surface rough pocket

[sharles]

I've got a question about surface rough pocket. Of the 8 cutting methods (zig,zag, etc.) do any guarantee to never leave little islands of stock on my part? The guys on the floor say my mastercam programs regularly do. To me this is a bug in mastercam. My other cam software never, ever leaves islands of stock no matter what stepover or other parameters I give it.

[Thad]

Constant overlap spiral is the only one that "claims" to not leave islands, although I've seen it happen. They're usually small enough that it doesn't matter though.

 

Sometimes I'll have a situation where the surface rough pocket will suffice as a finished "floor", but a small island will be remaining that I'll have to cut off manually. If I'm just ruffing, the semi path always takes it off with no effort. Either way, it will show up in verify.

 

Thad

[Nick_AFRL]

Yes, Depending on the shape of the pocket, if it is a round pocket i use true spiral, if it is a rectangular or sqaure pocket i use constant overlap spiral.... just try some of them out verify should should show if any stock is left or not.

[Yogesh K. Raman]

for more info on pocketing options, you can check the mastercam 2005 newsletter in page 5 pdf here

[sharles]

Thanks for your input. I'll try out those methods.