A new sort option has been added to the drill/punch dialog box that becomes active when the X,Y or Y,X sort options are selected. The ZigZag toggle informs AUTO-CODE that you have a series of rows or columns and that you want the tool to move along one then reverse direction when moving to next group saving the long move back to the start. When ZigZag is not selected AUTO-CODE hits each hole in X,Y or Y,X order. The nearest sort option is still the best solution when drilling a smaller set of holes.

Example - drill 500+ holes in column sequence

A large set of holes to be drilled. The new feature allows you to quickly program the drilling sequence as columns going up and down. Start AUTO-CODE and proceed to the drill holes dialog. The ZigZag feature is available when either the X,Y or Y,X sort radio button has been selected.

When ZigZag is selected you need to select a corner point for the beginning of the sort. By default the current tool position is used. Normally you would want to select a point near one of the corners of the objects.

The result of the drilling operation is a path up and down the columns. The X,Y sort option was used along with the ZigZag toggle.

Total time to create the 500+ line NC program was under 10 seconds!

Requires AutoCAD 2007 Version or greater.