Manufacturing > Tooling > To Set Up the Material Directory Structure
  
To Set Up the Material Directory Structure
 
* From Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0 onwards, to save tool cutting data, you need not create the material directory structure. You can save this data in a tool parameter file, which is an XML file. An existing material directory structure may be read to retrieve cutting data, but only if the cutting data is not stored in the tool XML file already. For more information, refer to the topic, Saving Tool Parameters. Follow the appropriate link under See Also to access these topics.
Creo NC lets you select the cutting tools and set up feeds and speeds based on the stock material and condition. To use this functionality, you have to set up a certain directory structure before you start defining your operations and tooling.
Creo NC stores all the cutting tool data in a Tooling directory, which is specified by using the pro_mf_tprm_dir configuration option. For example, you can set this configuration option as follows:
pro_mf_tprm_dir /home/users/toolcrib
Creo NC then places all the tool parameter files (.tpm files) in the /home/users/toolcrib directory.
To set up the material directory structure, create a subdirectory called materials in your Tooling directory. Spell the directory name exactly as shown.
Under the materials directory, create subdirectories corresponding to your stock materials and conditions. For example, you can create subdirectories steel20, steel30, aluminum, and so on. Your material directory structure setup is now complete.
When you later define an operation or a cutting tool, the system lists the available material subdirectories from which you can choose.
When you save the cutting tool data, the system stores the tool geometry parameters in a .tpm file in the Tooling directory, and creates a .tpm file with the same name, containing the feeds and speeds data, in the appropriate material subdirectory. This feeds and speeds data can be used to specify the manufacturing parameter values through relations.
 
* If you do not use the pro_mf_tprm_dir configuration option, the system uses your current working directory as the Tooling directory.