Ok thanks. Now I'm only self taught in Mcam so there is a lot I'm not familiar with, eg creating a curve on the edge. What will that do? I'm talking about a part with about 40 holes.

if you create curves all sides and then select all the arcs that represent the bottom of your drill points and you're done! Make sure top of stock is equal to deepest hole. analyze entity to see diameter of drill requires.

right on Gold!!! crying tears of joy!!!! thank you!!!

you're right....i can't get it to do it either?

try unchecking your optimise toolpath box?

I'll play with trimming the toolpaths. thanks for the direction!

Just create a contour for your stock size and use that as your containment.

that's how i do it now. problem is as I get to lower layers my stock expands and I end up cuttin air. Am I missing something?

an example of my stock attached. approx 8 ft. X 10 ft

What kind of control do you have in moldplus over direction of flow?

tia

this thread...see picture!

A question I've been searching forever for..... I make a lot of big molds and in my mind i should be able to create and define my stock and tell the toolpath to cut only said stock? I need to create many toolpaths to keep from cutting air. While my machine cuts air just fine I prefer to make chips!!!

glad i could return the favor and help someone else for a change!

Rickster,

 

Use Surface Finish Blend!!!

 

Blend is much better than flowline at doing multiple surfaces. You need to create two chains of geometry. One on each edge of the surfaces you want to cut. These chains create the "flow" direction for the toolpath.

 

Try it, you will like it.

 

Can you do a "Save Some" and save just those 8 surfaces and send me the MCX-5 file? I'll do a couple example toolpaths (to show the difference between the 'across' and 'along' settings, and send it back to you...

What about a 5-axis scenario? Often use the morph toolpath here, but it gets very frustrating. In my mind all i want to do is to use a command like surface normal to flip the flow of the surface.

with moldplus addon you can change the direction of flow....am keeping fingers crossed that X6 will maybe have this capacity? are you using 3 or 5 axis flow?

welcome!!! I hope you find this forum as helpful as i have

unless it's a critical part I always use stepover. Scallop on an outside radius can take forever and for me the faster I can get the part off the machine the more money I make!!

Just save all of your solids off in to one STL file, then select that as your stock.

I agree with this, but I would much rather just select my solids. creating an stl just seems like a bandaid. stl's also seem to slow down verify

If you spend 30 seconds on each hole, that's 4.5 months of 40 hour weeks just picking holes. LOL!

three steps:

1.) open mouth

2.) insert large caliber pistol

3.) pull trigger

 

90,000 holes thats crazy stuff right there

are all the holes the same angle, or at least are there large blocks of holes with the same angle?

have you tried circle mill in your circle paths?

i like using swarf milling rather than the classic swarf. i seem to have less machining issues with it.

if you're trying to roll the side of the bit around a radius you could use a parallel and turn your "machine angle in Z" to 0.

i completely quit using solid selection when toolpathing. i always create a surface from the solid and then use those surfaces for toolpathing. my problems seemed to go away.

Coonsurf is a c hook. look under settings/ run user application. i'll see if i can get it for you, but it's a neat c hook to get used to!

wow!!! that looks bad!!! have you tried coonsurf?

for concave you should prob be using either ,from point away or from line away?

For a convex surface i often use morph between two lines using an endmill. gives me a smother finish IMO.

Rob...are you saying you are starting with a square part the width of your diameter?

ooops!!!! check the post date! assuming you've got it already?