Op 2 Rest Roughing

[arenner]

I'm using the Rest Roughing tool for my first and second operations. For my first op I'm using Rest Roughing with the "Rest Material" tab set to compute the remaining stock from an STL I created that is simply the Round stock that I am machining on my mill (4th axis indexer).

 

For my second op, I created a plane that is rotated about the x axis 135 deg. For this op I set Rest Roughing to compute the remaining stock from "All Previous Operations". I was hoping that it would take into account the previous operation's toolpaths, and the STL file I specified, but that was wishful thinking. It would work well if the "All Previous Operations" button took into account the "Stock Setup" option available in the Machine Group Properties.

 

For ops 1 and 2 I set the Z depths from 1" to 0" in my coordinate system. The part is centered on the y and z axes.

 

I am looking for some information on how Rest Roughing calculated my op 2 toolpaths. And I want to know if there is any way for my second op to take into account my first op's toolpaths and its STL stock file. I can make my .mcx file available on the FTP site if anyone wants to see it.

[beej]

interesting question. I'm anxious to hear an answer on that.

[arenner]

Thanks, I thought it was interesting. I went ahead and dropped the file I'm working with on the FTP site. The file is in the mcx folder called "Rest_Rough_op1and2.mxc". For the first op you'll need to redirect the Rest Material to the file called "stock.stl" that I also dropped on the FTP site. You can either use this file or a cylinder to run a verify on it.

[Colin Gilchrist]

Arenner,

 

Try taking your STL model and using it to verify Op #1. Set your STL and Tool tolerance to .001 and turn your quality slider bar all the way up. Run your toolpath and when it is finished, use the Save STL file button to save a copy of your model after Op#1 has run. Call it "PART NAME- OP 1 Done.STL" or something like that. Now select the new STL file as the stock in your second operation. We use this work around all the time. We even do this using different WCS's. Sometimes it requires you to use STL Transform to move the model into position if you change the operations WCS. If I remember right it will save the model with the coordinates relative to the "system origin". That is why you need STL Transform sometimes.

 

 

HTH,

 

Colin Gilchrist

The Boeing Company

[arenner]

Hey Colin. Thanks a bunch for the suggestion. Unfortunately I've done that method for a string of 8-10 operations in a row. I have a set of roughing, then finishing operations. They all start with the round stock. The method you mention does work, but to a point. After a number of operations have been done on that STL it obviously becomes extremebly big. I ran a count program on it, and I got 70,000 triangles after 6 operations on the STL.

 

As I'm sure you know, this operation is very tedious, and saving and transforming your STL is very repetitive. It makes a lot more sense to run these ops in one mcamx file. But it seems that the "All previous operations" option is limited. Unless I can get some more information on how to utilize it better.

 

Thanks for your suggestions, please keep them coming

[Colin Gilchrist]

Hi Arenner,

 

You can use the STLHeal.dll Chook to clean up your STL files. Basically STL Heal is like a filter that will analyze your STL and rebuild it. You can give it a chordal tolerance (like .01) and really reduce the size and complexity of your file. I agree that it is a work around. If you would like to see more enhancement of the Rest roughing feature, then send an email to [email protected] as an enhancement request.

 

HTH,

 

Colin Gilchrist

[arenner]

Yeah, I'll definitely send an email, thanks for the link.

 

I didn't know that is what STLHeal does. Thanks for the info. I'll definitely need to filter out some of the STL complexity as I go.

[arenner]

I tried using STL heal today and it didn't act the way I expected it to. I opened up a 2.6Mb STL file that was in binary format. When I ran the STL heal tool on it, I selected a chordal deviation of 0.01 I expected to significantly shrink the STL file size.

 

Instead, I got a file that was 2.1Mb and when I opened it up, it didn't look like it had changed. So I went and tried a 0.1 chordal deviation, and it saved the exact same size file as when I used 0.01. Both were 2.1Mb. Then I knew that it wasn't using the chordal deviations I input. I'm guessing it is sticking with its 0.001 default value. Any thoughts?