AS I understand it regular toolpaths pass the center line of the cutter through

the center of rotation

roll die sets the edge of the cutter to pass through the center ine

Try surface blend for this

If you dont have solids create a surface from the solid and use wireframe geometry to

create the rest of the mold

Try pencil finish taking multiple depth cuts by using progressive stock to leave settings

Goto screen - shade settings and make the part translucent

then it will be easier to see the selection arrow

If you have a lot of parts create a screen shortcut to toggle translucent setting

Try

In the create menu

create curve constant parameter

slide the select arrow onto the surface in the hole - it will work with solid faces

There are two choices one will give a line along the surface

the other will create a geometry as a circle - now just analyze entity properties

OOPS

Formula for T should be T = COS A x H

These calculations should allow the X Y and Z offsets for using a ball endmill to cut uniform chamfers

The easiest way to do the Z offset is to offset surfaces nad put edge curves on

Program the toolpath to the center of the ball endmill

It should be possible to write a script to do these calculations automatically

Offset the geometry in the z direction using offset contour

Planes will have to be set parallel to each side to get offet to work

Then offset this geometry in the xy plane

Then program a 3d contour using cutter comp to center of ball end mill

The key is that the offset is not the cutter radius but the radius where the cutter

contacts the part

It is not too difficult to get this number graphically - see the attachment for details

I can e-mail you a sample part if you wish - I am not familiar with uploading the files to the web site

On the point sorting page try turning off "filter out duplicates"

Lay it out flat - write a mill pocket toolpath - roll it around the dia.

If the sides of the tab must be parallel in the veritcal direction

then you might have to use roldie - which is a c-hook

I think you can run the program and create geometry and toolpaths but you

cant save or retrieve any files

Is there a way to change the chuck jaw size and location when choosing the

Vertical mill with the 4th axis on it?

Thanks for any help

Is there a tutorial on building machines?

What is the process for building a machine?

What files are used and where are they located?

I would like to get stared building a couple of machines but dont see how to go about it

Thanks for any info to help me get started

How do I get to the machine build and modify function

All the choices seem to be greyed out on my system

Could not get FTP to take the file

will e-mail a sample if you want

setting the part so the hole surface is in the top plane with 0 on the bottom of the part

Ball dia = .75

x 2.2813 y.9117

c -20.483 b -57.713

these are the posted values using 5 axis drill

parallel to a line through the center of the hole - origin set to tooling ball center

E-mail address?

Did anyone go to Chicago - what did Mastercam say

at the show?

To cut the od try 3d contour this will leave

radii in the corners - for the chanfers

try swarf to finish the corners maybe

surface contours with lines for toolaxis control

some geometry needs to be created for this

I can e-mail you an example if you want

Bet they are showing it in Chicago at IMTS

My computer does the same thing with translucent

set - I dont know why

Toolpaths drill

select mask on arc

Select the hole size arc

Put window around all holes this size

Hit the enter key - this is what many forget

sort the pattern

green check mark

FBM drill has autmatically found muiltiple hole sizes and set multiple planes for drilling

cylinders

If your geometry is reasonably clean

after raster to vector conversion

Try opening up the chaining tolerannce and

writing contour toolpaths use tolpath filter

then save toolpaths as geometry