RockCAM generates every operation from a template. Since version 1.3 it can use yours instead of its own.
Why use your own templates #
You already have operation templates tuned for your machines and your parts. Using them means the parts of the program you care most about — engage and retract, coolant, tolerances, the parameters you have refined over years — come out the way you want. RockCAM fills in the rest.
How to point RockCAM at a template #
- Make sure the operation templates exist in the NX operation navigator.
The NX operation navigator showing the preset operation templates.
- Enter the template names in RockCAM’s Operation Templates settings.
The RockCAM operation template settings with the template names entered against each method.
RockCAM then uses the matching template when it generates that operation.
Roughing templates #
| Template type | NX operation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Face — top, rough | Floor_face, face milling with a boundary | — |
| 3D adaptive roughing | — | NX 1899 and newer only |
| 3D cavity roughing | CavityMill | — |
| 3D cavity rest roughing | — | — |
| Wall roughing, Z-level profile | — | Local wall roughing |
| Floor & Wall roughing, follow part | Floor_wall | For regions that can be milled as a 2D pocket; follow-part mode, cutting all material |
| Outer wall roughing, Floor & Wall | Floor_wall (WALL_FLOOR_PROFILING, WALL_PROFILING) | Floor & Wall in profile mode |
| Outer wall roughing, 2D fixed contour | PLANAR_MILL | — |
| Planar roughing, following | Planar_profile | Usually for U-slots and outer profiles |
| Planar corner cleanup, rough | Planar_profile | — |
Finishing templates #
| Template type | NX operation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Face — top, finish | Floor_face, face milling with a boundary | — |
| Sloped faces, Z-level profile | ZLevel_profile | Only sloped faces: free-form surfaces, cones, radii, and larger chamfers |
| Walls, Z-level profile | ZLevel_profile | Wall finishing |
| Floor & Wall, following | Floor_wall | Floor finishing, sometimes with the wall |
| Outer wall, Floor & Wall | Floor_wall | Wall finishing |
| Outer wall, 2D fixed contour | Planar_profile | Wall finishing |
| Planar following, finish | PLANAR_MILL | Floor finishing, sometimes with the wall |
Chamfering templates #
| Template type | NX operation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2D planar chamfer | PLANAR_MILL | Chamfer driven by 2D curve selection |
| G81 spot-drill chamfer | hole_making, DRILLING, standard drill | Same as spot drilling |
Drilling templates #
RockCAM machines every hole with hole_making. The older drill strategy group is not used.
| Template type | NX operation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Spot drilling | hole_making, SPOT_DRILLING | A dedicated spot drill |
| Drilling, G81 | hole_making, DRILLING, deep-hole drill | — |
| Drilling, G83 | hole_making, DRILLING, peck drill | — |
| Tapping, G84 | hole_making, TAPPING | Tap |
| Thread milling | hole_making, THREAD_MILLING | Thread mill |
| Counterbore roughing | hole_making, HOLE_MILLING | Helical hole milling |
| Counterbore finishing | hole_making, HOLE_MILLING | Helical, one pass per circle by default |
| Precision hole finishing | hole_making, HOLE_MILLING | Helical by default |
| Plunge-milled counterbore | hole_making, DRILLING, deep-hole drill | Plunge milling with a flat tool |
| Reaming, G85 | hole_making, REAMER | Reaming |
What RockCAM overrides even with your template #
Your template supplies the parameters, but RockCAM still writes some values itself, because they are properties of the part rather than of the method:
- The curves and faces selected.
- The tool.
- Feed and speed.
- Depth per cut, for layered strategies.
- The reference tool or IPW.
- The folder the operation lands in.
Everything else — engage and retract, for example — comes from your template unchanged.