Cutters and Holders: Multiple Cutters

Notes:

• The Use Multiple Cutters checkbox parameter is displayed in the following procedures: Finish, Cleanup, Pencil, and the following Volume Milling (Rough) procedures: Rough Parallel, Rough Spiral, and Volume Pocket.

• When using multiple cutters in the Rough procedures, an additional parameter is displayed in the Tool Trajectory parameter table to optimize the procedure: Optimize By.

• The Use Multiple Cutters parameter will only be displayed if the initial cutter has a defined holder.

• To use multiple cutters in a procedure, all the cutters must be of the same type (Ball End, Flat End, and so on) and the same diameter as the initial cutter. Each cutter must also have a defined holder.

• When the Use Multiple Cutters checkbox is ON , additional parameters are displayed in the parameter table. The parameters that are displayed depend upon which procedure you are running and other parameters you have defined elsewhere (for example Bumping Up or Variable Layers in the Vert. Machining Method in the Tool Trajectory parameter table).

  Parameter Table Branch	Parameters added to the table
  Cutters & Holders	Horiz. Step and Down Step (moved from the Tool Trajectory parameter table)
  	Feed and Spin Calculator (moved from the Machine Parameters parameter table)
  Tool Trajectory	Horiz. Cutters Overlap (in Finish and Cleanup functions)
  	Vert. Cutters Overlap (in Finish and Cleanup functions)
  	Cutters Overlap (in the Pencil function)

• A different Horiz. Step and Down Step can be defined for each of the used cutters.

• Cutter parameters cannot be changed from the Multiple Cutters Selection dialog. All the parameter fields in this dialog are disabled.

• When the Use Multiple Cutters parameter is ON , you will still be able to create new cutters using the Cutter option from the NC Guide.

• If the Use Multiple Cutters parameter is OFF , the main cutter button in the Cutters & Holders parameter table will revert back to displaying the main cutter name.

• After creating new cutters that meet the multiple cutter criteria (they must all be of the same type and diameter as the initially selected cutter and must all have a holders defined for them), these new cutters will appear in the Cutters List dropdown menu under the Cutters & Holders parameter table.

• If a new procedure is created after using the multiple cutters option, the whole set of previously selected cutters will be included into the new procedure.

• If a procedure contains multiple cutters, this procedure can be divided into a number of separate procedures, each of which uses only one cutter.