Hi All
I apologize for not researching any of this yet but I figured I would not find the answers I’m looking for. I want to start a project by drilling four 3/16” diameter thru holes in 1” thick aluminum. After the holes are made I want to screw down the piece for the conturing out step. In a drilling operation, does the bit continuously go down or does in go down then up to remove chips and back in multiple times? Any advice or warnings on drilling operations? Thank you in advance. Jim
Hey Jim,
If you are using a 3/16" drill bit, or, a 3/16" diameter plunge EM, then in CC, Toolpaths section, select the Drill option. In the dropdown window, you can set the depth of the hole, and it will show a ‘Peck’ option, where you can input the depth of each ‘peck’ and an option to select full withdrawal after each peck to remove chips. If an EM, make sure you have enough flute length to reach through the 1" thickness.
If you wanted to use an endmill, say 1/8" diameter, to interpolate the hole, then in Toolpaths section, select the Pocket option, where you set the depth to full thickness of the workpiece. In this case though, in the Tool Edit section, you would want to set the Depth per Pass, shallow, say 0.010 per pass, and use a very good vacuum or air blast to remove chips, as there would not be any ‘retract’ in the Pocket toolpath. Also have to make sure your EM has long enough cutting flute to reach through the 1" thickness.
Hope this helps?
Steve
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Excellent advice, thank you.