Pockets

Access: Open this function from the following location:

Pocket selection mode:
Either press the button in the Work Mode Dialog (if you are in Wizard Mode), or display the Geometry parameters in the parameter tables.
The Geometry Table is displayed:

Select the required option from the dropdown list.
See Selecting / Unselecting Geometry.
See the cursor symbols in Cimatron when picking geometry.

The Pockets group of parameters are displayed in the Geometry parameter table in the following procedures: Rough Spiral, Rough Parallel, Volume Pocket, Finish Mill All, Finish by Limit Angle, Finish Horiz. Planar Area, Cleanup, Planed Cleanup, Cleanup Contours Only, Corners Plunge, Rest Milling, and Pencil.

Note: The Pockets geometric group is only displayed if you have a Pocket Manager license.

The Pocket Selection dialog is displayed. This is similar to the Pocket Manager dialog, however, it is used for selection only and not for recognizing new pockets. The geometry selected (for example, the pocket's volume, surfaces or contours) depends on the active procedure. As when the Pocket Manager is active, the pre-recognized pockets are highlighted in the graphics window.

See Pocket Output Geometry for Downstreaming, below.

Pocket Selection dialog:

Pocket Selection dialog for the
Automated Drill procedure:

This dialog is similar to that of the Pocket Manager and the Contour Manager dialog, with differences resulting from the functionality.

Note: When selecting geometry to define pockets, screen parameters may also be displayed to provide additional control over the types of geometry to be defined as pockets for a specific operation. See the Pocket Manager for various pocket selection options.

Active UCS	Set the active UCS which determines the direction in which the system detects the pockets.
Select All Displayed Surfaces	Select all the displayed surfaces in the geometry to analyze and detect pocket-like features. Screen parameters are displayed to refine the pocket detection analysis.
By Criteria	Use criteria to pick geometry for pocket recognition. UCS and/or surface criteria can be defined. Screen parameters are displayed to refine the pocket detection analysis.
Show the Pocket Table	When ON, display the Pocket Table showing all the detected pockets. Each row in the table represents one pocket.
Ignore Circular Pockets of Diameter & Below	Ignore small CIRCULAR pockets or holes. Filter all detected circular pockets or holes to only show those with a diameter greater than the entered threshold value. The Pocket Table and graphics pane are updated accordingly.
Ignore ALL Pockets of Diameter & Below	Ignore ALL small pockets. Filter all detected pockets to only show those with a bounded circle diameter greater than the entered threshold value. The Pocket Table and graphics pane are updated accordingly. This option is similar to Ignore Circular Pockets of Diameter & Below, but refers to the parameter Max. Diameter which appears in the Pocket Table.
Z-Top Delta/ Z-Bottom Delta	These parameters can be used to set delta values for the milling heights of the selected pocket(s). The delta is measured from the top and bottom pocket contours. To enter these delta values, pick the required pocket(s) in the graphics window, or select the relevant row(s) in the Pocket Table and then enter the delta values into the highlighted fields in the Pocket Selection dialog.
Hole's Diameter	The diameter of the drilling holes at the Drilling Point associated to each selected pocket. Drilling Holes are associated to each pocket in the Pocket Manager. This parameter is displayed when selecting Pocket geometry in the Automated Drill procedure and is saved per Pocket, similar to Z-Top Delta and Z-Bottom Delta. The selected Pockets are displayed graphically as cylinders when still in the pocket selection. If a pocket is hidden, its hole is also hidden. Each cylinder is shown with diameter "Hole’s Diameter" from Z Top to Z-Bottom of the selected Pocket. Default = 10. In the Automated-Drill Tree, the holes that came from pockets are represented in the From Pockets branch, initially under the Free Holes branch: Creating Groups from Holes from Pockets: A group created by pocket behaves as a single hole and has the following segments: A has a Top Diameter and a Height. ST, DP, MD, BT, SB and SH are defined. The DP coordinates: X and Y come from the drill point of the pocket. Pockets that have identical heights and hole diameters are automatically assigned to the same group.

See:

Pocket Floor Capping

Pocket Selection - Corners Plunge

Pocket Selection - Popup Operations

Pocket Selection dialog when
applying templates for NC pockets.

Pocket Selection dialog when
selecting contours (from the
NC Contour Manager) from
previously recognized NC pockets.

