On a part with a real process behind it, you usually know which face is machined first and which order the setups run in. RockCAM lets you state that instead of accepting its guess.
From version 1.4.5, the one-click programming command opens a setup selection dialog. It pauses the automatic run so you can set the order the setups are machined in.
The dialog that opens when one-click programming starts, listing the setups to be ordered.
Set the order #
Click the faces in the order you want them machined. Each face you click defines the direction of one setup — the first click is the first setup, the second click is the second, and so on.
Faces being clicked in sequence, with the resulting setup order shown.
RockCAM then works out the features and the machining method for each setup on its own. You are choosing the sequence, not the detail.
When to use it #
Simple parts do not need it — let RockCAM order the setups and it will get them right.
Parts with a process requirement are the reason the dialog exists. A part that has to be machined in a particular order for reasons the model does not show — because of how it will be fixtured, because a feature would be unsupported, because of a heat-treat step between setups — is where setting the order by hand pays off. It lets you combine your process knowledge with the automatic programming rather than choosing between them.