Mastercam Generating Wrong Flowline for Surface

[jmdsilva]

I there, i'm new in this forum and i need a little help here please.

 

I'm also a newby on Mastercam and i'm having a problem that i can't solve. I want to a circular tool with the flowline surface finish but when i create the toolpath it seems like the flowine isn't following the surface.

 

This image shows the surface in yellow and the flowline generated in grey.

 

 

Thanks in advance!!!

 

Best Regards from Portugal,

Júlio Silva

 

 

[duckdogers]

in flowline op click on geometry then flowline  then cut direction should give you what you want

[jmdsilva]

Thanks for the fast reply duckdogers but i've already tried that and no luck... It assumes exactly the same thing and the cutting direction isn't the one i want. The program is assuming a flowline that i don't understand, maybe the geometry isn't defined as it should 

[Guest]

Looking at those flow direction lines, I am guessing you have UV vectors that flow in different directions.

 

This will not be something you can fix unless you either recreate the surfaces to flow in the same direction OR you have an add on tool like MoldPlus which offers this ability.

 

Otherwise, you'll likely have to use something like a Surface Finish Blend to cut those all in 1 path

 

 

Every surface has underlying UV vectors, those grey lines you see going in different directions....to use Surface Flowline, the UV vectors must ALL flow in the same direction

[jmdsilva]

Thank you very much Merchant of Death. I didn't know that things because i'm learning by trying some things a reading lots of stuff. There are many functions that i don't use because i don't know how to...

 

I do not have any add on tools, sadly :/.

 

Can you explain me how you use the Surface Finish Blend? I tried but didn't have any luck.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Festus]

moldplus is a great add on if you do a lot of surface work. easy fix with it

[Festus]

a blend  might not work on a multiaxis part...try morph between  curves which is basically the  multiaxis version of blend

[guitar]

"This will not be something you can fix unless you either recreate the surfaces to flow in the same direction"

 

This used to work for multiple surfaces pre X8. Now flowline likes to make it's own rules and tends to do whatever it wants.

[Guest]

"This will not be something you can fix unless you either recreate the surfaces to flow in the same direction"

 

This used to work for multiple surfaces pre X8. Now flowline likes to make it's own rules and tends to do whatever it wants.

It still does

 

It never gave good results with multiple direction flowlines as far back as I go

[Micromoldmaker]

 

 

It never gave good results with multiple direction flowlines as far back as I go

The very few times I have used this toolpath was when cutting a single surface.  The putzing around you have to do to get multiple surfaces to cut correctly just never seemed worth the effort.  

[jlw™]

I pretty much only use it on surfaces I've created. I would use it way more if I could get lead in/out of some kind.

[BenK]

I pretty much only use it on surfaces I've created. I would use it way more if I could get lead in/out of some kind.

 

Look under the gap settings. Tangential arc radius, tangential angle and tangential length will give you what you are after. 

[jlw™]

Look under the gap settings. Tangential arc radius, tangential angle and tangential length will give you what you are after.

Thanks, I'll check there. Gap settings in other surface finish paths don't do that, the detection tab has "some" potential.

 

I'll give it a go, thank you. Most of the time I feel like micro, just not worth it.

[duckdogers]

The very few times I have used this toolpath was when cutting a single surface.  The putzing around you have to do to get multiple surfaces to cut correctly just never seemed worth the effort.  

micro is right I use this toolpath all the time but I usually create a single surface I did not realize there was  more than one  surface

[Guest]

The very few times I have used this toolpath was when cutting a single surface.  The putzing around you have to do to get multiple surfaces to cut correctly just never seemed worth the effort.  

 

Well, back in the day, if you needed to use a Flowline, you, as you put it, "putzed" around, to get it because there usually wasn't another good option for getting that motion.

[Thee Rickster ™]

moldplus is a great add on if you do a lot of surface work. easy fix with it

 

This add on is worth more than one can imagine for surfaces.

it is an awesome tool even if you are not cutting molds.

[Rstewart]

Thanks, I'll check there. Gap settings in other surface finish paths don't do that, the detection tab has "some" potential.

 

I'll give it a go, thank you. Most of the time I feel like micro, just not worth it.

 

Gap settings can do more than you think...lots of control.  There was a video once posted on gap settings, maybe it was Colin or Jay? 

[jmdsilva]

I there and thank you all for the replies. I've been trying to solve this problem for the past few days and it came up a weird thing: i want to mill this piece with a slot mill and the results shown above are generated with this tool but if i choose a Bull Endmill or a Flat Endmill, for example, the path created is just perfect and totally what i want. Let me show you:

 

 

Any guess for what's happening here? Or how can i have the same path with a slot endmill?

 

Thanks in advance.

[jlw™]

I would use surface finish contour with appropriate lead in/out for that.

[jmdsilva]

I would use surface finish contour with appropriate lead in/out for that.

I've already tried the surface contour and the path generated was good but it was milling also inside the piece. I applied a containment boundary but did't work has i thought, i selected "outside" when choosing the chain for containment but somehow the path was generated only inside...

 

Is there any solution to mill outside a boundary?

[Guest]

Can you share your file....

 

There's several questions about your setup that I don't think are clear with how and what exactly you're cutting and in what orientation

[neurosis]

I've already tried the surface contour and the path generated was good but it was milling also inside the piece. I applied a containment boundary but did't work has i thought, i selected "outside" when choosing the chain for containment but somehow the path was generated only inside...

 

Is there any solution to mill outside a boundary?

 

 

Pick the top and bottom surface as check surfaces. It wont machine inside that way.

[jmdsilva]

Can you share your file....

 

There's several questions about your setup that I don't think are clear with how and what exactly you're cutting and in what orientation

Right away. We have an 3Axis CNC so i must cut the piece from the top with a slot mill... In the file are 2 different toolpaths, one using surface contour and the other surface flowline.

 

DISCO FERRAMENTA_22MM_TESTE2.MCX-5

 

Many thanks.

[guitar]

It still does

 

It never gave good results with multiple direction flowlines as far back as I go

Not true. In earlier versions you were able to manipulate the direction of multiple entities by creating surfaces in the manner in which you wanted the flowline to travel. That ability ended in X8. I used to do this all the time with flowline toolpaths.

[Guest]

Really, just did it in V9

 

Go figure

 

Made several surfaces using ruled and swept, on the exact same geometry, just different chaining techniques and directions....UV lines changed based on that...

 

Did several more using Coons, same result