and chained at one of the narrow ends. The testing done in the
loops is based on this. This is where I hope the group can improve on what I've
done and make it more versatile.
Known bugs: The option token on
the .pcb panel doesn't seem to work properly. The macro can use some testing to
make sure the cutters actually exist in the job plan.
We typically cut steel (no
aluminum,) roughing with an inserted cutter, "skimming" with a coated carbide
roughing end mill which is the same dia. as the finish end mill (to remove the
heavy stock in the corners left by the rougher -- finish cutters last longer,)
and finishing with a good quality carbide end mill.
This macro will allow an unlimited number
of chains to be grouped and have pocketing toolpath applied. The "Floor stock"
and "Wall stock" boxes on the pcb panel apply to the rougher and skim mill only.
The macro provides an "undo" button and (3)
options:
The 1st option is for precision
pocketing:
(1) Full Pocket -----
Rough/Skim/Finish wall and bottom
The second option is for basic
pockets where the depth can be finished with the rougher and the size (wall)
with the finisher (quicker to machine than option 1):
(2) Basic Pocket --
Rough/Skim/Finish wall only
The third option is for
clearance pockets only, no precision required and surface finish not important
(quickest of all; the skim mills are run at a much higher feed than a typical
finish end mill):
(3) Clearance ------
Rough/use skim mill to finish wall
Regards,
Chris Kocourek
Tool Designer
FLEXTRONICS CTC
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MCL_UNDO.MCL
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NAMEPR.MCL
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POCKET.MCL
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Pocket.pcb
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