lead in and out

[Frank]

Help me please, as ridiculous as this sounds, I am leaving a mark on my 2d parts when I comp in or out on a line or a arc. Trying not to get into much detail, I'm cutting aluminuim with a .250 ballnose end mill taking a .01 cut and using .150 overlap in my lead in, lead out parameter. The mark that is left is very small but is an issue. Could it possibly be the way I'm programming it, or is it more likely the machine or cutter ?? Also is anyone familiar with billet machining of wheels ? Thank You.

Frank

[Allan]

Do you notice a pause in the machine motion when machining these lead in/outs? You state that you comp with a line or arc the comp should be made to occur on a line > the radius in your D register. Turning comp on with an arc generates an alarm on every machine I've worked on.

[JoeyW]

I've also experienced this problem in the past, especially when cutting aluminum. Most likly it is a result of how it is programmed. Try changing the lead in, out angle to as small as possible. Also try to change the positions of your lead in, out so they don't lead in/out at the same point. Make the lead out position past the lead in position, so just before it leads out it recuts the distance between the lead in, out positions. This was easy to do on my old CAM system but I haven't come across a situation where I've had to do this in Mastercam. Good Luck.

[This message has been edited by Chip Maker (edited 09-19-2000).]

[Frank]

Thanks for the replies. I have come to the conclusion that it has nothing to do with the programmer (me), and it's an unavoidable line. (I checked the height of the spot .001). What I did do is put my lead in, lead out at a different place, that isn't as noticable. As far as Mastercam making it easy to go past your lead in spot....just put a number in the overlap spot at the top of the lead in / lead out parameter.