toolpath smoothing

[LucasGC]

Hi All,

This is probably my third or so post about arc filter / tolerances.

I just can't figure it out and it's getting frustrating.

I have this part right now that I just want to get a fillet with minimal passes, the scallop height doesn't matter.

If I could just make 4 contours that run smoothly along the fillet that would be great, but right now I am using the scallop tool, and have so many wavy lines and random small cut paths.

I was hoping I could smooth it out with the filter page but I've tried so many options and I don't know how to get what I want.

Could someone take a crack at this and show me their ideal settings?

Would appreciate thx

 

[Müřlıń®]

Is that a solid or a surface model?

What are your tolerance settings?

 

[LucasGC]

Also I'm in metric

[LucasGC]

Just now, Müřlıń® said:

Is that a solid or a surface model?

surface

[Müřlıń®]

That is what I thought...

 

Tolerance settings?

[mayday]

if your using the edge curves check the integrity of them, if their wavy so is your tool path

[LucasGC]

Just now, Müřlıń® said:

That is what I thought...

 

Tolerance settings?

for the operation or in my mcam settings?

GB1-3920-10-00.mcam

[LucasGC]

for the boundary curves? I've tried a couple, the first set was curve from edge splines that were refitted, the second was those same splines broken many into lines with a .1mm tolerance, they didn't 'lie on plane' so i couldn't break into curves

[Müřlıń®]

7 minutes ago, mayday said:

if your using the edge curves check the integrity of them, if their wavy so is your tool path

I have found that simply turning the surfaces into a sheet and driving those edges makes for a much smoother path.

[Ewood42]

I know it's a pain in the butt... but if you get it close to what you want and there's only a little cleanup you need to do, you can always backplot, save toolpath as wire to a new level, then clean up the wire and just drive it as a 3D contour. Have had similar issues in the past and couldn't ever figure it out either, so I'd love to hear from someone who has a better solution. I'm sure SOMEONE on here knows the right way to fix it rather than making it a 3d contour.

[Müřlıń®]

Personally I would use morph, but here is what happens when you have a better model.

You can see that the path is much smoother without smoothing toggled.

 

There is a slight wavy edge in a couple of places but this is due to the way you made your surfaces.

Your splines need a much smaller edge break angle in order to create a smooth edge with lots of NURBS points.

30 degrees is way to much....try 1 or 5 when creating edge curves on surfaces to build with.

 

 

 

murlin.mcam

[LucasGC]

56 minutes ago, Müřlıń® said:

Personally I would use morph, but here is what happens when you have a better model.

You can see that the path is much smoother without smoothing toggled.

 

There is a slight wavy edge in a couple of places but this is due to the way you made your surfaces.

Your splines need a much smaller edge break angle in order to create a smooth edge with lots of NURBS points.

30 degrees is way to much....try 1 or 5 when creating edge curves on surfaces to build with.

 

 

 

murlin.mcam

Thank you, I did not know this! 

I started over because i've already cut one of these and now I just need to optimize it. 

I created surfaces from my original solid to get only the surfaces I needed, and then converted those back into a solid.

However, the edges of my solid are already broken into tiny segments, so when I go to curve one edge i have to pick each little segment.

I can curve all edges, but the break angle is grayed out. I can then create a spline from curves, which has the sharp corner smoothing, but gives bad results with this enabled.

Would you suggest to not create curves on the edges at all and just use the solid edges? 

[Müřlıń®]

6 minutes ago, LucasGC said:

 

Would you suggest to not create curves on the edges at all and just use the solid edges? 

For containment boundaries wire frame is great that is what I use.

 

But certain tool paths will be smoother if they are driven off solid linked edges.

 

use the linked button and then after you pick your first curve the next button will highlight and you can easily step through your chain.

 

 

 

 

[LucasGC]

Noticing now that my scallop finish toolpath is not making 3d arcs. anyone know if there is an option for this?

[LucasGC]

10 minutes ago, LucasGC said:

Noticing now that my scallop finish toolpath is not making 3d arcs. anyone know if there is an option for this?

Found the 3darc chook but it's not as clean as i'm wanting

[huskermcdoogle]

5 hours ago, LucasGC said:

Found the 3darc chook but it's not as clean as i'm wanting

Welcome to surface machining......

