Cutting Air

[Andy]

Let's say I have a rectangular block 1/2x4x8.

on the 4 inch edge, with stock laying flat, I want to machine a full 2" radius. Using contour,and feeding the endmill in from the side, multi pass say .2 per pass.

How can one avoid cutting air or speed up when cutting air?

Andy

[ 12-03-2001: Message edited by: Andy ]

[BernieT]

Andy, you will have to put a picture on the FTP site, I can't quite figure out what you are trying to cut. - BerTau

[Andy]

BerTau

Ok I uploaded an mc8 "rectangle with arc.mc8".

 

Andy

[ 12-02-2001: Message edited by: Andy ]

[ 12-02-2001: Message edited by: Andy ]

[BernieT]

Andy, I see what you mean - I don't know any Mcam answer.

Can you bandsaw the corners off first?

Could you use say 5 .1 depth cuts with no multiple passes instead and let the corners fall off??

[Andy]

Yes, I could do multiple depth I know. However then you would use the end of the endmill. Just curious.

You know in lathe the same job would not cut air, It knows where there is stock.

In mill contour multiple pass, it doesnt seem to differentiate between air and stock.

Anyone else know anything about this?

Thanks,

[cadcam]

Are we saying some thing like this?

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Trim the toolpath???????

[BernieT]

Jay - How you do dat ?????? I think that's what Andy is looking for.

[Scott Bond]

Hi

I offset my 2-d contours ,then trim exactly what I need.

I know that Morph Spiral ,then trim would be close but ( no cigar)no profit .

[Andy]

CADCAM, Yes, exactly like that. Did you upload that mc8 to the ftp?

JAMES, I'll try to trim toolpath, however I have never used that function. Time to learn that.

Is that how CADCAM did his solution?

Andy

[ 12-03-2001: Message edited by: Andy ]

[Glenn Bouman]

I think that you would better cycle time reduction using the HIGHFEED instead of having to trim the toolpath.

[cadcam]

Andy,

i did nothing special.

You can fin it on the ftp it is the same name file witk my name on it.

I would say it was a 1 min fix for that thought.

[Andy]

JAY, I see how you did it with geometry...pretty cool, Thanks.

GLEN, I tried high feed but it didn't seem to rapid when cutting air. Maybe I just dont know how to use it. Thanks.

JAMES, I trimmed toolpath (2 hours to figure it out) but it worked great and looked just like Jay's path. At least I learned some stuff. Thanks.

So Is highfeed another way to do it or what??

Andy

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

There's lots of little nuggets in Mastercam. Now if we could just get somebody to sit down and write a book about all the little nuggets, then we'd be in business.

Trim took me about the same amount of time to figure out but once I did, ..... mmmm, mmmm, mmmm

[Glenn Bouman]

Backplot the 2 operations on this file to see the cycle time savings using highfeed or the trimming option.

RECTANGLE-WITH-ARC-GLENN.zip

 

Andy, "The Maximum air cutting" value in highfeed in relation to the "Maxmum feedrate change per block". A small air move may not get up to the maximum value.

[ 12-05-2001: Message edited by: Glenn Bouman from In-House ]

[Andy]

Glen, I looked at the high feed mc8 you made up. That is cool.

However, I had to post it to see the actual position and feed rate changes, but that was cool.

Is there someway to do a backplot and see the actual feed rate change in real time?

Andy

[cadcam]

Andy sorry you can not.

Basaclly we have two colors for back blot Color 11 for cuting and color 14 for rapids.

you would need some thing else to see the diffrence.

As of right now you cant tell the diffrence between feed in and cutting freed rates.

sorry jay

[Andy]

Thanks Jay,

Andy

[Glenn Bouman]

To see the feedrates in backplot, right click on the NCI name in the op manager and it will take you into the toolpath editor then step thru to see the feedrates for every move.

If you have a wheel mouse you have use that to brows thru the moves.

[Andy]

Cool Glen, I'll try that.

Andy

[Kenneth Potter]

Andy Andy Andy

Mastercam has soooo many tools to get the job done it aint even funny. Toolpath Editor is another option for you try out if you want to get real fancy.