What's New

Added

• Stickout-aware deflection and chatter warnings. HelixFeed now reads your tool's stickout (length below holder), gauge length, and holder diameter directly from Fusion's tool library. When the tool is set up long, you'll see new warnings in the op card: a deflection warning when push-off exceeds the safe limit, a chatter risk when your RPM is near the tool's natural frequency, and a suggested safer RPM to step away from resonance. Previously this analysis was running silently because the inputs were always blank.
• Tool geometry visible in op details. Stickout, gauge length, and holder diameter now display alongside hole/peck/pitch when Fusion has them set, so you can sanity-check the values driving each calculation.

Fixed

• Auto-updater no longer fails with an internal error. Clicking Update Now in 0.8.0–0.8.2 produced an `AttributeError` and aborted the download. Fixed.
• Bundles delivered by Update Now are now byte-stable. Previously, the verification step occasionally rejected a perfectly valid download as "failed SHA-256 verification" because of a packaging quirk on the server. Same bytes every time now.

Fixed

• Update Now works again. The auto-updater is now fully wired up end-to-end. Click Update Now in the palette and the latest add-in is fetched directly from HelixFeed's servers with verified bytes — no manual install required.

Fixed

• 0.8.0 announced light mode but the code landed here. Apologies for the half-truth in the previous release — the auto-updater and the light-mode work were prepared in parallel and merged in two PRs; this follow-up makes the 0.8.0 changelog entry accurate.

Added

• Auto-updater — when a new release is available, click Update Now in the palette and HelixFeed downloads the verified bundle in the background. Restart Fusion to finish installing — the add-in swaps the new files into place automatically before it loads. No more dragging files into the AddIns folder. The previous version is kept as a backup until the new one launches cleanly. Manual Install stays available as a fallback button.
• Light mode — sun/moon toggle in the palette header. Your choice persists across sessions and matches your OS preference on first launch. Dark stays the default.

Changed

• One-time manual install for testers on 0.7.x — the auto-updater needs to be on disk before it can update anything. Existing testers do this last manual install to get to 0.8.0; from there every future update is one-click + restart Fusion. API key, machine profiles, last selections, and saved recipes are preserved — they migrate silently on first launch into a separate `user_state.json` that the auto-updater never touches.
• User state lives outside the add-in folder — by design, so the auto-updater can swap the bundle without affecting your settings. On macOS this lives at `~/Library/Application Support/HelixFeed/`; on Windows at `%LOCALAPPDATA%\HelixFeed\`.

Fixed

• Update prompts now ship a verifiable artifact — the Update Now flow downloads from a published release with a verifiable checksum instead of a server-rebuilt ZIP. Same bytes every time.

Fixed

• Large operation lists now load reliably — on documents with many operations, the HelixFeed panel could silently fail to display results or get stuck on the loading spinner. Those documents now load the same way smaller ones do.
• Status badge now shows the real material count — the "Connected • 0 materials" line in the palette status bar was misreading the material count and falling back to zero even though the material dropdown was fully populated. It now reflects the actual number of material families loaded.

Changed

• Cross-platform add-in deploy script — the `deploy_addin.py` helper now works on macOS in addition to Windows. Mac testers can install the add-in from the command line instead of hand-copying files into `~/Library/...`.
• Mac install guide — new docs walk Mac testers through the install path, unhiding `~/Library` in Finder, and running the deploy script.
• Machine Context panel and per-op Save Preset button still hidden — both remain hidden in 0.7.5 while we finish a safe path for library-referenced tools and complete the Machine Context confidence scoring. They will return in a later release once both are solid.

Fixed

• Palette no longer hangs on "Loading operations…" — on documents with several setups or many operations, the HelixFeed panel could sit forever on the loading spinner after entering an API key or switching setups. The add-in is now more careful about what it hands the panel when the document loads, which restores normal behavior on larger jobs. If something does go wrong during startup, you'll see a "Load Failed" status with an error message instead of an endless spinner.

