Surfacing Undercut Lollipop Mill

[Tony35]

need a little help here im trying to use a lollipop mill to finish cut this undercut just wondering what toolpaths i should be trying to get it to cut the undercut any thoughts or help would be great

 

the part is round and this is a front view and i dont have multiaxis just level 3

 

thanks in advance

[mchin-pilot]

Surface finish contour with lollypop can go into undercuts.

[rsbeadle]

Surface-Rough-Contour works best for me. If you need multiple passes I just copy the operation and add stock in steps. Make sure your tool is defined as a lolipop or dovetail or slotmill and your neck size and flute height are correct. If I am seeing your part correctly I think a slotmill with a full radius will work best. The calculation time is pretty long with slot and dovetail mills, but lolipop tools calculate pretty quickly. Also set your gap settings to 100% of tool diameter or more to keep your tool down and turn on optimize cut order. I have had some problems with entry/exit arcs so I don't use them, but make sure in gap settings that check transition motion and retract motion for gouge boxes are checked. I also always use one direction climb cutting because the tool deflects differently when conventional cutting. I hope this helps.

[Tony35]

im playing around with contour surface finish right now just need to get the tool defined right to drive it in there

 

thanks for the input i just wanted to make sure there wasnt another toolpath that would work better for lollipop mills

[?Mark]

What they said (finish contour), and lead in/out works very well for me in those situations...

[Colin Gilchrist]

If you are defining a slot mill, don't use the "full" radius option. The toolpath will not caluclate well.

 

Instead, use the "corner" radius option and make your corner radius .0001 smaller than acutal. For example, say you have a .500 Thick slot mill, 2.5" diameter, with a full radius. Pick corner and set the radius to .2499.

 

Surface Finish Contour, and Surface Finish Flowline are both capable of doing undercuts.

[Tony35]

thanks guys i will give it a try

[Jayson Kramer]

I use both for undercutting and have done allot of it.I usually start with Flow my self matters on the shape.

 

if you still have issue try and share your file with us.

[Colin Gilchrist]

Don't forget to use the "Direction" button to get your tool in/out of the undercut.

 

Also, disable the "gouge checking" options in Gap Settings...