Surface vs Solids

[BadCompany]

I am having trouble designing and processing a part. I wanted to create a 3dmodel because it is for a school project. The part is a simple chain of curves (Sort of an hour glass shape) on a rectangular base plate. I drew the contour and surface extruded it fine and added some fillets between the surfaces and base. When I go to develop toolpaths though it now wants to create it in tiny line segments instead of a curve. I tried playing around even creating a 2-d toolpath using the surface as a chain but always the same thing. I then created a solid model from my surface model and the toolpath was curves. The problem now is I want to machine the fillets with a flowline toolpath but it wont let me select just the fillet for a toolpath it defaults to the whole solid.

 

Any solutions to either problem.

 

There has to be a way to output the same toolpath just from the surface model instead. I figured a few ways I could possibly fix it but all would require tons of messy extra geometry.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Matt

[uncle_dolan]

Hi Matt,

 

To select a single surface of a solid for machining you have a couple of options:

 

1. when prompted to select geometry for your toolpath, you can press the 'Activate solid selection' button which is located by default in the toolbar at the top right hand side of the screen. It looks like a blue cube with a green tick in it.

 

2. You can project a surface from your solid...create menu-->surface-->from solid.

 

I prefer the second option as it gives you more control over your surface for minor modifications.

 

HTH

 

Brendan

[Storkman]

are you selecting faces in the solid selection?

[#Rekd™]

Not sure exactly what you are doing (attach a photo or file) but always create the solid then create surfaces from your solid if you wish.

[K2csq7]

You said the toolpath only gave linear moves, no arcs.

What toolpath are you trying to use?

3, 4, or 5 axis?

A lot of toolpaths have the "filter" option, and on that tab you may (don't know what toolpath you have) see a box for "create arcs in xy".

You also said this is for a school project, have you successfully done any of this before?

[chip]

Solids..... but, I often catch myself resorting to surfaces for tool control.

 

"CHIP teh Still X-FOUR(ED)"

[#Rekd™]

Solids..... but, I often catch myself resorting to surfaces for tool control.

 

"CHIP teh Still X-FOUR(ED)"

 

I almost always drive my 3d toolpaths from surfaces but I always start from a solid then convert to surfaces.

[P_Scott]

BadCompany,

 

Great display name BTW. Solids are great for design purposes. Surfaces and Solids can both be used for 3D "surface" type toolpaths. Keith A-1 is correct in describing the filter function. When Mastercam produces toolpath data, it breaks down complex 3D curves into line segments. The filter function will replace these line segments with arcs, based on tolerances specified by the user. The tolerances should be a little "loose" for the resulting arcs to properly replace the line segments. It makes sense as an arc cannot be made to replace a line if it's limited to the same path. Occasionally Mastercam will generate an arc which curves the wrong way (i.e. G3 instead of G2). This is very rare and isn't a problem for most filtered toolpaths. Nothing is perfect but the filter can significantly reduce the toolpath size as well as smooth it out. HTH

[K2csq7]

Occasionally Mastercam will generate an arc which curves the wrong way (i.e. G3 instead of G2)

 

Pscott, I would pinpoint that next time you see it and send it in to QC..... ^^^^^^ = not cool...

[P_Scott]

Pscott, I would pinpoint that next time you see it and send it in to QC..... ^^^^^^ = not cool...

 

Keith A-1,

 

I don't do a lot of surfacing where I am now. The reason I mentioned it is so Matt (BadCompany) or someone else reading this posting doesn't get discouraged from using the filter the first time if they see something unusual in the resulting toolpath. Granted it doesn't happen very often now, and the filter settings are much more sophisticated then they were before X, but years ago I did have some discussion with other users who were disappointed in the filter results. Like anything else in life you need to be aware of what something does so you can decide when to use it or not. I certainly will send in something to my reseller/distributor if I feel it isn't working right. HTH

[MotorCityMinion]

I prefer solids 1st, surfaces when I need to get creative or when no model is present and I only need to cut some simple rads/angular faces.

 

From what I've seen, this is normal filter behavior. (G3 instead of G2) or even having arcs created on flat surfaces. I've seen this happen when I select an entire model for surfacing, say using a parallel path, and a perfectly horizontal surface is tangent to curvy terrain. Loosen the tolerance just a bit and turn the filter on, arcs appear on the flat terrain. Why, because I gave it a tolerance to work with. This can be seen best when viewing the back plot in the front view and having wire frame geo. to view as a reference. You can also save the tool path as geo, say one tool path with the filter on, saved on one level, and one with the filter set to off on another level. Change the colors of the the saved geo on the second level then overlay the the two levels and compare.

 

No big deal. When this happens and if it becomes a concern, I'll just turn the filter off and tighten the tolerance or just add a few more tool paths. Trying to cram to many surfaces into one tool path (Laziness) when programming usually gets me into this kind of trouble. Lead in /out can also do goofy things to an otherwise pristine tool path.