Case study / i-feature machining
Less setup.
More engineering.
We built i-feature to handle the repetitive setup behind planar milling in Siemens NX, while keeping machining choices in the engineer’s hands.
Explore the original project (opens in a new tab)
- Project
- In-house engineering product
- Platform
- Siemens NX CAM
- Scope
- Planar milling prototype
The challenge
Before the toolpath, the setup.
Every milling operation needs geometry, a tool, allowances, and cutting settings. Much of that preparation repeats from one operation to the next. We wanted to bring those steps together so engineers could spend less time moving between dialogs.
What we built
One place to prepare the cut.
An application inside NX for planar milling. Select the boundaries and floor plane, then set up roughing, wall and floor finishing, and chamfering in one interface. The resulting operations and toolpaths are created directly in NX.
Select geometry
Choose faces or curves and the side to machine.
Set the floor
Define how far down the machining should go.
Choose operations
Set up roughing, finishing, and optional chamfering.
Generate in NX
Create the operations and toolpaths, ready to inspect.
Inside the work
The engineer decides.
The software sets it up.
Automating preparation should leave room for judgment and adjustment.
- Start with the part
- Select faces or curves, define open or closed boundaries, and choose the material side and floor plane. The setup uses geometry already in the NX model.
- Prepare the sequence
- Set roughing allowances, create tools, and configure wall finishing, floor finishing, and chamfers together, rather than treating each as a separate setup task.
- Keep control in NX
- The output stays editable. Engineers can inspect the generated operations and toolpaths, then adjust them with the NX tools they already use.
The result
Less repetition. Still in NX.
The prototype brings a planar milling setup together, from geometry selection to generated operations. Engineers stay in NX, with editable toolpaths and the final machining decisions in their hands.
This is the original prototype. For a new project, we would first check compatibility with your current NX version.
See the original project (opens in a new tab)Next case study
tr3n.do
From market data to market context.