Changed

• Tidier operation cards — the per-operation row header is now two lines: the top line holds the checkbox, tool number, operation name, and a small chevron to expand details; the bottom line holds the Apply and Save Preset buttons on the right with the FULL LOC badge on the left. Long operation names truncate cleanly with a tooltip instead of wrapping awkwardly, and the details toggle no longer clips off the right edge of the panel.
• Machine Context panel hidden for this release — the per-setup "Machine Context" box (with Use Setup Machine / Save Profile / Bind Setup buttons, and the "Confidence: low" pill) is temporarily hidden while the confidence scoring and binding flow gets finished. Per-setup machine settings still auto-apply to the global machine card on single-setup documents; that behavior is unchanged. The full UI returns in 0.7.5.
• Per-op Save Preset button hidden for this release — on some Fusion tool library setups, clicking Save Preset caused Fusion to lock up with the spinning beachball. The button is hidden while we work out a safe path for library-referenced tools; the feature returns in 0.7.5.

Added

• New face mill calculation engine — face mill operations now use a dedicated calculation path backed by manufacturer research (Sandvik, Kennametal, Iscar, Seco, Tungaloy, Mitsubishi, Ingersoll). Cutting speeds, chip loads, and depths of cut come from published starting parameters for each material group and insert geometry (45°, 65°, 90° square shoulder, round insert). The engine reads the lead angle, corner radius, and flute length you've already set in your Fusion tool library — no extra setup — and uses flute length as the physical max depth of cut so stepdown always stays within what the insert can actually take. The intensity slider now shifts both depth and width of cut, so conservative mode is meaningfully lighter than full-send roughing. When your machine's HP limit would force the feed below the minimum chip load for rubbing-free cutting, you'll get a clear warning telling you what to change (smaller cutter, lighter depth, or more HP) instead of a silent rubbing condition.
• Save Preset button on each operation — once you've calculated a recipe you like, click "Save Preset" on the operation card to save the current RPM, cutting feed, plunge, and ramp into Fusion's tool preset library for that tool. Presets are auto-named with the material, machining mode, and intensity (e.g. `HelixFeed - 6061 - Adaptive Roughing (75%)`) so you can tell them apart at a glance. The preset stays with the tool, so you can pick it later from Fusion's tool dropdown on any operation that uses the same tool. The active operation is left alone — saving a preset never changes which preset your toolpath is using.

Changed

• Face mill stepdown and stepover now reflect your insert — previously face mill depth of cut was estimated from the tool diameter alone, which could over-program the insert on smaller cutters or under-utilize it on larger ones. The new engine uses your flute length directly (which is the insert's cutting edge exposed below the cutter body), so recommendations match the physical tool.

Changed

• Clearer homepage messaging — the landing page now makes it much clearer that HelixFeed reads your existing Fusion 360 tool library and CAM operations instead of asking you to enter tool geometry twice.
• Today dashboard metrics — the admin app can now show calendar-day Today totals, compared against yesterday at the same time of day, instead of treating Today as a rolling 24-hour window.

Changed

• Smarter update prompts — the add-in will only prompt you to update when there's actually something new in the add-in. Server-side improvements no longer trigger unnecessary download prompts.

Added

• Auto material detection — HelixFeed now reads the stock material from your Fusion 360 CAM Setup and pre-selects the matching material family and alloy automatically. Supports exact grade matching (e.g. 4140, 6061, 304), hardness-based selection, and keyword fallback for common materials. You can still change the material at any time.
• Machine setup detection scaffolding — early groundwork for future machine profile features. No user-facing changes yet.

Changed

• Instant API key on signup — you no longer have to wait for approval. Sign up on the landing page and your key appears immediately, ready to copy. We also email it to you as a backup.
• Updated landing page — clearer calls to action and "Free Beta Access" messaging.

Added

• Device management for admin — register and manage notification preferences from the mobile admin app.

Fixed

• Dashboard metrics now accurate — request counts, operations, and landing visitor stats that were showing as zero in the mobile admin app are now sourced correctly and display reliably.

Added

• Extended hourly charts — hourly data now defaults to 48 hours (up from 24) and is configurable up to 7 days via the API.

