Purpose

Create multiple holes offset from the center along a line between two points. Normally used to create a row of holes offset from the edge of a section, such as pilot holes for screws attaching a shaped cabinet top or bottom.

Example

Description

This single step has created the 18 drill holes above. The typical use of this step is to create a row of holes offset from the edge of a section, such as pilot holes for screws attaching a shaped cabinet top or bottom. In practice, you know the position of the corners (vertices) of the section and can use vertex commends to nominate those as the Start and End points. Then the MultiBoreInline step takes over and lets you control how many holes or what spacing to use, and the sideways offset and any gaps between the Start position and the first hole in the sequence and at the end between the last hole and the End point.

Rules

Here are the rules:

• If Radius is not > 0 the step is not executed.
• It calculates the Start and End point and then offsets to the right side by SideOffset
• It moves the Start towards the End by an amount StartGap.
• It moves the End towards the Start by an amount EndGap.

Counting Holes

Now we're ready to count the holes. It measures the available space from the (adjusted) startpoint to endpoint. If the new start point and end point result in the line going in the opposite direction the step is not executed. If they are equal it drills one hole at this point.

Other than these two special events, there are four (4) ways to specify the amount of holes. Only one of these needs to be used. The first one of the fields in this list which contains a value > 0 is used and the rest are ignored:

1. NHoles: If you specify the exact number of holes to be drilled, that many will be drilled. 1 drills a hole at the start, 2 drills a hole at the start and end, and 3 or more drills a hole at the start, the end, and any remaining holes evenly spaced between the start and end.
2. SepMaxMinExact.Z is the exact separation between holes. It will drill a hole at the start and proceed to drill holes spaced exactly the specified distance apart and drills as many holes as possible without passing the end point. There will not always be a hole at the end point with this method.
3. SepMaxMinExact.X is the max separation between holes. It will drill one hole at the start and one at the end, then drill the minimum number of holes in between so that the spacing is even and not larger than the specified distance.
4. SepMinMaxExact.Y is the min separation between holes. It will drill one hole at the start and one at the end, then drill the maximum number of holes in between so that the spacing is even and not smaller than the specified distance.

If none of these fields are > 0 it simply drills one hole at the start and one at the end.

Fields

SecMin	The X, Y, Z co-ordinates of the min corner of the section which this machining step is inside.
SecMax	The X, Y, Z co-ordinates of the max corner of the section which this machining step is inside.
JoinMin	The X, Y, Z co-ordinates of the min corner of the section which this machining step is joined to.
JoinMax	The X, Y, Z co-ordinates of the max corner of the section which this machining step is joined to.
CutSize	X, Y, Z contain the values from this component dimcut1, dimcut2, dimcut3 respectively.
FinishedSize	X, Y, Z contain the values from this component dim1, dim2, dim3 respectively.
PartID	A name for this step, init as component name, not sent to DXF usually.
Layer	The layer name written to the DXF, init as steptype but you should set this to something more meaningful e.g. in EzyNest. In addition, this layer value can be prefixed by + - or ~. The prefix is not sent to the DXF, but is used to indicate notches, where two steps are combined. A + is for combining two steps by adding the paths together. This can extend the outer shape. A - is used for subtracting or creating a notch. And a ~ is for flap donor steps. (See Flaps In Remote Components)
Group	The group name written to the DXF. Default value is ungrouped. Different groups will be nested separately, so for example a DXF with some ungrouped machine steps and some steps in group 10 and others in group 20 will nest as three separate parts.
ColorIndex	The color used in the DXF (usually unused by Machining but very helpful for viewing). Colors are defined by Voloview DXF viewer. (See also DXF Layer Colours): 0 - Black 1 - Red 2 - Yellow 3 - Green 4 - Cyan 5 - Blue 6 - Magenta 7 - Black(Again) 8 - Grey 9 - Brown 10 - Khaki 11 - Dark Green 12 - Steel Blue 13 - Dark Blue 14 - Purple 15 - Dark Grey
Radius	Radius of hole.
Depth	Depth of the of the cut/drill.
Start	XYZ: location of start of the machining step.
End	XYZ: location of end of the machining step.
SideOffset	See Machining Editing > MultiBore Inline explanation.
LongOffset	Shifts the placement points in the start to end direction (ie longitudinally). Setting LongOffset to zero or empty will leave the points where they were.
StartGap	See diagram above and discussion on Machining Editing > MultiBore Inline.
EndGap	See diagram above and discussion on Machining Editing > MultiBore Inline.
NHoles	Used as one of the machinestep entry names, and refers to the intended number of holes in that specific machinestep. The actual number of holes drilled will depend on the part dimension as some holes may not fit on the part. Also there could be repeats in this one machinestep e.g. a column of shelf holes near the front of the shelves and a repeat to give a similar column of holes near the back. Furthermore, sometimes the actual number of holes drilled is determined more by the spacing between holes. So NHoles for one machinestep is an important variable but the actual number of holes drilled could even be different on two parts with the same machinestep definition, if the overall part dimensions are different - See Machining Editing > MultiBore Inline explanation.
SepMaxMinExact	See Counting Holes above.
StartDrillingSlowdown	Field not yet implemented.
EndDrillingSlowdown	Field not yet implemented.
RotationDirection	Field not yet implemented.
RotationSpeed	Field not yet implemented.
DrillingSpecial	Field not yet implemented.
RepeatCount	X: Whole machine step is repeated this many times. Y: If this is >1, then do a rectangular array of repeats.
RepeatOffset	XY: Offset vector between copies (for linear repeats). For arrays of repeats, X is the X offset and Y is the Y offset. Example Here is a little example of a BorderDeco step repeated in a 3x2 array:
ProfileFolder	Folder for QPFs, default BitmapFolder, can be relative.
ProfileName	Name of the profile. The default extension is ".qpf". An array of names is allowed, if defining multiple profile edging.
ProfileEdging	Array of edge treatments. See Edge and Pocket Profile Tutorial : Defining a Profile
Pocket	Entry is a yes/no determining whether the area inside the machinestep is to be removed. Applies to contours (closed polylines only).   See Edge and Pocket Profile Tutorial : Pocket
FeedSpeed	Field not yet implemented.
Face	Face=0 normally, other faces used for side boring. 1=Left, 2=Bottom, 3=Right, 4=Top edge.
Pitch	Field not yet implemented.
EntrySpeed	Field not yet implemented.
Offset	Field not yet implemented.
OffsetAmount	Field not yet implemented.
ToolDiameter	Field not yet implemented.
ToolNumber	Field not yet implemented.
ToolType	Field not yet implemented.
RunField	Field not yet implemented.