Clearance height.

[Thee Dragracer1951]

Let me tell you about how happy I am that the three inch clearance height on a contour only works at the beginning and end of a toolpath even when you have the "use clearance only at start and end" box unchecked.....So when it gets done roughing and moves to the beginning of the cut again to finish...it only lifts up to .25 instead of 3 inches like I told it to.

Just cost me about $200 in cutters. Wacked the crap out of my clamps....

 

 

This is with MPMaster post.....

[Guest]

Jim,

 

are you sure your retract height was not set to an incremental value?

[ToolMan184]

Just be glad X3 will solve all the bug issues.

[Thee Dragracer1951]

No John. It's set absolute.

Clearance checked. Set to 3.0 inches Absolute. The "Use clearance only at start and end of operation" box is unchecked.

[Guest]

are pocketing using the "Keep Tool Down" option?

[Thee Dragracer1951]

Not a pocket, contour. No, "keep tool down" is not checked.

[Thee Starry™]

quote:

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Just be glad X3 will solve all the bug issues. [big Grin] [Roll Eyes]

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I think I hurt myself from the guffaw I unleashed reading that!!!

[Don S at Barefoot CNC South]

Jim let me look at your file.

Also I will be calling you in a couple hours Jim

[Thee Dragracer1951]

You've got mail Don.

[Gary]

Thats why I uncheck retract and use only clearance set to absolute

[YoDoug®]

quote:

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Thats why I uncheck retract and use only clearance set to absolute

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Same here. Adds a little more cycle time moving to clearance when you don't always have to, but its better than not moving to clearance height when you need to.

[sharles]

quote:

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Let me tell you about how happy I am that the three inch clearance height on a contour only works at the beginning and end of a toolpath even when you have the "use clearance only at start and end" box unchecked.....So when it gets done roughing and moves to the beginning of the cut again to finish...it only lifts up to .25 instead of 3 inches like I told it to.

Just cost me about $200 in cutters. Wacked the crap out of my clamps....

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Jim,

 

I use clearance and retract ALL the time and have never had any problems as long as I have them set correctly. From the sound of your post, I think you wanted to use a retract value not a clearance. Clearance is used at the beginning and end of EACH wireframe geometry you select. Retract is the value that mc uses while doing the various passes on an individual curve.

 

The other thing, do you use quick verify? That has saved my butt a lot when I had my retract set improperly.

 

Sorry about the crash.

[Don S at Barefoot CNC South]

Jim

Change your retract to 3.0 abs. that is what you need to clear your clamps as was said clearance is at the beginning and end of the wire frame chain, retract is between passes.

[iowajim62]

Jim,

Crazy as it sounds I draw clamps and fixtures and run it thru verify for just this type of scenario.

Having clamps already modeled makes it a snap to pull them in on another level. Has saved many clamps and shcs's.

[Thee Dragracer1951]

I have used the clearance tab like this for at LEAST ten years. Worked just fine. At least I've never had an issue with it. It would behave as I've discribed if I had the Use at begining and end of op box checked. But when it's not checked it would simply apply that clearance value to every move, rough, finish...

Not this time.

[Ployd]

I've run into this while using high speed toolpaths. Sorry to hear about the crash.

[MACHINEMASTERG]

you sure it wasnt that haas machine that caused that to happen ????

[Thee Dragracer1951]

Wasn't my Haas.

But, I was talking to Don last night and he suggested that it may be caused by the contour being an open contour as at the end it would be a retract move and not a clearance move. Now, that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me as there is a check bos to restrain the clearance move to the beginning and end of the op, which was not checked. Now...in my mind, this would omply that if not checked...it would put a clearance move into every Z move in the op.

But it did not.

As I said, it has worked as I expected it to for many years. Just not yesterday. I'm a bit confused as to why. I like it when things are predictable...

[Ray H.]

are you using the same tool for two consecutive ops? Also in your machine def. -control def. area

under the linear topic make sure you have al the retract areas set to the middle option. Or what will happen is the three axis move all at once. It may be ok for years until you get to a tight lead out or a small pocket area.

 

I typically set them to retract in Z first then XY on retracts. XY then Z for approaches.

[OTOMMYO]

quote:

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Thats why I uncheck retract and use only clearance set to absolute

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Me too

[Rick Henrickson The Boeing Co.]

I use clearance and retract never had a problem, if I am going to jump clamps I usually use change at point to keep tool tight to part and not waste time.