Projecting onto 3 different surfaces

[4kapa]

I think I am having a problem projecting a circle onto one of my parts. It is a contoured part with three distinct surfaces. I am projecting normal to the plane. When using a curve 5-axis, I can't toolpath the circle without the cutter jumping where the different surfaces meet (I am chaining in one shot). Right now I am using a contour toolpath and my hole is undersize about .015" (I have checked all possible non-programming issues). Can anyone shed some light?

[bryan.davis]

Im guessing that when you look at the geometry it will show the circle is actually 3 separate curves rather than a single chained contour, if this is the case then try chaining the geometry, if it wont chain try increasing your chain tolerance or modifying the geometry slightly to make it chain.

next.. you can force the cutter to stay down by playing with the retract values

fianally it sounds like mastercam has generated the code you require albeit with the unwanted retracts, if this is the case then edit em out of the processed code manually, they should be very easy to spot, look for rapid moves in the middle of the code, or just scan the code and look for where the 'pattern' breaks, you can tell a lot about a program by just scanning the pattern of the characters, this is especialy true for multi axis surface programs where you will get reams of lines that are withing 1, 2 or 3 characters of being the same length then suddenly a few lines that are much longer and shorter.

A lot of people I know get upset when their software fails to give em perfect code 100% of the time and have to resort to manual tweaking, but MasterCAM is really just another tool, Ive got nearly 30 screwdrivers, 2 cordless drills/screwdrivers and over 2000 screws in my toolbox, but Im still happy to use a hammer and nail where its appropriate

[ProductDevelopmentGuy]

We've been battling this 'jumpiness' in Curve5AX for quite a while, and have put considerable effort into finally clearing it up for V8.1. It relies heavily on the code used in Create/Curve/Project, so this has been improved also.

Hopefully you'll see an improvement.

Coming soon.....

[4kapa]

Thanks the the tips! I will try them today. Also, any idea as to when V8.1 will be coming out?