Added

• Ramp angle calculation — HelixFeed now calculates and recommends an optimal ramp angle for helical entry moves, based on tool geometry, material, and intensity. The angle is displayed in your results and written back to Fusion alongside feeds and speeds.
• Tool number on operation cards — each card now shows the T-number from your Fusion tool library for easier identification.
• Per-operation Apply button in card header — apply a single operation's feeds and speeds with one click, right from the card header. Styled to match the main Apply button.

Fixed

• Ramp feed rates dramatically improved — fixed a bug where the helical ramp diameter from Fusion was being misinterpreted, producing ramp feed rates that were significantly too conservative. Ramp rates are now calculated correctly based on bore geometry, material, and machine limits. This affects all adaptive and pocket toolpaths with helical entry.
• Duplicate Apply button no longer spawns — the per-operation Apply button could appear multiple times on the same card after re-calculation. Fixed.

Added

• Demo video on landing page — the homepage now features a YouTube demo video in the hero section so new visitors can see HelixFeed in action before signing up.

Fixed

• Faster API responses — reduced redundant database work that was adding unnecessary overhead to every calculation request.
• False update prompts resolved — server-only updates no longer trigger an "update available" message in the add-in.
• Mobile dashboard metrics fixed — the summary endpoint was wrapping data in a way the app couldn't read, so all numbers showed as zero.

Added

• Admin API — programmatic access to HelixFeed data for external tools and mobile use. Intended for admin and power-user workflows.

Changed

• Optional machine limits collapsed by default — torque, minimum RPM, and max feed fields are now tucked away unless you need them, keeping the Machine card cleaner for everyday use.
• Version display replaced with connection status — the add-in header now shows whether it's connected to the server instead of a version number that didn't mean much in context.
• Machine setup card highlights on first launch — new users are guided to configure their machine settings before running their first calculation.
• Tool life estimates removed — the estimates weren't reliable enough to be useful, so they've been pulled from results. We'll bring them back when the data backs it up.

Fixed

• Spot drills and center drills now get correct speeds — carbide spot drills were being calculated at HSS speeds, resulting in speeds that were too conservative. Carbide tools now use carbide data.
• Carbide countersinks now use carbide data — same issue as spot drills; countersinks were getting HSS speeds regardless of tool material.
• Carbide reamers now have their own speed data — carbide reamers were using carbide drill speeds, which are far too aggressive for reaming. They now have dedicated SFM values sourced from Machinery's Handbook and manufacturer catalogs. Reamers with unknown material default to conservative HSS values.
• More tool types recognized — barrel mills, and common spelling variants of counterbore and countersink are now correctly identified and calculated.
• Probe tools no longer silently default to endmill data — probe tools are now flagged as unsupported with a clear message, instead of producing meaningless endmill calculations.
• Unrecognized tool types now show a warning — if HelixFeed can't identify a tool type, you'll see a warning that results are based on endmill defaults, so you know to double-check.

Changed

• Smarter feed rate limiting — When your machine's max feed rate constrains the recipe, HelixFeed now keeps spindle speed in the productive range instead of slashing RPM to preserve chip load. This prevents built-up edge in aluminum and work hardening in stainless that the old approach could cause. Drills and taps still preserve chip load as before.

Fixed

• Invalid inputs no longer bypass safety limits — Sending special numeric values (NaN, Infinity) through the API could silently disable the horsepower limiter or produce corrupt results. These are now rejected with a clear error message.

Added

• Free web calculator — a public feeds & speeds calculator at helixfeed.com/calculator. Pick your material, tool, and machine specs — get RPM, feed rate, chip load, DOC, and WOC instantly. No signup, no install. Supports imperial and metric units.
• What's New page — a public changelog at helixfeed.com/changelog showing every HelixFeed release and what changed. Always up to date.
• Full drill cycle support — HelixFeed now recognizes and handles the full range of Fusion 360 drill cycles: standard drilling, chip-breaking, deep-drilling, counter-boring, gun-drilling, reaming, and tapping. Unsupported cycles (boring, thread-milling, probe) show a clear message instead of producing wrong numbers.
• Tapping calculations — Tap operations now calculate feed from thread pitch and RPM (feed = pitch x RPM). The add-in writes only RPM back to Fusion and leaves the feed to the cycle, which is the correct behavior for rigid tapping.
• Peck depth awareness — When a drill cycle has a peck depth set in Fusion, HelixFeed uses it as the stepdown instead of guessing from the tool geometry.
• Feed-per-revolution for drills — Drill results now include feed per revolution alongside IPM, and the add-in can write back in feed-per-rev units when Fusion's operation is configured that way.
• Privacy Policy and Terms of Service — helixfeed.com now has proper legal pages covering data collection, usage terms, and a machining liability disclaimer.

