Drilling

«Drilling» is the boring of holes in a part on a drilling-and-dowelling machine or a machining centre. Holes are needed for all carcass hardware: confirmats and dowels for assembling the frame, hinge cups, minifix and cam-lock shafts, shelf supports, drawer runners. A part cannot be assembled without precise drilling, which makes it the most common CNC operation in any project.

In iFurn.pro drilling is set by the technologist on a specific part: the «Drilling» form opens in the operations panel, and every hole is described by parameters — the coordinate origin (one of the four corners of the part), the X and Y coordinates, the depth, the drilling side and the diameter. Coordinates and depth can be entered both as a number and as a formula. Whether the hole is blind or through the platform determines itself, by comparing the depth with the part's size along the relevant axis.

The diameters in the list are not arbitrary: they are the real drill bits from the company's tool catalog. iFurn.pro shows only those diameters with which the production can physically bore the chosen side to the required depth. You cannot order a hole with a «non-existent» drill.

For rows of identical holes there are X/Y offsets and a number of drillings — a whole row is placed in a single step. Holes can be copied and mirrored onto a paired part, and those already placed across the whole project can be changed or deleted in bulk through «Group processing». If the company has enabled countersinking for confirmats, a hole can be given a countersink from the face or the back side.

Every hole goes onto the cutting map, into the part drawing and into the machine control program, while its cost goes into the estimate at the company's drilling-service rate. The articles of this section cover each parameter and scenario separately.