Flowline Touch edges

[TheePres]

Been having trouble doing any flowline toolpaths from files imported from Catia, because of the different UV directions. I read in MasterCam website and in some posts here how Surface Project Blend...rivals the quality of a Flowline toolpath without the concerns of aligning surfaces....

I have uploaded a file to MC9 folder " Dan_Flowline ", was hoping you guys could take a look and explain if this project blend toolpath could be used in this instance. Or which approach would you take.

[Zero]

Any reason you wouldnt just use surface finish contour for a situation like this? That's what I would do

[Cobra Driver]

Agreed. Surf.-Finish-Contour worked great.

[TheePres]

I would be very interested in seeing how surface contour would be applied in this case while maintaining floor control on bottom surfaces.

 

Thanks

[Colin Gilchrist]

With surface contour (Rough and Finish are Identical FYI), you can control the floor with a Runout surface, or with the Cut Depth button. If you use cut depths, set the control to absolute. The "minimum" depth field specifies where your First cut will occur in Z. The "maximum" depth field controls where the Final cut will occur in Z. This is true no matter where Z zero is. The other option you have is the "Shallow" and "Flats" buttons. Both are highly effective at maintaining a bit of scallop control if you study how to use them correctly.

 

HTH,

[Zero]

You can also control the floor by using check surfaces and playing with the "at surface edge roll tool" settings. I uploaded your file back named as DAN_FLOWLINE-SURFACE_CONTOUR.MC9 to the ftp so you can see what Im talking about. This is just a real quick contour I generated with a few of the settings I mentioned. Play around with this stuff untill you get the results you desire.