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To avoid plunging the tool into material at the start of a pocketing operation, you need to drill a hole for the tool to move down into. This can be done before or after the pocketing cycle.
Pre-drilling a Start Hole Before Pocketing
Simply perform a freehand drilling cycle on the workpiece. When you come to specify the parameters for the pocketing cycle, click on the Lead In Fixed box. When you input co-ordinate or entity data for the cycle, you are prompted to specify a start point, which can be the same as the pre-drilled hole.
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Caution: When using the Lead In Fixed option, although you can set a start position, the tool moves in a straight line to the calculated start position, ignoring any selected geometry. |
Pre-drilling a Start Hole After Pocketing
After you have generated the toolpath for the pocketing cycle, perform a drilling cycle on the start point for the pocketing cycle. You can then edit the sequence of machining operations on the instruction list so that the drilling occurs before the pocketing.
You might edit the sequence by inserting a drill toolchange and a Hole cycle, digitising the Areaclear/Lace toolpath entry points.