HST-Area Clearance/Core Roughing

[gms1]

Is there any possible way to change my settings to get these toolpaths to cut to the actual geometry I tell it to? I do a lot of metal removal where I leave .01" on verticle walls and cut to depth. The problem is these toolpaths don't cut to the right depth, they finish z depth where they want which forces me to make up something else to get the right depths.

Is there a tolerance setting somewhere that will get these to cut to the right depth??

[Jimmy Wakeford from Barefoot CNC]

Are you setting z limits under steep/shallow?

[gms1]

Yes Im using Z depths and detect limits.

[88Matt]

Send me a part and I can take a look at it for ya.

[Guy Arseneault]

quote:

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removal where I leave .01" on verticle walls and cut to depth.

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Are you also leaving .01 on stock to leave on floors?

[Rick46]

I think what hes refering to is where the path is told to leave .010 stock. the cutter had to make its last pass at lets .025 depth of cut but theres only .020 stock left minus your stock to leave.. therefore its dosent cut it within .010 stock statement required. It does this in regular rough tool paths as well as contour paths..

[gms1]

88Matt: you got mail.

 

Guy: No I do not put anything in stock to leave on floors. Its only .01 stock to leave on walls.

 

The tool im using can finish the floor but can't finish the walls due to step down.

[bhayden10]

If I remember right what that toolpath does is it looks at your depth cuts and goes as close to the final depth in Z that it can at whatever diminsion your depth cuts add up too. I have had problems figuring that path out as well, especially when machining inside and outside of a box when you want it to finish the floor.

[gms1]

quote:

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For surfaces that are not exactly horizontal or vertical, Mastercam will interpolate between the wall and floor values. When calculating the toolpath, Mastercam adds the stock to leave amounts to the tool radius in each direction. The following diagram shows how this is calculated for a part with 3mm stock left on the wall, and 1mm on the floor.

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Taken from the help file. I can understand why it does this on surfaces that aren't perpendicular. But like bhayden said im just cutting a lot of boxes in reality. The other toolpaths will cut to the depth I pick when I use Z depths. It only happens with these hst toolpaths.

[88Matt]

gms1,

What depth do u want it to cut too?

[88Matt]

Go to parameters > Steep / Shallow and check "Use Z depths" then right-click and select "Z = Z coordinate of a point". then select a point at the maximum depth u want.

 

I selected the floor of the middle open pocket.

[gms1]

I want the tool to cut past the bottom of the geometry .01". I can pick individual depths with the right click menu like that but the other depths are still left hanging in the wind and not cut to the right dimension.

[gms1]

I sent an email to qc for this. Im wondering if we could get the Z depth limits changed to list all of the depths detected by mastercam and make them editable. Instead of it just being min/max depths.

[88Matt]

input -1.4350 as the Maximum depth and the EM will drop .010 below the bottom of the part.

[gms1]

The -1.435 still only gets me that one cut to the correct Z depth. The other z depths are the problem.

 

To fix this for now I just turned that 1 hst toolpath into 5 different toolpaths and used each depth and set the min/max limit for each one seperately. This way I get the right depths for all of them.

 

Thanks for all the input folks.

[88Matt]

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The -1.435 still only gets me that one cut to the correct Z depth. The other z depths are the problem.

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u want to cut .010" past all the floor surfaces violating the surfaces with the EM?

[Roger Peterson]

detect flats/critical depths are not part of this toolpath yet. If this is what you want you need to use surface rough pocket. In addition, whatever your tolerance is is also used to determine depths.

 

 

HTH

[gms1]

Just got back in the office.

 

88Matt: If you use -1.435 depth for the limit regen the toolpath and look at the depth the tool cuts to in the other pockets. With .01 left on walls and 0 on floor the tool stays up above the actual geometry in all the pocket areas. The only place it actually touches the correct depth is the -1.435 dimension. So i made each depth a seperate toolpath.

 

Roger: Yeah I wrote in to request for the detect flats/critical depths as part of my email to qc. There is just so many good things these HST toolpaths can do I really want to use these for all my programs. It will just take time I guess.

[88Matt]

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With .01 left on walls and 0 on floor the tool stays up above the actual geometry in all the pocket areas.

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FYI. Stock to leave on floors will accept a negative number. I know it's a work-around, but -.010 puts the EM on the floors.

[gms1]

Just to update with the response I got back from CNC.

 

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Unfortunately you are stuck with it.

 

The new philosophy is that Area clearance is a roughing toolpath and it cuts the surfaces without undercutting.

 

You can always go back in with another tool and finish cut those flat surfaces with horizontal area, or a waterline toolpath.

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Looks like ill just have to add more toolpaths... boss wont like that!

[Guest]

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boss wont like that!

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Well.... you could always tell the boss to just STFU and let you do your job.

 

That's always an option

 

or

 

You could suggest he comes up with something better and Mastercam

 

Either way I don't think he;ll like your answer but hey, that;s his problem.

 

[kinglouie V]

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You can always go back in with another tool and finish cut those flat surfaces with horizontal area, or a waterline toolpath.

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+1 to waterline, I like the constant z collapse.