i am running x5 and am trying to program 3d mold cavity undercut and for the life of me cant figure it out. i have a anglehead that i am using. in version 9 i would rotate data so undercut was in line of draw and save new gview. then make windows and programs and post and everything seemed to work fine. x5 everything works but it uses new coordinates so that my program #s are wrong. what am i missing? somehow i should be able to use same coordinates system, but i cant figure it out. any help is appreciated.

1.25 3 flute inserted kennemetal. inserts 1" tall.

i must not be doing something right. i have 36"x18" alum mold. cavity is about 4" dp in most areas and round in shape. with opti rough taking .5 depth of cut and .125 stepover and .1 stepup it takes 8 hrs to rough out. with old style pocket rough taking .06 depth of cut and 60% stepover it takes 8 hrs. same feedrates. ive tried changing settings but must be missing something. any help is appreciated.

ok lets say alum block using opti rough. what would be some good #s to start with? i usually use inserted flats (1.25dia with .125 radius actually) to rough , but not sure how they will handle it taking deep cuts. most of the inserts are 1" tall or so. i am running haas mills. im thinking .5dp with .125 stepover with .075 stepup. just a guess. 50"s per min to start. half my problem is convincing the older operators that this is a better approach. so i want to make sure that im close on my #s the first time. any advice is appreciated.

is there any suggestions on how to learn these high speed toolpaths other than trial and error? takes alot of time that i dont have. you know how that is. thanks

we build molds and i use x5 to program. when roughing a mold i use rough pocket and usually set stepover to 75% of tool dia. using a flat inserted cutter, i still seem to get islands left behind. i change to 60% and its better however still once in a while leaves island. is there any settings i can change so it will check for islands left behind? program takes longer when only stepping over 60%, so im getting a little frustrated. i tried hstp area clearence, and that path took 2 hrs longer than the rough pocket, so i gave up on that. might be more settings im missing there also. i changed a few of them, however didnt make much difference. i am not impressed with any of the high speed toolpaths. it takes forever to figure out what they do and changing settings and still dont like the result. any advice? thanks

millstar .5, .75, 1.0 button style. not highfeed. i was figuring alum., however not sure how to figure it exactly. machine has highspeed however no lookahead. thanks

sorry- heres more info. 99' haas vf3 cat40 spindle, millstar inserts steel shank bodies. different grade inserts for alum and steel. right now machining 4140steel, sometimes p20 or 1018. finishing i usually use .5 carbide ball unless i have to go smaller.

i have been trying to figure the correct speeds and feeds for my cutters. im not sure im doing it right. could someone help explain exactly how to do this. i run steel and alum. usually 2 flute inserted cutters to rough and carbide balls to finish. sizes depend on piece. max rpm is 10000. i was getting feedrates of like 150-300 ipm. i dont think my machine can run that fast and still hold sizes. if i slow feedrate down, do i also slow spindle down accordingly? trying to get max life out of inserts and tooling. thanks

i tried the hybrid. the toolpath doesnt look very good on the screen so i have never ran it on a cavity. i looks like to likes to cut surfaces however it wants. is there any logic to how it cuts. it seems that it mills around some flater surfaces and then will mill down an almost vertical surface. i guess im used to seeing the contour shallow where it starts at top and works itself down. i have always had good luck with contour shallow programs leaving a decent finish. will hybrid leave as good as finish. it looks like its faster for sure, however i need good finish also. im sure i need to tweek some settings. like i said im new to x5 and just trying to understand these toolpaths better. thanks

i am new to x5, however been messing with new toolpaths. i was running v9. i cant find any new toolpaths on x5 that are any better than the contour and shallow cut paths on v9. i upgraded thinking the new toolpaths would be better, but im not seeing it. i cut mostly molds so alot of 3-d surfaces with a lot of step walls usually. i have been contouring from 90 to 30, then shallow cutting from 32 to 0. why isnt there a single toolpath that incorporates both contour and shallow, so a guy doesnt have to make 2 operations in every program? x5 isnt nearly as user friendly as v9 i have noticed also. probably be better after using it more. anyone suggest anything to try that might be better? thanks, matt