mastercam level 1 workarounds

[jbourne]

Any tips /tricks for manipulating level 1 to do sufacing with complex angles...My company is too cheap to upgrade to level 3 so I'm hoping to try and get the most out of crappy level 1

 

JROC

[latheman]

Im in a full nelson with level 1 right now and i think its going to win! Wish i had level 3. some of this sh!! might not be so hard

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

You can use 2D Swept and Ruled Toolpaths to do "surfacing". It takes some doing but it's possible, of course, depending on the complexity of what type of feature(s)you're trying to machine.

 

HTH

[Surface]

You could try this.

1. If you were to use a 1/2 inch ball, you can create/surface/offset and Offset the surfaces by 1/4.

 

2. In a 2d shape above the part, create a pocket or facing toolpath with a very small stepover.

 

3. Backplot the toolpath and use the "save as geometry" option.

 

4. Project the saved geometry to the offset surfaces.

 

5. 3D contour the projected lines with your 1/2 inch ball, with cutter-comp set to off and tip-comp set to center (not tip)

[jbourne]

Yeah I've played with that technique too it's really time consuming and causes much swearing in my office....Any tips for fourth axis positioning would also be great remebering that I only have level 1....I'm at the point where it's simpler too program manually at the machine

[Surface]

What are you trying to do with the fourth axis? I don't remember any difficulty using level 1 and a fourth axis.

[jbourne]

simple positioning 90 deg ...Basically making sqaure parts out of round stock

[Leigh @ Kodiak]

Level 1 will do positioning easy. You can also use axis substitution to do more complex work.

 

Keep in mind that Surface's method of offsetting surfaces will only work on tapered walls, not curved ones.

 

As far as surfacing goes, I have gotten Level 1 do do some more complex stuff, but involves tons of work. Think of using section curves to do Z-level rouging. Save tool paths as geometry, and use that to create splines, that sort of thing.

 

The key is to be creative, and come up with ways to make the toolpath geometry, then run a 3D contour path on that geometry.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

quote:

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As far as surfacing goes, I have gotten Level 1 do do some more complex stuff, but involves tons of work.

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Ditto here. The "Wireframe" toolpaths are your friends, but if you need to do something they won't you'll need to do it the hard way. Document how much time you spend doing "workarounds" and show it to the boss after you've accumulated enough to be impressive.