lolly pop cutter not undercutting in x7 mu2

[jerod951]

I was trying to do an undercut on a surface and x7 would not create the operation correctly. I pulled up the same file in x6 and it worked fine. After I got it working in x6 I opened it in x7 and then it worked fine. It looks like there is a problem with creating a lolly pop cutter in x7. I tried the same thing in x7 with a slot mill and it worked fine,also I pulled a lolly pop cutter from a library in x7 and the program looked good but the cutter showed up as a regular ball end mill so no verifying. I attached 3 files to look at : test file is my original op1 is with a lolly pop that does not work and op 2 is a slot mill that works fine, testlibray file is a flow line with a lolly pop cutter selected out of a x7 library, and testx6 is the program that worked good in x6.

TEST.MCX-7

TESTLIBRAY.MCX-7

TESTX6.MCX-6

[Guest]

You gotta turn the gouge checking off.

[jerod951]

all gouge checking is off. I wrote the same program in x6 and it worked fine. its a tool creation problem not program.

[Oscar R.]

Are you using a lollipop cutter that was created in X6 or another earlier version of MC.

Has the tool been properly updated for X7.

Just a thought.

 

Also, I've had issues in the past with customer supplied .stp files, when doing under cut operations. For some reason my install of the release of X7 didn't play well with those files.

I had to open the .stp files in SolidWorks and save them back to .xt files for it to work properly in early X7. Not sure if that's was just my install or an X7 thing though, I haven't had that problem in MU2.

Another thing to check though.

[jerod951]

I tried to create a lollipop cutter in x7 and it dident work, only when i create a tool in x6 and imorted it into x7 it works.

[premomoto]

I'm having the same issue. I'm cutting an undercut fillet and it leaves stock on the top and gouges the bottom. The tool path is Flow 5 Axis but I've tried Port 5 axis as well with no luck. A regular ball mill works until the cut becomes undercut but at least it adheres to the surface.

[CamMan1]

This has been going on ever since the release of X7. I just posted about this in the post about invalid tool. I just create the new tool in the new tool manager and after it is completed I have to change the tool type to something else and then back to lollipop for it to work right. It is definitely frustrating because I use them often. If you can get a library of lollipops set up correctly in the database then they seem to work fine. The lollipop is being created just like a ballnose because I have compared the toolpaths of a lollipop and ballnose of the same diameter and they are the same.

[Machineguy]

There is a hotfix for this before X7 MR2. It fixed all the undercut issues.

 

Machineguy

[CamMan1]

I installed the hotfix and I still have the same issues. I don't think the hotfix was for lollipop cutters being fixed in the tool manager. Maybe it just doesn't work right for me.

[?Mark]

Interesting. I don't see it here at all. Undercutting surfacing toolpaths with lollipop and slot mills are my daily bread. Not sure anymore if it's just me working around it subconsciously or is it really not there...

They did change the "definition" of lollipop, so in the latest mu2 you need to update at least 1 field in order for lollipop to work hmm...

[CamMan1]

Interesting. I don't see it here at all. Undercutting surfacing toolpaths with lollipop and slot mills are my daily bread. Not sure anymore if it's just me working around it subconsciously or is it really not there...

They did change the "definition" of lollipop, so in the latest mu2 you need to update at least 1 field in order for lollipop to work hmm...

 

Then look at this. Lollipop should drive center of tool to bottom of surface and it should not gouge which it is doing if you look at it in backplot you see the tool going thru the surface. I just created this in X7MU2 with the hotfix applied before MU2.

LOLLIPOP TEST.MCX-7

[?Mark]

Check "corner radius" in your toolpath parameters page

[?Mark]

And it IS a bug. Can't believe it hasn't been fixed yet. I talked to qc about it months ago

[?Mark]

I'm downloading newest X8 and will check there, but it doesn't change the fact that it should be fixed in X7mu2 already.

 

Creating a new lollipop doesn't update the radius of the tool. It put .5 radius for a .5 dia of the tool...ouch! Yours had .0 radius for a .5 dia tool, another ouch! Obviously it should be .25 radius for a .5 dia tool. Better yet, delete the radius field from lollipop and ball end mill tools, and have MC pull the numbers automatically from diameter. It's not like it can be anything else but half the diameter of the tool, lol!

 

I'm using my own custom tool library and I already went thru all those updates. It's why I don't see those problems any more...

[CamMan1]

Check "corner radius" in your toolpath parameters page

 

Gotcha. Under tool parameters page it is displaying 0.00 when it should be .250 for the .500 diameter lollipop. Change that and it works fine but shouldn't have to. That should be correct after creating tool!

[stephensburta]

[?Mark]

Exactly.

The radius field shouldn't even be there, lol

[?Mark]

The good news is that it works in the latest X8

[Rich Taft from CNC Software]

The fix for the corner radius parameter was done in X8 and X7-MU2. If the tool was defined prior to the fix, you'll need to re-enter the diameter in the edit tool dialog. Once you do that the radius field (which should be a calculated field) will be updated to 0.5D. The value will only get updated when you set the diameter in a new tool definition or edit the diameter of an existing tool. In order to qualify as an 'edit' operation the number will have to be changed. If you just enter the same value and hit enter the dialog doesn't see the field as being different and the udpate won't happen. To get around this, just make note of the original diameter, set it to something else (and press enter) and then set it back to the desired value.

 

Don't forget to update the original library tool(s) like Mark did so you don't run into the same issue on a future job. I hope this helps.

[CamMan1]

The fix for the corner radius parameter was done in X8 and X7-MU2. If the tool was defined prior to the fix, you'll need to re-enter the diameter in the edit tool dialog. Once you do that the radius field (which should be a calculated field) will be updated to 0.5D. The value will only get updated when you set the diameter in a new tool definition or edit the diameter of an existing tool. In order to qualify as an 'edit' operation the number will have to be changed. If you just enter the same value and hit enter the dialog doesn't see the field as being different and the udpate won't happen. To get around this, just make note of the original diameter, set it to something else (and press enter) and then set it back to the desired value.

 

Don't forget to update the original library tool(s) like Mark did so you don't run into the same issue on a future job. I hope this helps.

 

The tool was was a new tool created in X7MU2 in the new tool manager and it still did it. See the file in post #11. The only way it will work is to update the corner radius in the parameters page. It is a .500 diameter lollipop and the corner radius should display .250 radius.

[CamMan1]

Now if I create a tool in the tool manger application (not in Mastercam) it gives me a tool corner radius field that I can change after I have created the tool. When I create the tool in mastercam thru the tool manager the only way I can fix it is to change the corner radius field in the parameters page or open the tool parameters and change the diameter to something else and then back.

[?Mark]

" In order to qualify as an 'edit' operation the number will have to be changed. If you just enter the same value and hit enter the dialog doesn't see the field as being different and the udpate won't happen. To get around this, just make note of the original diameter, set it to something else (and press enter) and then set it back to the desired value."

 

^^^ What Rich said. There is a certain way that "qualifies" as edit. Simply typing in the field apparently doesn't do it. Had to be a good reason behind it I hope.

[CamMan1]

Well can someone please explain step by step how to create a lollipop correctly whether it be thru the Tool Manager application or thru Mastercam tool creation because I am getting frustrated with it. Our other programmer almost scrapped a part because of this and luckily he game to me because he said the toolpath didn't look right.