Drilling Toolpath

The Drilling Toolpath drills a hole at the centre of each selected closed vector, down to a fixed depth. The diameter of the hole and the cutting parameters (feed rate, plunge rate, pass depth) are taken from the drill selected in the Tool Database, rather than from the size of the selected vectors.

Watch tutorial: How to use the Drilling Toolpath

Basic Usage

Select one or more closed vectors, each of which marks the position of a hole to be drilled.

Set the Start Depth and Cut Depth to define where the hole begins and how deep it goes, then click Select to choose a drill from the Tool Database.

For deeper holes, enable Peck Drilling so the drill periodically retracts to clear waste material from the hole. Once the settings are correct, click Calculate to create the toolpath.

Object Selection

Vectors can be selected for machining in one of two ways:

• Manually using the selection tool.

• Automatically by choosing a layer from the dropdown menu

If you choose to use the automatic selection then all of the vectors on the chosen layer are machined at the point of toolpath calculation.

Tool Selection

Tool Selection

Use Peck Drilling

With this option enabled, the drill cuts down by the Peck Depth on each plunge, then retracts to clear waste material before plunging again. This cycle repeats until the full Cut Depth is reached.

The retract moves help clear swarf and chips from the hole, reducing overheating and the risk of breakage. If the Peck Depth is equal to or greater than the Cut Depth, the hole is drilled in a single cycle. For example, a Cut Depth of 1 inch with a Peck Depth of 0.25 inch will be drilled in four cycles.

Two retract strategies are available:

Retract above cutting start depth fully retracts the drill out of the hole after each plunge, which clears waste most effectively. The Retract Gap (1) is measured as a fixed distance above the start cut depth, so the retract and plunge distances increase as the hole deepens. This generally results in longer machining times.

Retract above height of previous retracts only to a height relative to the previous pass, rather than leaving the hole completely. The Retract Gap (1) is the distance above the previous pass, so the retract distance stays constant throughout. This is typically faster, but will not necessarily clear all waste from the hole.

Retract Gap (1) sets the height to which the drill retracts between plunges, interpreted according to whichever retract option is selected above. Peck Depth (2) sets the depth drilled on each plunge before the drill retracts.

Dwell at the bottom of each drill pass

With this option checked, the Dwell Time value is used to pause the drill at the bottom of each peck drill pass before it retracts. The dwell time is measured in seconds.

Use Vector Selection Order

With this option checked, the holes are drilled in the order in which you selected the vectors. If left unchecked, the program optimises the drilling order to reduce machining time.