[LucasGC]

So there is no way of creating 3d arcs in toolpaths? I'm using the scallop, are there other toolpaths that are capable? finally got a smooth one with the hybrid cut, gonna convert it, beak it, contour it

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, LucasGC said:

So there is no way of creating 3d arcs in toolpaths? I'm using the scallop, are there other toolpaths that are capable? finally got a smooth one with the hybrid cut, gonna convert it, beak it, contour it

For arcs to be created they have to lie on a plane, be it G17, G18 or G19, these can be achieved by filtering the path properly.....anything else is by definition and ellipse or parabola

Edited June 21, 2018 by Guest

[LucasGC]

25 minutes ago, JParis said:

For arcs to be created they have to lie on a plane, be it G17, G18 or G19, these can be achieved by filtering the path properly.....anything else is by definition and ellipse or parabola

What about helical arcs?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, LucasGC said:

What about helical arcs?

You'll need to make sure this, in your control def is checked...

BUT BE AWARE, the same rule applies it will need to be a "true" helix

[CristiP]

I have the same problem see attached photos and mcx 2018 attached file. If I pick a containment boundary or a check surface to limit my surface high speed hybrid toolpath or a scallop toolpath I got a wavy toolpath...If I will not use check surface or containment to limit the toolpath everything is ok and smooth. If you have a high end machine this is not important but if you have something else this wavy toolpath will be a very big problem for your part surface quality and your machine will not run smoothly. For this reason on this old machine I use another software to program my parts. Can somebody give me a tip on how to get rid of these wavy toolpaths? So why limiting my toolpath gives me these wavy thigs? I try with solids and it is the same thing..I don't want to use 5 axis toolpaths I just need 3 axis legacy toolpaths or high speed toolpaths. I saw in 2019 they add some projected boundary smoothing tolerance for equal scallop toolpath, but I'm interested on x8 and 2018 to solve this.

Thank you very much for your time.

heavy and wavy.mcam

[Camelot]

I make a lot of moulds and the below filter settings have given me good results.  These are in inches.  I use these settings for all my surface machining tool paths.  If anyone else has a better method, I would love to hear it.

Leaving .020 stock.  Total tolerance at .005.  Cut tol. at 49.  Line/Arc at 51.  No smoothing.  (Don't really need it as it's at +.020 stock and takes more time to process)

Leaving .007 stock.  Total tolerance at .0035.  Cut tol. at 20.  Line/Arc at 40.  Smoothing at 40.  Enable "Shift Points Along Toolpath"    

Leaving 0 - .002 stock.  Total tolerance at .0005.  Cut tol. at 10.  Line/Arc at 20.  Smoothing at 70.  Enable "Shift Points Along Toolpath"

 

[Camelot]

Lucas, 

Decrease your depth cuts by .001" incrementally from your current setting.  If that doesn't do it, keep decreasing in .001" increments.  If the tangencies in your toolpath are complex, Mastercam will output the best it can in its algorithm.  I found by slightly adjusting the depth cuts can give you the desired path.  There are a lot of tolerances that Mastercam toolpaths look at to construct the final path.  For example, the settings in your config.  So you might just have to over come those tolerances to get your desired path.             

[DavidB]

I always use "one way filtering". For finishing toolpaths only I use smoothing shift points randomly. The biggest effect on toolpath surface finish will be your total tolerance.

Set your arcs to Min 0.1 and Max 10000.

[jlw™]

On 6/28/2018 at 7:33 PM, Camelot said:

Lucas, 

Decrease your depth cuts by .001" incrementally from your current setting.  If that doesn't do it, keep decreasing in .001" increments.  If the tangencies in your toolpath are complex, Mastercam will output the best it can in its algorithm.  I found by slightly adjusting the depth cuts can give you the desired path.  There are a lot of tolerances that Mastercam toolpaths look at to construct the final path.  For example, the settings in your config.  So you might just have to over come those tolerances to get your desired path.             

Ditto that, I have found that depths will have a huge impact on toolpaths.  I often try to divide depth cuts based on features, keeping in mind leave stock, so that depths will work out.  Otherwise you'll get a face with significant stock left where you think it's 0.02.  I also change the leave stock sometimes, like 0.021 or 0.019 and it has an effect on the path.