Profile-NEST Module > Create Machining Operations

Machining Regions also referred to as Control Geometry are curves or surface boundary edges that already exist in your model or separate new curves you create that coexist within your part. Be sure to read the Important Notes below before proceeding.

Important Notes about Machining Regions

Machining Regions must be selected before they can be used in a Profile operation. It should be noted that regions can be created and be present in a part file but if they are not selected in a Profile operation they will be ignored during toolpath computation. So creating a region does not make it active; you must use one of the Selection buttons on the Control Geometry tab of the Profile operation dialog before Generating the toolpath.

Multiple regions can be defined and selected in a Profile operation. This is a very powerful feature and affords you fine control over the manufacturing process.

There are two ways of working with Machining Regions. The first is by creating/deleting regions in a part file. The second is selecting regions from the Profile operation dialog. These are both unique processes and each have independent methods of being invoked.

Machining Region Types by Product Configuration

Machining Region Type	Product Configuration
Machining Region Type		Standard (STD)	Expert (EXP)	Professional (PRO)	Premium (PRE)
Curve
Surface Boundary/Edge
Flat Area
Avoid Regions

Creating Regions

To create regions, make sure the ribbon bar containing the CAD tools is visible. Select Appearance > Toolbars > Command Bar from the main menu to display the ribbon bar. You will be able to create rectangular, circular and polygonal regions using the tools under the ribbon toolbar. Regions can also be extracted from the 3D model using the tools available under Curves tab in the ribbon bar.

Multiple Regions

Multiple and nested regions can be selected, but not regions that intersect. Nested regions are handled according to the following rule: The tool will remain inside an outer region and outside an inner region. A region within an inner region is considered to be an outer region. In the following picture, the shaded areas are where the tool motions occur:

Multiple Regions

Deleting Regions

Regions can be deleted by selecting them graphically in the display window or by using the Selections pane from the Modeling Aids Ribbon Bar.

Menu Bar

To delete the graphically selected regions, select the right mouse button inside the display window. This will bring up the following pop-up menu. Choose Cut to delete the selected regions. You can also hit the Delete key on the keyboard to delete the active selections.

Right-click Meu for Geometry Regions

Editing Regions

Also the regions can be edited using any of the commands like Move, Rotate, Scale and Mirror. The transformation can also be accessed from the menu bar. The properties of the regions like layer, color can also be edited using the Properties option (Edit > Properties).