Stock
Updated v2.4.2At a glance
- Rectangular or cylindrical stock block, shown as an x-ray around the part
- Size it relative to the part (say 0.05" all around) or fixed to a real billet size
- Anchor the part where you want it inside the stock
- Stock looks like your material — copper part, copper stock — with a per-setup override picker
- Stock top and bottom feed the height planes and Facing, so cuts reference real material
Every Setup carries a stock block — the raw material the part comes out of. It renders as a translucent x-ray box around the model so you can see the part inside the billet, and it's what the operations measure their heights against.
Shape and size
Stock is rectangular or cylindrical. Size it two ways: relative to the part — a uniform allowance such as 0.05" on every side, so the block always hugs whatever the model grows to — or fixed to an exact billet size when you're cutting from stock you already have on the shelf. Change the part and relative stock resizes with it; fixed stock stays put.
Where the part sits inside the block
Anchor the part wherever it belongs in the stock — centered, or shoved to a corner and a face so the machined datums line up with how the billet clamps in the vise. That anchor is also what the work zero references when you park it at the stock corner.
Stock looks like your material
The x-ray block takes on the material of the body you're machining — set a body to Copper, Brass, or 6061 in Drafting and the stock renders with that metal's color and finish while you set up. The Stock section's Material dropdown defaults to Auto (following the first machined body, live), and you can override it to any material in the library — including your own custom materials — saved with the setup. The simulation carves its stock in the same material look, and per-face colors painted in Drafting show on the bodies inside Mill too.
Stock feeds the cut
Stock top and bottom are real Z references throughout Mill: the height planes snap to them, and Facing knows to skim the whole stock top straight from the block with nothing to pick. Setting stock correctly means the rest of the operations already know where the material starts and ends.