Used Horizontal Area toolpath....now what?

[Thad]

I've got a part that has multiple flats. If I use the new highspeed Horizontal Area toolpath to cut them, how do I cut the rest of the 3D area? Horizontal Area allows me to cut the flats without creating any boundaries (time saver). Do I now need to create the boundaries to cut the rest? If so, there goes my time savings. Is there another toolpath that will cut the rest with no broundaries?

 

Thad

[smokey_44]

Hey just an idea ,what about using parallel with check surfaces on the flats ? That you can do with no boundries and it won't recut the flats.

 

 

Just a thought

 

 

Dave Ferraro

[bestguest]

Thad,

 

Give Surface Contour a try with flats picked as check.I have the same situation up on my screen now as I type.

Not to hijack but are you finding the area clearance path takes a while to generate?The part I am working on now took about 5 min to tesalate.The part looks like a hat about 7 in in dia.

[Roger Peterson]

All of the HST toolpaths have angle restrictions you can set, set it to cut from .1 to 90 and you're good to go.

[smokey_44]

Thad , I see now that Parallel steep would be a very good option for you ,no boundries and you can set and extension amount onto the flats ,use no check surfaces but what i did was set the from slope angle to .1 and the to slope angle 90 ,this avoida all flats but will still over lap them.

 

 

hope that helps

 

Dave

[Thad]

I put the file on the FTP if anyone wants to mess with it. It's in the MCX folder called THAD FLATS.ZIP.

 

I finished it my normal way, but will play with it later. We need to get it out to heat treat.

 

Dave, I was actually thinking about using parallel steep or shallow while in the shower last night. It seems I do some of my best thinking in the shower.

 

Anyway, things are busy so I'll get back to you in a bit.

 

Thad

[smokey_44]

I had a chance to look and created a file called "daves try THAD FLATS.zip" take a look at that ,its not perfect ( i could not spend too much time on it) I did notice that the there is one vertical face that doesn't seem to get finished you might have to play with the settings a bit to get it to do it. One thing I always do is if I use a parallel path at 45 I will then follow up with a parallel steep at 135 deg to finish opposite corners.

 

 

Dave Ferraro

[Storkman]

quote:

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It seems I do some of my best thinking in the shower.

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Is that where the idea for Thad's Sticky came from?

 

 

[John13]

lol at Storkman,

 

 

Thad,

Did you send it to Kannon unzipped to look at.

forget it, he has V9

[smokey_44]

Now thats a classic...lol

 

 

Ever fell asleep in the shower ? I have twice ....woke up real fast when the hot water ran out. lol

 

 

Dave

[Storkman]

Dave, you sleep standing up? the Misses must love the extra bed room.

[Matt Berube at Ferron Mold]

I've always wanted to use this emoticon...

[Storkman]

Everything I post is off Matt. You will learn that.

[Guest]

You see everything to the Stork is off.

 

Off at a 30 degree list to port.

 

 

It works out for him when he drinks because by walking with that same list, everything appears normal to him.

 

[Thad]

Dave,

 

I finally got around to looking at your file. Thanks for taking the time to give it a shot. It looks *almost* exactly like what I want. The concept is EXACTLY what I want...minimal boundaries to rough and finish. The only thing that I would've liked better was what I found in Roger's recommendation. I used a high speed scallop with angle callout to hit everything not flat. This kept the toolpath perpendicular to the surface much better (eliminating the second parallel pass at 135 degrees), but it did stray from being perp in multiple places. Something like a zig-zag leftover with "keep perp" checked is what I'm looking for. The scallop would need some work on getting an overlap like the parallel has, but it was the end of the day and I went through it kinda quick. Maybe it has that setting.

 

Anyway, I'm making some headway here with your suggestions guys. I appreciate the help. I wish Demo could use the high speed toolpaths because I definately need some more seat time with them. Right now every job in the shop is hotter than goat xxxx and I don't have time to play around much.

 

Thad

[Thad]

bestguess,

 

I don't really care for surface contour to finish because it seems to take such a small stepdown to get a nice finish...or at least as good a finish as something that cuts perp to the surface.

 

I haven't used the Area Clearance yet to be able to judge the crunch time.

 

Thad

[Yogesh K. Raman]

Original question:

 

quote:

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If I use the new highspeed Horizontal Area toolpath to cut them, how do I cut the rest of the 3D area?

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I haven't seen the part but how about using waterline toolpath, isn't it like surface contour toolpath?

[Yogesh K. Raman]

quote:

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I don't really care for surface contour to finish because it seems to take such a small stepdown to get a nice finish

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.....nevermind