leftover toolpath gouging

[Smit]

Hi Folks,

We are trying to finish a mold cavity with a 1/2" ball mill and finishing the rest with a 3/8" carbide .045 radius bull mill. The bull mill is gouging the cavity side. Has anybody used this feature with good results? We are wondering if a bull mill isn't the correct tool to use with the leftover toolpath? We're using Version 9.1 Level 3. Gouge checking is turned on. The machine is a Matsuura RA-2G. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Smit

[Mark Lovelace]

Smit,

 

I use leftover a lot, and I have had mixed results with it. There have been times when verify has shown gouging that is imperceptible in the finished product, and there have been times when the finished part has gouges that didn't show up in verify. I haven't been able to get this totally ironed out, myself, but I would pay very close attention to gap settings, filter settings, stock-to-leave on check surfaces (if used), and tolerances on both the roughing and finishing toolpaths.

 

Also, if you are DNCing, this can possibly cause your CNC to hesitate while it waits for the code to trickle in, and can lead to jerky movements which could possibly affect gouging.

 

I'm a little curious as to your choice of cutters. Without seeing your file, I would think that using a bullnose or flat-end mill for roughing and ball-end for finishing would yield your best surface.

[Smit]

Thanks for the reply Mark. I apologize for not making this clear, but the cavity has been roughed previously. The 1/2" ball is finishing and the 3/8" diameter .045 radius bull nose is cleaning up the leftover. We are going to try a few more things, but will probably have to drop this soon to get these parts out the door. It's strange...both MC verify and Vericut show a good toolpath.