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Machining

Changes that Could Impact Configured Digital Factories

The following changes might impact costing, even for Digital Factories that use earlier cost model versions.

  • NO IMPACT

Bug Fixes or Small Improvements to Prior Cost Model Versions

The following changes might impact costing for Digital Factories that use earlier cost model versions.

  • NO IMPACT

Cost Model Changes that don't Affect Configured Digital Factories

The following changes do not affect costings with Digital Factories that use earlier cost model versions. The changes are available only in the latest cost model version.

  • Drilling Tool Selection (can affect tool count, operation assignment, cycle times, and design guidance): In the previous release, for Drilling and Pecking, aPriori selected the largest available tool diameter within the tolerance range for the hole to be drilled. In this release:

    • The tool diameter is the hole diameter, if such a tool is available.
    • Otherwise, it is the largest available diameter that is smaller than the hole diameter and is within the hole's tolerance band, if such a tool is available.
    • Otherwise it is the smallest available tool diameter that is larger than the hole diameter and within the tolerance band, if such a tool is available.

    • Otherwise, tool selection fails. As a result of this change:

    • Occasionally tool count may decrease, compared to the previous release.

    • Rarely operation assignment may change to Gun Drilling.
    • in other cases, cycle times may decrease very slightly due to a small change in drill size.
    • Design guidance regarding non-standard tool diameters may change.

  • Energy Requirements for Non-cutting Machine Components (affects carbon estimates): Machining process carbon estimates now account for the energy required by the machine's non-cutting components (such as coolant pumps, chip conveyors, and so forth). Previously, carbon estimates accounted only for the energy required for the machine’s spindle.

    Energy required by the machine's non-cutting components depends on the value of the new machine property Auxiliary Power. (Energy required by the machine's spindle depends on the value of the pre-existing machine property Spindle Power.)

    Important:

    If you upgrade to the latest Machining cost model (CMV 310), you must provide a value for Auxiliary Power for all custom machines in the Machining process group, even if you do not have a Sustainability license. With the latest cost model, a machine is feasible only if this value is populated, and only if the sum of Spindle Power and Auxiliary power does not exceed Machine Power, the total rated power of the machine. For a custom machine with negligible non-cutting power requirements (such as an older machine with little to no auxiliary equipment), you can set Auxiliary Power to zero.

    Due to this enhancement, energy consumption estimates will increase significantly compared to the previous release. Estimates will generally increase in proportion to machining cycle time (the greater the machining cycle time, the greater the increase). In a set of test parts, the amount of increase varied greatly. The average increase was 39 kWh. The largest increase (for a part with a 26.2-hour machining cycle) was nearly 890 kWh.

  • Machine Power Values (impacts machine overhead costs; can affect machine selection and cycle times): In the 2024-06 RDLs which were co-released with aPriori 2024 R1 SP1, significant updates were made to the values of the machine properties Spindle Power and Machine Power to ensure agreement with published machine specifications and to provide consistency across machines in a given process.

    As a result of these changes, overhead costs may change compared to the previous release. Additionally, in some cases, there may be minor changes in machine selection and cycle time. In a set of test parts analyzed in the Stock Machining and 2-Model Machining process groups, direct overhead costs increased by an average of 13.6%, while changes in indirect overhead costs were negligible. In a set of test parts analyzed in various other process groups with secondary machining, direct overhead costs increased by an average of 11.7% and changes in indirect overhead costs were negligible.

    Note:

    These updates to machine power values and therefore overhead values are available only to customers using the 2024-06 RDLs in conjunction with aPriori 2024 R1 SP1. For customers using the aPriori 2023 R1 releases, the previous machine power values are still in effect and overhead rates are not affected by the power updates describe above.

    Note:

    If you have previously created custom machines using baseline machines' power values, you may want to review and update the custom machine values based on the revised baseline machine values. You could do this while adding Auxiliary Power values—see Energy Requirements for Non-cutting Machine Components, above.

  • Setup Axis Selection (can affect tool selection, design guidance, and cycle times): In previous releases, a hole or slot that was accessible from two equal and opposite directions was sometimes incorrectly assigned the setup requiring the longer tool reach. As a result, aPriori sometimes incorrectly displayed Long Tool Reach DFM feedback, and incorrectly reduced the feed rate to compensate for long tool reach, inflating cycle time. This release correct the problem: now the setup requiring the shorter tool reach is selected.

  • User-assigned Setup Axes and Operation Assignment (can affect operation assignment and cycle times): In previous releases, for 4-Axis Mill routings, when the user manually assigned a setup axis to a surface GCD, aPriori sometimes incorrectly assigned General Mill Finishing to the surface, even when Facing, Side Milling, or Contouring operations were in fact feasible. This release corrects the problem; now the expected surface finishing operation is assigned.