Solidworks Cam Tech DB Tool Materials

Hi all. We have 90 percent HSS tooling. I cant for the life of me add HSS to the solidworks cam db.Unless I do it one tool at a time, including sfpm and such. Is data for that available like it is for carbide? I've done the "update tool material" bit and it hasn't helped. This is solidoworks cam, not HSM. Any help would be appreciated.

Don5070 said:

Hi all. We have 90 percent HSS tooling. I cant for the life of me add HSS to the solidworks cam db.Unless I do it one tool at a time, including sfpm and such. Is data for that available like it is for carbide? I've done the "update tool material" bit and it hasn't helped. This is solidoworks cam, not HSM. Any help would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

have you checked the CAMWorks site for this? SWCAM is CAMWorks.

adding tools to CAMWorks tech DB - Google Search

if you watch this vid he states that you can only do one at a time! Creating Tool Cribs - SOLIDWORKS CAM TechDB - YouTube

I have the same issue, I'm about 50% HSS tools and I wish the database included default HSS tools. I've been copying tools that were close and changing them to HSS but it's kind of annoying when the standard tool is fine, just the wrong material.

"Update Tool Material" just updates whatever changes you made in the Feeds and Speeds editor into the TechDB. Looking at my Feeds and Speeds editor, there seems to be F/S for HSS. So, this just means you need to set the tool/s to HSS, individually. I've submitted an enhancement request shortly after the new TechDB app came out for Camworks to implement mass editing for a similar reason. Say I want to change all my drills to 135 degree from 118. Gotta do it 1 by 1.

However, there may be a solution that could work for you, but do this at your own risk. The TechDB file is a SQLite database. You can download SQLite Studio and make edits from there. BUT BE VERY CAREFULL and ALWAYS TEST ON A COPY of your database. Don't make changes to number values here as the app does extra work behind the scenes when you do it on the app side. Drill tip angle is one example. If you change the tip angle, the tip length is also changed. Editing the same tip angle in SQLite studio will NOT adjust the tip length. So, I don't do that.

The field for tool material is a text field. It's usually called TmcID. So you can try to edit that field to see if you get the results you want.

Mind you when you open up the database in SQLite studio, you will see about 600 or so tables of data. The actual tool data tables are labled:

in_BORES
in_CenterDrill
in_CornerRounding
in_CounterSink
etc... these are nicely grouped.

The metric equivalents are the same name just without the 'in_' prefix. They are not grouped and you have to hunt and find them alphabetically.

Be carefull when poking around in here and make sure you practice on a COPY of your database and try your changes there. Then just point to the new copy from your settings tab in the TechDB and give her a whirl. Again, always keep a backup of your database!

Yea as BluishInventor said I have done it a little at a time copying tools and changing to HSS as needed.

I couldn't see how to edit a tool to change the material from carbide, I had to copy it and make the change at that time.

Nmbmxer said:

I couldn't see how to edit a tool to change the material from carbide, I had to copy it and make the change at that time.

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Should be just a drop down menu. The menu is populated by the feed and speeds editor.