5 AXIS CURVE MACHINE SLOT

[HEAVY METAL]

I'm using the 5 axis curve toolpath to machine this radial slot and the toolpath looks good on the side but appears to be gouging on the ends. I'm using the to 3d curves(top curve ) to drive the to path . How do i make it see the corners . This has something to do with the tool axis control i believe but I'm having trouble working that out.

Thanks Heavy

[gcode]

if you are milling walls, 5X swarf would probably be a better toolpath

[crazy^millman]

This is all tool axis control. When you go into the corner make sure you pay attention to where the tool is going. In corners I might put 8 to 10 tool axis control lines for each arc. The more the better the less the more the machine wil have to jump from one tool axis control to the next. I will also draw my upper and lower chains to make sure I have connected everything correctly. The new toolpath for swarf does some pretty amazing stuff might check it out.

 

HTH

[HEAVY METAL]

I meant to attach the file

5 AXIS CURE SLOT.MCX-5

[HEAVY METAL]

when i create geo in the the corners with parameter curves they come out as splines but on the sides the are lines which i can select. do i need to convert these to lines around the radius corners . I dont think I tried that.

[crazy^millman]

Make endpoints on the splines and then make them to lines, be careful they are not really arcs and making them into lines will not machine the shape you think you are getting. Seen many times where people thought this and ended up making flat walls where there should have been curved walls. Looking at the file you have plane as your tool axis control it should be lines and the lines should be upper chain to the lower chains. It looks like the walls are normal to the slot which is a good an easy thing. I like to make layers, but I have to go with Gcode on this might look at swarf, if you are still wanting to do with Curve then add points on each enity to make a equal number of lines. Then draw the lines on a seperate layer. TK-32 was taught this old school way, maybe he has a sample to show you what I am talking about. Sorry only X6 and X7 on this box at home.

 

HTH

[HEAVY METAL]

OK I added more lines for the tool axis control its a little knarly in the corner still but a lot better . Not sure what causing the jerky motion in the one corner. the opp corner looks like pretty like good tool motion. any expert opinions. this is my 1st attempt at a true 5 axis toolpath. I bought the Tips for manuf. cd's for 5 axis. They were helpful so I'm not driving completey blind just need experience trying on the machine.

Thanks Heavy

5 AXIS CURE SLOT.MCX-5

[Tyler Robertson]

yeah you wanna swarf this dude. You can use the chains in curve 5-axis and make it work though - I got similar, but maybe a bit smoother results from your lines as using the 'chain' tool axis control and picking 'closest point on chain'

 

check'er out

5 AXIS CURE SLOT_TYLER.MCX-5

[HEAVY METAL]

I've been missing with swarf but my curves from the surface edge are not good and i keep getting the sync error. Not sure how to repair the curves so the are nice trimed arcs ,lines and splines.

[Jayson Kramer]

Is this the model I did for you a while back?

[mayday]

tighten up your tolerances in settings.

 

start with shading / cord height, set it to .0002

then, solids / edge tolerance set it to .0002

then, tolerances / set all to .0002

 

save config. your going to see a huge improvement in the graphics.

 

then create new edge curves for toolpathing

[HEAVY METAL]

yes Jay

[crazy^millman]

Heavy, sounds like you are on the right path. People are pointing you in the right direction.

[HEAVY METAL]

Jay I dont have solids so i had to bring in as surfaces maybe that has something to do with it.

[HEAVY METAL]

wes I dont see these in my config. I'm still running 5

[Tyler Robertson]

I've been missing with swarf but my curves from the surface edge are not good and i keep getting the sync error. Not sure how to repair the curves so the are nice trimed arcs ,lines and splines.

 

have you used Create > Spline > Blended spline ?

 

I use this to smooth out 'bad' geometry - you just have to watch you're not changing a part much - but I usually watch the scale in mastercam and get down to the 0.0001" level

 

 

you chain one piece of geometry and then then another and it will trim and blend the two together with a spline. works great for getting rid of a case of the squigglies.

[HEAVY METAL]

I'll try it Tyler

Thanks

[mayday]

top of screen under settings, configuration. it's in X5

 

you need to add entry exit but here is a swarf cut

 

I just trimmed the surfaces to a new curve to clean up the edge. use axial shift to adjust depth

SWARF SLOT.MCX-5

[HEAVY METAL]

Thanks wes that looks pretty slick. I wasnt using the custom swarf path either. Is that the preferred one ? How did u create the new curve ?

[mayday]

Custom swarf works better than the old style swarf path. To create the curve to trim to, all I did was create a temporary C plane at 45 degrees then drew an arc to trim the surfaces too. remember that the arc does not have to be anything specific and you will get better surface edges from an arc or a line rather than a spline. Once you re trim the surfaces, create new surface edges to use as a lower edge curve. Again your tolerance setting plays a big part in edge quality. If set to large you will get very rough looking splines and your tool path will reflect the same

[Reko]

I see you are using a new/different "Tool Plane" and "Comp/Construction Plane" under the Planes (WCS).

 

What plane did you set there, and how did you choose it?

[mayday]

Tool Planes mean virtually nothing in 5 axis tool paths. I did not set entry exit vales in my example. Just a down and dirty quick tool path. The only thing tool planes can help with is from what basic direction does the tool start from. The C plane you see is the one I created to draw a trim curve. You can chance the tool plane and regen the path to see what I'm talking about

[Reko]

Cool.

[HEAVY METAL]

Wes ,

When u say axial shift are u referring to the shifting the chain down to get the cut thru the part ?

[HEAVY METAL]

Looks like i need to shift the chain and surface to make it work. I tried to shift chain the trim surfcae to that but I couldnt come up with a good resullt