Fixed

• Drilling and reaming feeds were doubled (or worse) — the engine was treating drill feed data as per-tooth instead of per-revolution, then multiplying by flute count. A 2-flute drill got 2x the correct feed; a 6-flute reamer got 6x. Every drill and reamer recommendation is now accurate.
• HSS drills were getting carbide speeds — tool material detection now recognizes M-series steel grades (M2, M42), T-series (T15), and hyphenated "high-speed steel" so HSS tools get the correct, lower speed recommendations.
• Helical entry on adaptive toolpaths was too aggressive — the ramp-down into adaptive clearing now runs through a full boring calculation with circular path compensation. The engine accounts for the fact that the tool is slotting in a tight bore during helix entry and adjusts the feed accordingly.

Added

• Bore milling mode — Fusion's 2D Bore toolpath now gets its own calculation mode with circular path compensation. The engine adjusts the programmed feed so the actual chip load at the bore wall matches the target, instead of treating it like a straight-line cut. Warns when the bore-to-tool diameter ratio is too tight.
• Helix entry diameter and bore diameter — the add-in now reads the helix entry bore size from adaptive toolpaths and extracts the bore diameter from 2D Bore operations, passing both to the engine for physics-based feed compensation.

Added

• Interactive charts — daily activity, hourly usage, and tester history now display as smooth area and line charts instead of static bars.

Added

• Machine rigidity setting — a slider in the Machine card that lets you dial in your machine's stiffness. Lighter machines automatically get more conservative recommendations. Set it once and forget it.
• Per-setup workholding — each setup now has its own workholding slider (Kurt vise, toe clamps, soft jaws, tape, vacuum table, etc.). Different setups can have different workholding without affecting each other.
• Max feed rate limit — set your machine's maximum feed rate and HelixFeed will shape the recipe around it instead of just clamping the number. RPM adjusts to keep chip load healthy.
• "What's New" on update — when you install a new version, you'll see a summary of what changed right in the palette.
• In-app user guide — click the "Guide" button in the header for a quick reference covering every feature, what the metrics mean, and how to calibrate your machine settings.

Changed

• Machine settings card is now collapsible — click the arrow to expand or collapse. Stays collapsed once you've configured it.
• Tool Life and Cycle Time removed — these metrics weren't reliable enough to display. We'll bring them back when we can back them with better data.
• Engagement visualizer removed — the side view, top view, and force bars are gone for now. We'll revisit this with a cleaner design.

Added

• Landing page brand update — "HelixFeed" now appears prominently as the first thing you see when visiting the site.

Changed

• Sidebar stays visible while scrolling (sticky positioning).
• Flash messages are now color-coded by type (success, error, warning).

Added

• HelixFeed.com is live. Public landing page at www.helixfeed.com — see what HelixFeed does, browse screenshots, and request early access directly from the site.
• Request Early Access form — enter your name, email, and what you run, and we'll get you set up. No more waiting for a manual email.
• Public add-in download — download the Fusion 360 add-in directly from the website. No more emailed zip files.
• Screenshot gallery — scroll through real screenshots of HelixFeed running inside Fusion 360 with live calculation results.

Added

• Tool resonance warning — HelixFeed now checks whether your operating RPM is approaching the natural resonant frequency of the tool based on its diameter and how far it sticks out of the holder. This is where chatter gets catastrophic, especially with long, thin tools running fast. Two warning levels: caution when you're getting close, danger when you're in the red zone.
• Sub-harmonic detection — the warning also catches the first sub-harmonic (half the resonant frequency), which can drive the same kind of vibration at lower RPM.
• Safe RPM suggestion — when a resonance warning fires, results now include the critical RPM value and a suggested RPM to target that keeps you clear of the danger zone.

