Single Surface from Solid Faces

[TFarrell9]

Attached is an operation from a file I made last year. I was able to make a single surface from the 3 solid faces and use a flowline operation that has worked really well and gives me the exact motion I want. 

Another part with the same type of feature has come through and I can't for the life of me remember or replicate how I did it the first time. When I use Loft, it creates 3 separate surfaces, just as if they were the solid faces. I've tried everything I can think of with surface, solid, and mesh tools and I'm stumped. 

I can tell I extended the surface because of some "wave" going on, but I can't derive anything else from it. 

Flowline.mcam

[ajmer]

take a look at this file

i created a silhouette boundary from the front

added a 0.001" rad in the corner to make the spline, next step, a little nicer

then created a spline from that

draft surface

then trimmed it from the top with the boundary i created

 

 

ajmer_ihs_Flowline.mcam

[crazy^millman]

Morph between 2 curves with no extra geometry created in a 3 Axis output and call it a day? Not exactly the same, but would get it done.

Sorry out of room to post a screen shot here is a link to the Dropbox file. I did try sweeping a surface and no luck. Ajmer has a good solution.

Link

[TFarrell9]

On 5/3/2024 at 5:05 PM, ajmer said:

take a look at this file

i created a silhouette boundary from the front

added a 0.001" rad in the corner to make the spline, next step, a little nicer

then created a spline from that

draft surface

then trimmed it from the top with the boundary i created

 

 

ajmer_ihs_Flowline.mcam 908.43 kB · 3 downloads

Really cool! Definitely not a method I knew of. Thanks!

On 5/4/2024 at 11:23 AM, crazy^millman said:

Morph between 2 curves with no extra geometry created in a 3 Axis output and call it a day? Not exactly the same, but would get it done.

Sorry out of room to post a screen shot here is a link to the Dropbox file. I did try sweeping a surface and no luck. Ajmer has a good solution.

Link

Would love to be able to do that, however I do not have the multiaxis package. Thank you for the effort though. 

[TFarrell9]

Well dang, the method worked great for creating the surface, but the flowline doesn't "sweep" along, so the toolpath wants to make linear motion. I tried to reflow the surface, but it warps the surface.

It's a bit cumbersome, but I think I'll have to offset copy the boundary curve to my desired stepovers, project the curves onto the surface, and use 3d contour.   EDIT: Just kidding, that's not going to work either.

[ajmer]

ok so i got it working as you want

see video here

video

[TFarrell9]

45 minutes ago, ajmer said:

ok so i got it working as you want

see video here

video

Very cool, thank you so much. Before coming to the forum about this, I tried using Net but I kept getting a continuity error. Turns out I was chaining it wrong, most notably with the across curves.

I chained the surface without making a radius, just to see what it would do and it gave me a continuity error, but still created the surface and it didn't look warped. I opted to use a radius as you did though, as I'd rather not get any errors at all. Cool trick, same with the draft example you showed me before with turning it into a spline. I really appreciate your help. 

 

Also for what it's worth, I was able to get fairly close to my desired motion with 3d blend, but as it came down the 45* wall it wanted to lift in some areas and plunge into the stock and with the angular lead-in/out control being limited, I could only avoid the plunge by giving it a combination of horizontal and big vertical lead-in. I also had to manipulate geometry a fair bit.

This net surface with flowline is clean and simple. Thanks again.

[bird2010]

Sorry I don’t speak English...

[bird2010]

Maybe using Blend is better than Flowline, but the curve needs to be calculated...

Flowline

Blend

[cruzila]

Mastercam Single Surface Machining and Overflow UV | Mastercam 2022 Signature Parts (youtube.com)

[TFarrell9]

7 hours ago, bird2010 said:

Sorry I don’t speak English...

Thanks! I had never used Reflow UV before and I was trying to reflow all three surfaces together, rather than just the one....of course in hindsight, it makes sense to just do the one. 

I've also used "single row only" in flowline, as I never knew what the purpose was. Turns out checking single row only and setting to spiral effectively blends the three surfaces together, cool!

Lastly, when I was trying Blend, I was chaining the curves along the surface and getting lift at the 45*. When chaining a projected flat curve, no more lift...interesting! I have even less experience using Blend as I do drawing surfaces, so I'm still figuring out how to chain the curves and set the Projection settings, both in toolpath control and cut parameters.