Tool Assemblies
Tooling described as connected components — cutting tool, adapters, magazine seat — so ENCY can assemble and pick the tool itself.
Tooling as a set of connected components
- Tool assemblies describe tooling as connected components: a cutting tool in adapters that plug into a machine magazine.
- It exists to automate tool selection — an essential planning stage and a prerequisite for automatic process generation.
- It is solvable only when the tool is in the user database and an adapter fits it into the magazine.
- Accurate tool and holder geometry is what makes simulation realistic and collision checking reliable.
Classic mode and advanced tools mode
- ENCY has two tooling modes: Classic tools mode, the standard one, and Advanced tools mode, the mode of assemblies.
- In advanced mode the Equipment button appears on the technology page.
- An old-format machine scheme works with assemblies only after the Adapt machine for advanced tools command converts it.
- Adaptation forms the machine kit — a library beside the machine scheme file that holds the magazine component.
- The Activate classic tools command in the same menu switches the system back.
Plugs, sockets and connections
- Every component carries a shank, the Plug; adapters and magazines also carry seats, the Sockets, of a given connection type.
- A machine magazine is the component with sockets of a specified connection type and no plug.
- A connection picked from the library brings its standard dimensions; typing a new name creates a new connection type.
- The Connector panel shows the connection's Type, Height, Diameter and Axis; Origin controls position it on the component.
The component libraries editor
- The Component libraries window edits the storage of cutting tools, adapters, machine magazines and the connections that join them.
- Libraries are disk files in four categories — All, Machine, Examples, System; a Machine library activates with its scheme.
- The component list groups by Type — Magazines, Connections, Tools — or by Kit, with a filter and a name search.
- Components are built-in parameterized objects or loaded 3D models, which the system tries to recognize as a tool or an adapter.
- Filling a library means filling the Plug, the Sockets — preferably standard connections — and the fields filters search on.
Three ways to get an assembly
- With the components in the libraries, the system attempts to build the assembly the operation needs.
- The operation's Tool assembly panel shows the result: Tool, Adapter, magazine Position and Corrector.
- The + button opens the Add new panel, which proposes matching assemblies by Name, Diameter, Working length and Library.
- An assembly can also be built in the graphics area: a free socket offers only components matching its connection type.
Parameters
- Adaptation writes an *.mKIT setup file beside the machine, holding every tool bound to that machine.
- Magazine changes must be made before the Component libraries window is first closed; later ones need the project reloaded.
- Right after adaptation a machine node already carries one standard connection, assigned as its Support (Z).
Frequently asked questions
A description of tooling as connected components — a cutting tool in adapters that plug into a machine magazine. Every component has its own geometry and carries a plug; adapters and magazines also carry sockets, so parts join only where their connection types match.
It depends on the machine scheme. An old-format scheme has to be adapted first, with the Adapt machine for advanced tools command: adaptation creates a machine library beside the machine scheme file and an *.mKIT setup file beside the machine. In advanced mode the Equipment button appears on the technology page, and Activate classic tools switches back.
Yes. With the components in the libraries, the system attempts to build the assembly for the operation itself, and the result appears in the operation's Tool assembly panel. It can also be composed by hand — from the Add new panel, which proposes matching assemblies, or in the graphics area, by clicking a free socket on the machine.
Yes. A component can be created from a 3D model, and the system tries to recognize whether it is a tool or an adapter; the guess is corrected on the Adapter, Turn tool and Mill tool tabs and in the Tool type field. Its Plug and Sockets still have to be filled in, preferably with standard connections.
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