Hello all,
I've been teaching myself mastercam x2 over the last 6 months with a company I recently was hired for. (They had the x2 software in the box unopened until they hired me......to design solid models in SolidWorks. I had told them that I may be able to use the mastercam software they just had sitting around to machine some parts....lol)
I've been pretty successful at fumbling through some 5axis machining from a few guides on the net, and just from toying around. But one problem has been haunting me for the longest time.
This picture shows a 5 axis swarf (bottom lines) around the perimeter with a .500" Dia tool. The top tool path is a raster pass using a .500" ball end mill to machine the top surface, and the fillet on the edge.
If you look at the zoomed in picture on the right, this is where my problem lies....
At first I thought "If the two surfaces are tangent, shouldn't the tool paths line up, if both use a .500" tool?" Then I let it go as just a poor graphical representation of the tool path. This was until I machined it out. The tool path set, did exactly what was pictured, and didn't make the two adjacent surfaces tangent to each other. The top round "cut" into the near vertical face, and left a gouge the whole way around my perimeter.
To date, I have been successful at fudging it, by increasing the ball nose's diameter, until the two paths line up on my screen, and still using a .500" tool. I know this isn't the correct way to do this, so If anyone can shed a little light on the subject I would appreciate the help.
Thanks,
Chris