The lower part of the Pocket Selection dialog, Pocket Selection, Display, enables you to hide/show and select pockets and provides you with the following information:

Show Pockets from Active Direction Only	Only show pockets created on the active UCS direction.
Select Template	Load and apply one or more NC templates to create toolpath(s)/procedure(s) in the NC Process Manager, to machine one or more pockets. The Select Template option is only displayed if there are calculated pockets in the part.
All NC Pockets	The number of all NC pockets detected with diameters greater than the threshold entered in the parameter Ignore Circular Pockets of Diameter & Below.
Filtered NC Pockets	The number of filtered NC pockets (the number of lines in the Pocket Table, whether or not the table is displayed).
Highlighted NC Pockets	The number of NC pockets currently highlighted in the Pocket Table (i.e,where the rows are highlighted
NC Pocket, Valid Direction	The number of NC pockets currently selected from the active UCS direction. For pocket selection in the Automated Drill procedure, the Valid Direction is defined as follows: In Automated Drill 3X, a valid direction is when the Z axis of the pocket is identical to the Z axis of the procedure (as in Rough). In Automated Drill 5X, a valid direction is when the angle between the Z axis of the pocket and the Z axis of the procedure is less than or equal to the Max Inclination Angle parameter of the procedure.
NC Pocket, Invalid Direction	The number of NC pockets currently selected that are not from the active UCS direction. For pocket selection in the Automated Drill procedure, see the Valid Direction explanation above.

Note: When the system is in pocket selection mode (for example, when selecting pockets for procedures), in addition to the selection options available in the Pocket Manager, the pockets can also be selected By Box.

Usage

In the Pocket Selection dialog, click the Show the Pocket Table checkbox to display the NC Pocket Table dialog. This is similar to the Pocket Table displayed from the Pocket Manager, but with an additional Selection column (displayed by default) that when ON, signifies that this pocket is selected.

Pockets can be selected using any of the following methods (see the Pocket Manager for detailed information):

Pocket Select dialog: Use the dialog selection controls - Select all Displayed Pockets and NC Pockets Criteria.
Graphics display: Select pockets by picking them.
Pocket Table: Select pockets by picking rows. Use the sorting capabilities of the Pocket Table, as required; for example, filter all pockets with the same draft angle.

Note: A pocket is only selected for the procedure operation if the checkox in the Selection column is ON. If the checkbox is OFF, this means that the pocket has been selected for another purpose, such as Hide/Show.

When a pocket is selected, its top and bottom contours are highlighted in yellow to signify that it has been selected for the pocket selection operation.

When pockets are selected in either the graphics window or the Pocket Table, the pockets are highlighted in the graphics window, and highlighted and marked as selected in the Pocket Table. In addition, the NC Parameters section of the Pocket Selection dialog are also highlighted, as shown below. In the graphics window, when a pocket is marked as selected, its top and bottom contours are highlighted in yellow.

Notes: Volume Pocket procedure:

Geometry faces from which the pockets were created, are protected from being gouged. If the Parts Safe Milling option is set to Active, all the surfaces selected in the part procedure are also protected.
The Volume Pocket procedure does not consider the current stock, it considers only the volumes of the selected pockets as stock to be removed.
The Volume Pocket procedure considers all pocket volumes as one stock, even if they are completely separated.

Pocket Output Geometry for Downstreaming

Recognition of all pockets in a Plate is a preliminary step for automating the process of pocket machining.

The recognized pockets can be used in downstream procedures and templates. The relevant geometry from the Pocket feature is automatically selected by the procedure. For example, the Volume Pocket procedure takes the pocket’s volume, the Finish procedures take the surfaces and the Profile procedures (Profile Closed Contour and Profile Open Contour) take the contours and Z values.

The image shows that, for selected pocket(s), the surfaces associated with the pocket(s) are automatically selected.

The following pocket geometry output rules apply.

When using procedures, the output from a pocket may be:
- Its volume.
- Its surfaces.
- Its contours and their numeric values (as boundaries).
When pockets are selected By NC Pockets from the Contour Manager, only contours with their numeric values (heights) are output from the pocket.
When pockets are selected by Pockets in the Geometry parameters table, the output depends on the procedure type:
Rough Spiral, Rough Parallel, Volume Pocket:
- The surfaces of selected pockets are used as part surfaces (group one).
- The volumes of selected pockets are used as Stock.
- The contours are not used.
- Safe Milling and Stock work in a similar way to Volume Pocket.
- Surfaces and Contours that are selected directly (by criteria or manually) are used.
Finish, Cleanup, Rest Milling and Pencil:
- The surfaces of selected pockets are used as part surfaces (group one).
- These surfaces (from pockets) create Automatic Boundaries with default settings.
- The volumes of selected pockets are not used.
- The contours are not used.
- Safe Milling and Stock work normally.