No prob Mate

Take a look at the file - it should be ok HSM1.MCX-7

Hi Hertz, I looked at Your file. I think it ramps up to 1180IPM because your stock is lying partially outside of your part. It thinks it's cutting air so it ramps up to 1180 (according to what You said - it's the value You put for air-cutting). Take a look at your stock definition.

Hi Aaron, Hi Fellas, Aaron thanks for the file. But this unfortunately is not as easy as it seems to the end... :-( I agree 100% with MotorCityMinion. OPTI is not for finish. It's a HS roughing routine - when approaching tight corners - it makes loops (and VERY GOOD - that's it's job). This is a great thing 'cause it takes a CONSTANT SIDESTEP and makes the toolpath "sharp-corner-less", which in turn makes the machine tool run with no jerks at high feedrates. This is very cool and makes HSM work. Nothing to add more to this - all clear!! But when finishing, the vertical wall showed on the picture (as an example) is re-machined by the loop toolpath (at tangency points), which causes micro-gouges to the wall (Every end-mill is deflected more or less by the material it machines - if you remachine it with the exact same toolpath - you will still take material off the wall and see "micro-chips" fly :-). That's why when you want good finish - You have to have a CONTINOUS toolpath with as few entry-exit motions on the wall. I hope You know what I mean :-) On top of it all - You can't use cutter compensation (it thinks in the 3D world of toolpaths - and good - after all why use cutter comp for roughing...) etc... I think the opti toolpaths as HS roughing routines combined with STOCK MODEL and rest machining are a great thing that make Mastercam a 21st century tool - for 3D and 2D. No doubt about it. But on the other hand I have a feeling that if CNC Software made some 2D finishing paths that would work with SOLID ENTITIES (not chains - not counting the boundries) and stock models, MC would truly be 22nd century no 1 CAM tool in the business!!! Observing the options and functionalities that MC has now - I think it's a relatively short road to achieve it. I like MC because I have a lot of control in the toolpaths and am not limited when coming up with an optimal technology to produce a part. that's very important for me. MC is my tool and I tell it what to do - not the other way around (like in some other CAM systems). But the 2D..... :-) ........maybe sometime....?

Thanks Chris, Thanks Bob, I'll try the hs horizontal and have a look at waterline (although it is 3D...). I guess I'll have to give FBM a closer look. Although did not like it after trying it off-the-gate as-is... You're right Chris - it was a big laugh :-) Especially when I saw like a milion OPS in the OP Manager... Now try to control that.... :-) Anyway... Time to give it a bigger glance than just pressing the green checkmark - then I might laugh out of myself :-))))))... Gotta get back to work. It's almost 10 am over here. I'll be in touch Guys.

Hello fellow CNC Mates, I know there are a lot of efficient roughing technologies and HS tollpaths in MC. They are very cool (opti area, core, rest, using stock model etc.). I also use them and are happy with it :-) . My big question would be - what about finishing 2D fully prismatic parts after they have been roughed and rest machined with the use of the above techniques? I am not talking about 3D surfaces - only 2D relatively complex parts (a lot of pockets, bosses, varying depths and other "bright design surprises", sometimes on the edge of artistic ideas like digging with a flat endmill 12D's deep... :-)))))) I have attached a sample file - it's just something i modeled in CAD to show You (could not give any real-life examples - no permission to share them from my Customers...). Lets say I rough it and rest-cut it with OptiRest using stockmodels in between to avoid air-cutting - could use 1 or 2 tools do do it in this example. What comes next? Of course I could finish it also with OPTIREST (stock on walls and floors put to 0) - but this is not the answer (bad surface finish - wall cutting should be a continous path). Is there any technique with which I could finish VERTICAL walls and FLAT floors with the more traditional 2D method, but do it in a more automized manner (like opti with stock models)? Instead of assining chains (wireframe) - pointing the whole solid body and boundries? To be honest, right know I do the job manually. That is, after roughing and rest-cutting i pull out wires and finish the parts with 2D Contour and pocket toolpaths. As you can see - it is quite a hassle - even in the example I given here - the programming time is not minimized and you have to be careful not to make any error (opti rough takes care of it for you - but only roughing)..... Could anyone give me a hint on that? Can MC handle that (I know about FMB even though never used it - my intuition tells that it's not what I'm looking for- but maybe I'm wrong - please correct me if that's the case)? One other thing. I am not trying to find in MC a scenario like loading the solid, picking 3 or 4 tools, pressing the green button and wainting until it figures everything out for me and outputs the COMPLETE program... :-) It's not like that - things like that don't exist - there is always a place in the manufacturing technology that you have to put your hands on - no doudbt about it - you are the technology writer and you are in chargé of everything at the end of the day - not MC or any other CAM tool. - I just want to push it a step forward so I could really get some more help out of it. Thanks in advance fellas. Sorry for such a big story. 2D_PART.MCX-7