Surface Finish Pencil Lead In/Out

[JMFabrications]

Im trying to use a pencil toolpath to clean up a radius and a face of a part, the toolpath is working correctly except for the life of me I cannot seem to get the lead in/out to change from the default.  Ive tried making changes to every setting in the "DIRECTION" settings page with no success.  Ive attached a screen shot and the green line shows where I want the toolpath to start (outside of the stock).  Any tips would be appreciated, BTW Im using X5.

 

Jim

[Guest]

Can you share up a part file...might take some settings messing to get it right....

 

Should be able to zip it and attach it

[billb]

Add a check surface to your surface/finish/pencil path and regen.  Now the "direction" settings will get applied (and you can set them to begin along your green line.)  The check surface can be something far away from your machining area.

 

Why does this work?  With no check geometry, surface/finish/pencil uses the same toolpath creation algorithm as 3D HST Pencil - which does not support the "direction" settings.  With check geometry present, surface finish pencil uses a different toolpath creation algorithm (one that supports "direction" settings). 

 

Minimally, we should put up a warning message that "direction" settings will not be used in a situation like yours.  I'll log that as a request.

[DanielGingras]

The original issue has been resolved. The thread will now be locked to avoid going off track.