Process Manager - Extract Steps - Automerge (XML)

[ptc-296815]

Hello,

I want to automate the drilling process using XML – I am using UDFs to create holes and I want to add XML for drilling and threading. When I do this, I have, for example, 10 holes and 10 annotations with XML. In Process Manager, I call them, and even when I check AutoMerge, it inserts 10 drilling and threading operations instead of one merged drilling operation and one merged threading operation that would include all 10 holes in two operations instead of 20.

I found this video (17:30) where it works, and I am not sure where I am making a mistake.

https://community.ptc.com/t5/Creo-Parametric-Tips/Mfg-Automation-Tips-Techniques-Session-Recording-West-Coast/ta-p/820680

[BryantMorgan]

This is an interesting topic with many details - I do not believe I know all of them but here are a few:

• Creo Help describes the “AutoMerge” function working for “steps that are consecutive, have the same manufacturing criteria name, use the same Mfg templae and tool and have same orientation”
• Spot/drill/tap a hole – steps to merge will not be consecutive and using the same tool
• How did this work in the video?
• The orientations were not the same
• For a designer to place a UDF that contains MFG Annotation Elements (AE) for a single threaded hole
• The UDF could contain one MFG AE which contains spot/drill/tap for instance in one MFG XML Template OR
• It could be 3 separate MFG XML templates – not sure which is best practice
• In either case I have not been able to extract them in any different order than spot/drill/tap, spot/drill/tap
• An MFG AE feature can be patterned at the .prt level but this is not something I would expect a designer to do – specifying orientation, start surface, axis

1. If an MFG AE is created and applied to a hole axis (of a patterned hole) for spotting, it can then be patterned by reference
2. A separate MFG AE can be created for drilling, then patterned by reference
3. Another MFG AE can be created for tapping, then patterned by reference
4. I was able to extract these toolpaths and apply the “AutoMerge” option since this keeps the tools consecutive

[ptc-296815]

Thank you for your response.

I tried creating a UDF for an M6 thread, in which I added three annotations separately (spot drilling, drilling, threading), as shown in the picture. Then, I used the Reorder function to group annotations that use the same tool, as shown in the photo. 

Even though the tools are in the correct sequence, the AutoMerge function does not work. In the Process Preview photo, the operations are still arranged in the original UDF order: spot drilling - drilling - threading - spot drilling - drilling - threading.

  

 

Would you recommend any other solution besides the AutoDrill function?

[BryantMorgan · Accepted solution]

What version\build of Creo are you running?

I am not sure how many sequences you are dealing with but reordering steps in the process manager seems to go faster than working in the model tree – if you manually reorder your steps so that the tools are consecutive you could try highlighting them> Tools> Automatic Merge (which feels more manual than Auto):

Is it possible one of the other requirements listed are not being met like “same orientation”? It would be interesting to know if you can perform the Automatic Merge described above.

[ptc-296815]

YES, it works, thank you so much, Bryant! I'm using Creo 9.

I created a UDF for a threaded hole and added an annotation with XML, containing spot drilling, drilling, and threading. Then, I created 20 holes placed in different locations on the board. Using Extract Steps, I invoked the XML, arranged the operations by tool, and then merged them using Automatic Merge. Now, instead of 60 operations, I have only 3, just as I wanted.Thank you again, Bryant! You really made my work easier.