Solidworks/HSMxpress safe rapid height

I'm sure this is quite simple, but I'm having a hell of a time figuring out how to program HSMxpress to lift the tool to a safe height for travel to the next cut.

I'm looking to program the rapid height between multiple instances of boring holes (I don't have a collet to hold the correct size drill). I've chosen Circular function to achieve this. When the first hole is complete, I need the tool to retract to a safe height before moving on to the next hole, to ensure it clears the workpiece hold clamps.

I have found a work-around by setting the retract height up over the level of the clamp - but this adds wasted time when it retracts the tool before each pass of a given hole. When I mess with the safe distance in the Links tab, the safe distance seems tied to the retract height.

Any suggestions of which simple stone I've left unturned?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Scott

 

Thanks. I'll give it a shot in a bit.

 

@Julius

Seems I'm still missing something. I have tried changing literally every parameter to watch its effect in both the plane depiction on the model, and in the simulation. If I set each parameter to zero to try to reduce (or for dramatic effect, eliminate) the lift, it still lifts to a height that appears to be the vertical lead in radius. Now I'm even more confused.

The Clearance Height you mentioned only seems to effect the travel height to the first and last hole. So basically, the beginning and ending of the job.

I'm a little surprised that the video tutorials online seem to skip these settings, and even more frustrating is the in-app definitions are useless ("from stock top is an offset from top of stock"). Yep, got that. But how about some help?

I may be using the wrong procedure for this type of milling. I'll try some other types of processes to see if I can nail it down.

Thanks for your help.

Scott

 

Thanks so much for your help @Julius

I was away from the CAD computer over the weekend. I should have been more specific about my job and the choices I've made in HSMxpress. I am doing many holes (81) that are larger than the bit (1/8" bit for 1/4" tap size). So I chose Circular process (haven't tried boring yet). I will try to get a screenshot of the issue I am talking about.

In a nutshell:

1. I can set the Clearance height, but that only seems to effect the rapid height while moving to the first hole, and the height at the end of the last hole. Trying various height settings for Clearance is shown plainly in the simulator. So I think I get that part.

2. Setting various "LOW" retract heights seems to be over-ridden by some other setting I can't determine. For example, if I want the retract to only raise the tool 2mm above the current pass/cut, the simulator shows that the tool raises some distance above the top of the stock, not above the cut. I assume that this is related to the safe distance set in the links tab - but I can't seem to nail down the math when I watch the Z-Height shown in the simulator. On the other hand, if I set an obnoxiously high retract height, it will raise to that height specified.

I think my main questions are:

1. Is it possible to make a selection that assigns the retract height to raise only above the height of the previous pass/cut? This way the tool is not always raising the same specified number, despite the last cut being 10mm lower than the first cut?

2. Is it then possible to separately choose a safe height that is only applied to the tool when it moves from one hole to the next? It seems that having both these moves tied to the same value is [time] wasteful.

I will check now to see whether helix has been chosen in the Cam and report back.

Appreciate all the help.

Scott

 

@Julius Do you need the gcode, or the solidworks part file itself???

Really appreciate the time you're spending to help me out.