Notes and examples for Validation and Design to Cost
You may find the following examples helpful in demonstrating how to use the various panes and controls of the Validation and Design to Cost tabs. Since the tabs are designed to be self-guided, this section provides notes and examples that are specific to the Stock Machining process group, but the general usage patterns are similar for other process groups:
Validation, Stock Form: Say that aPriori chose Plate stock for your part, but you feel that Rectangular Bar might be a better option. This pane allows you to easily review the existing choice -- and then easily change that choice – without searching throughout the aPriori UI and system Help for the specific displays, settings, and guidance that you need.
Validation, Routing: Perhaps aPriori chose a 3-Axis Mill for machining your part, but you have access to a 4-Axis Mill and have reason to believe that this might be a better choice for this particular part. Clicking the Edit button in this pane brings up the Routing Selection window to allow you to easily evaluate your options and choose a different routing if you like.
Validation, Milling & Turning Setups: aPriori is relatively conservative about recommending setups – it tends to minimize the number of setups due to the cost of re-fixturing. The Setups sections allow you to easily review and edit the aPriori recommended setups. The Milling Setups sections also allows you to review additional possible setups that aPriori identified but did not choose.
Note: For 4-axis and 5-axis mill routings, you may see different axes referenced in different parts of the DTC user interface. For example, the Validation tab might list two axes (the active rotational axes), while the Active Setup Axes table in the Modify Setup Axes dialog box lists four axes, with two of them labeled “Unused”. This is because the dialog is displaying both the inactive primary and secondary principal (non-rotational) axes, as well as the active primary and secondary rotational axes. Inactive axes are labeled “(Unused)”. Both are displayed because the only way to specify which axes are rotational setups is by modifying the non-rotational setups.
Design to Cost, Machining: The Machining panel identifies issues that can actually prevent the part from being successfully manufactured and provides guidance on how to address such an issue. Select the issues and/or the related GCDs to highlight them in the viewer and the client UI. Take advantage of the detailed help provided by the Information icons to learn more about specific issues and the steps you can take to address them.
Note that some “Obstructed Surfaces” may be categorized as “Missing Setups” issues rather than “Obstructed Surfaces”. If the GCD could be machined from a setup which exists but is not active, it is considered "Missing Setup". However, if it is obstructed from ALL setups, it is considered “Obstructed”.
Design to Cost, Material: aPriori does not make a recommendation on whether or not you should change the selected material, it just simply identifies it to you as a major cost driver and gives you the tools you need to easily evaluate it and, if necessary, change it. Note that the gauge shows “Cost per Volume” rather than “Cost Per Mass” which makes it easier to compare materials of differing density.
Design to Cost, Stock and Utilization: aPriori cannot make a determination whether a stock utilization of (for example) "18%" is good or bad, but this panel allows you to consider whether you can adjust allowances to reduce the space between the part outline and the stock outline. Or perhaps you might consider dividing the part into two parts that are then joined together, to avoid generating a large amount of scrap. If you have a lot of space between the part outline and the stock outline, you can easily adjust allowances from here, rather than searching out and adjust specific Process Setup Options (PSOs). You can also select ANY stock in the VPE that is large enough to accommodate the part, which gives you more flexibility than provided by the standard Material Selection dialog where your choices are sometimes more limited.
Design to Cost, Tolerance & Finishing: This display can be of some general interest, but the "Features with specialized finishing" list shows if those tolerances are driving special operations and are therefore significant cost drivers. If you can loosen up your tolerance to the "Best Achievable" value possible so that fewer GCDs require a special finishing operation, you can significantly reduce your cost.
Design to Cost, Holes & Fillets: Use this panel to identify if you can limit the number of different-sized holes and fillets in your part to reduce the number of tool changes required to manufacture it. Also evaluate whether your part uses standard sizes so that common (rather than specialized or custom) tools can be used.
Design to Cost, Slow Operations: This panel identifies ball-end milling operations that are valid, but which take a long time to complete (and therefore drive up cost). Consider whether these operations could instead be performed by facing or side-milling operations, either through part design modifications or different setups.