Creating Lead In/Lead Out for Flowline

[psco21]

Hello,

Does anyone know how to create a lead in/lead out for flowline in Mastercam?

Thanks!

[Müřlıń®]

there is a direction button on the middle page

[Guest]

Check these settings here

 

[billb]

Also, on the third tab page, there is a "Gap settings..." pushbutton.  In there, you'll be able to set tangential arc / tangential line.

[Newbeeee™]

10 hours ago, JParis said:

Check these settings here

 

Well DUH!!!

After all these years and flowline is my go-to path, I always copy the surface to a level and extent as required.

I'm button blind - I'd never seen that before.

[duckdogers]

I didn't know about the direction button either till Ron told me about a month ago,it works great Thanks again Ron

[crazy^millman]

53 minutes ago, duckdogers said:

I didn't know about the direction button either till Ron told me about a month ago,it works great Thanks again Ron

I have used them since V7 days.

Though many things changed these dialogs are pretty much the same since the V7 days. Sorry that is far back as I go in Mastercam.

[JoshC]

The direction setting extends only the first Pass's entry which is good for when you only want to extend the first pass. Alternatively you can do what BillB mentioned above and on your Gap Settings use the Tangent line setting in that area and that will actually extend every pass's entry instead of just the first. its nice to know about both options and they both have their applications

[Guest]

You just need to be careful with the Gap settings....as you make those values larger, you WILL see some strange happenings at those moves....

 

[Jayson Kramer]

The Direction tool is nice wish sometime had them in the HST. On flow if you are doing undercut paths this can be a must. was just teaching both these thoughts last night in class.

[psco21]

Thanks for your replies! Both are good solutions to my question.

More specifically, I am using the finish flowline spiral cutting method to cut a taper on the outer surface. Any idea on how to make the spiral start a bit higher than actual part? I've been able to do it by lying to it and drawing the part to be bigger than the actual part but was wondering if there was an easier way to do this.

Thanks!

[duckdogers]

sometimes there is no easy answer just as long as it works

[Colin Gilchrist]

4 hours ago, psco21 said:

Thanks for your replies! Both are good solutions to my question.

More specifically, I am using the finish flowline spiral cutting method to cut a taper on the outer surface. Any idea on how to make the spiral start a bit higher than actual part? I've been able to do it by lying to it and drawing the part to be bigger than the actual part but was wondering if there was an easier way to do this.

Thanks!

Not with Flowline. Instead of Flowline, use Surface Finish Contour. Then in the "Depths", you can set it to Absolute, and enter values to "force" the path to start above. Just make sure you use a Containment Boundary with Surface Finish Contour, if you don't want to scrap the part!

 

[crazy^millman]

2 minutes ago, Colin Gilchrist said:

Not with Flowline. Instead of Flowline, use Surface Finish Contour. Then in the "Depths", you can set it to Absolute, and enter values to "force" the path to start above. Just make sure you use a Containment Boundary with Surface Finish Contour, if you don't want to scrap the part!

 

Or you can go into the advanced settings and say use only selected faces and you don't need a containment boundary.

[Colin Gilchrist]

17 minutes ago, 5th Axis CGI said:

Or you can go into the advanced settings and say use only selected faces and you don't need a containment boundary.

Yes, but I've been bitten by that in the past. I find it to work about 90% of the time. The other 10%? Well, let's just say that I always recommend a Containment Boundary, 100% of the time, for a reason. Maybe this has improved over the years, but I'm sure you've also got 100 other habits that have been built up with Mastercam over the years, to try and limit the amount of damage that can be done. I know I do. That's not a knock against Mastercam really, it is just that sometimes you have to learn ways to overcome whatever obstacle is in your path at the time. These workarounds just become habitual after a while. For the same reasons, many times I'll create a "floor" surface for a given operation, even though I could just go into the "Depths" box and set a Z depth limit. Why? Because after programming for a while, I realized that I may need to move the Origin for my Plane, and now all those "absolute" depths need to be reset to a new value. By using a "floor surface", I avoid that issue entirely...