Added

• Spindle torque constraint — set a max torque limit (in-lb) for your machine and HelixFeed will reduce feed rates to stay within it, the same way it already does for horsepower.
• Tool shaft breakage warning — results now show how much torque the cut demands relative to what the tool shaft can handle, with a warning when small tools are at risk of snapping.
• Minimum RPM setting — enter your spindle's minimum RPM and HelixFeed will clamp speeds upward when a large tool would otherwise need to spin below that floor. Shows overspeed percentage and suggests a maximum tool diameter that would keep SFM in range.
• Refresh button — rescan your Fusion toolpaths without closing HelixFeed. New operations appear instantly, and your existing settings are preserved.

Added

• Ball nose end mills now calculate RPM from the effective cutting diameter at the actual depth of cut, giving correct surface speed instead of under-speeding at shallow passes.
• Axial chip thinning compensation (CATF) for ball nose tools — feed rates are boosted to account for the ball geometry thinning the chip, eliminating 30-50% underfeeding at shallow cuts.
• Scallop height is now reported for ball nose finish passes, so you can see exactly what surface finish a given stepover will produce.

Fixed

• Long-reach ball nose tools with deflection-limited cuts now get correct RPM based on the final settled depth, not the initial default.

Fixed

• Opening HelixFeed with no toolpaths in your document no longer shows a "Cannot reach server" error — it now correctly shows a friendly empty state instead.

Added

• In-app update notifications — the add-in now checks for new versions on startup and shows a banner when an update is available.
• One-click update download — click "Download Update" to get the latest version directly, no more waiting for emails.

Fixed

• Fixed an issue where operations would not display after opening the add-in.
• Icons now deploy correctly without requiring Fusion to be fully closed.

Changed

• Report Bug and Suggest Improvement buttons moved to the top of the panel for easier access.

Added

• Machine profile field — prompts once for your machine make/model to help improve recommendations and troubleshooting.
• "Suggest Improvement" button alongside bug reports for submitting feature requests.
• Dedicated Discord channels for bug reports, improvement suggestions, and release notes.

Changed

• Feedback submissions are now anonymous in Discord — your identity is never shared publicly.

Added

• Full session restore — per-operation overrides, intensity sliders, and last calculation results now persist between sessions. Matched by operation identity so changes to your CAM setup are handled gracefully.
• Bug report feature — "Report Bug" button in Settings opens a form that auto-attaches context (material, tools, strategies, last results) and sends to Discord for triage.
• Auto-generate toolpath toggle — checkbox in Machine card (default OFF) controls whether toolpaths regenerate after apply. Prevents Fusion freezing on large setups.

Changed

• Setup checkbox now acts as select-all/deselect-all. Unchecking a setup unchecks all operations but does NOT disable them — you can re-check individual toolpaths.

Fixed

• Individual toolpaths can now be selected after deselecting their parent setup.

Added

• Metric/imperial unit toggle in the Machine card — all displayed values convert instantly; preference saved between sessions.
• Transition feedrate input — set a fixed repositioning speed instead of defaulting to the cutting feed.
• Hardness-based SFM scaling using workpiece Brinell hardness within each material's BHN range (Machinery's Handbook Tables 1a/1b).
• Hardness-based machinability factor scaling — harder stock increases unit HP per Table 11.
• Tool coating modifiers — 10 coating types (TiAlN, AlCrN, DLC, CVD Diamond, etc.) with SFM/IPT multipliers auto-detected from Fusion tool material text.
• Spindle power curve modeling — constant-torque/constant-power motor model for RPM-aware power limiting.
• New `/api/coatings` endpoint listing available coatings and their multipliers.

Fixed

• Transition feedrate no longer defaults to the cutting feedrate.

Added

• Surface-finish strategy gating and improved regression coverage.

Changed

• Centralized visible app versioning around `addin/version.json`.
• Tester bundle filenames now include the app version.

Fixed

• Manual DOC overrides are now clamped to flute length when flute length is known.
• `Surface Finish` no longer applies cusp-height logic to non-surfacing strategies.

Added

• Private alpha hosted API flow on Render.
• Fusion machining modes, surfacing support, setup-level controls, and tester packaging.
• Admin/tester management foundation and hosted API key workflow.