[LRF]

I have been experimenting with the rest machining commands. I have been able to get the finish waterline command to function but I'll be damn if you can figure out how to make any of the others work. I can't get any of the "job assignments" to take. I know I am missing something or the commands are there for looks. Lord knows the manual is just so much help (you wonder why the sprutcam people wasted their time)

Anyone want to offer any guidance, do you know of any practical and understandable tutorials? I wonder if Tormach is producing anymore user videos? This would be a good subject, just stepping thru an example of where each command variant could be used.

I suppose you could go to their class but I am afraid it is geared to the elemental basics.

[Gerry Sweetland]

There is the SprutCam UK site. His video's are very good. But you have to pay for a subscription. IIRC it is around $65.00 for 30 days of support and ~$260 for a full year. These include X amount of email requests per subscription period for videos tailored to your requests I think. Due to a mis-que from their server provider I was able to see the videos for free for a while but now that is not available.
If you email him (see contact on the web site) he will get right back to you with in 24 hours with details on the subscriptions. I am going to subscribe as soon as I save up some money for it.

If you post your project file I will take a look and see if I can offer any help.
Gerry

Oh, I should add that you can email Eric at Tormach with questions. He usually responds quickly as well.
Also, I would think that if you take the Tormach class you could ask as many questions as you can fit in to the period your there. Being there at Tormach with all the people there seems to me to be a very good environment for learning.
You get out of it what you put in

[Wirecutter]

Is there a simple explanation of the difference between the "Rest Machining" operations and the corresponding roughing/finishing operations? (Machine the rest?) I see Waterline, Plane, and Drive operations in the Roughing, Finishing, and Rest Machining tabs. In general, I can understand the difference between Roughing and Finishing, but not Rest Machining. What is that?

I've tried to use Rest Machining ops just a little, and I've never been able to do anything useful. Still learning here. Thanks.

-Mark

[Gerry Sweetland]

In a nutshell, for some applications you would use a larger tool to hog out the material and then create a "Rest Machining" op to machine the "rest" with a smaller cutter.
Gerry

[Wirecutter]

I have been experimenting with the rest machining commands. I have been able to get the finish waterline command to function but I'll be damn if you can figure out how to make any of the others work. I can't get any of the "job assignments" to take. I know I am missing something or the commands are there for looks. Lord knows the manual is just so much help (you wonder why the sprutcam people wasted their time)

Sprutcam (and more specifically, the manual) originated in Russian. I spoke with a couple of coworkers here about this. One is a native speaker of Russian and the other is a native English speaker who studied Russian. In Russian, word ordering is very flexible. If one follows the strictest formal rules, there is a "correct" way to do it, but as in English, everyone has a "style" of speaking/writing that seldom follows the rules in the strictest sense. So basically, the meaning that you get in English from the order in which words appear in a sentence *doesn't exist* in Russian. This makes writing clear technical documentation in Russian very difficult or impossible. It also plays havoc with trying to translate said documentation from Russian to English.

This is why I gave up on the manuals and instead rely on tutorial videos and forums such as this one.

-Mark

[tbaker2500]

In a nutshell, for some applications you would use a larger tool to hog out the material and then create a "Rest Machining" op to machine the "rest" with a smaller cutter.
Gerry

I've been struggling with this question also. The manual seems to point out that rest operations are no different than normal operations except that the stock is taken from the last op.
That seems fine, but as far as I can tell, all new ops default to having the workpiece autodefined from previous op.

??

Thanks for the help
Tom

[Gerry Sweetland]

I've been struggling with this question also. The manual seems to point out that rest operations are no different than normal operations except that the stock is taken from the last op.
That seems fine, but as far as I can tell, all new ops default to having the workpiece autodefined from previous op.

??

Thanks for the help
Tom

Hi Tom,
Sorry, but I'm not sure if I understand your question. In the help file under the heading Rest Machining it explains what you are asking above I think.
HTH,
Gerry

Attachment 191328

[mike sr1]

I am running a 2 d contour op and the inside radius on 4 of the corners is .0625, I am going to run a .1875 cutter to rough it out as it wont cut the radius' if they are smaller than the cutter, then use another 2 d contour op with the .0625 cutter to finish out the corners.
I think rest machining just machines the part of the op that wasnt machined with the larger cutter, (smaller radius')?

I get real skittish when using those itty bitty cutters ha!

[tbaker2500]

Yep, I'm getting confused again. I'm no longer certain of my original statement. I'll sit back down in front of it monday and try to get it straight.

Thanks

[tbaker2500]

Okay, so here's what I think I mean. From the manual:
"Actual workpiece state considering: - The first machining cycle uses the start workpiece,to generate the toolpath. After that the workpiece form is updated. So the next cycle uses the updated workpiece to generate its own toolpath."

This says that each subsequent milling pass is, in effect, only milling the remaining material. So what is the purpose of a specific category called "Rest Milling"?

Elsewhere in the manual, it states:
"The remachining operations allow the user to perform machining only in those areas where material has been left after previous machining operations. The rest machining strategies are identical to other strategies; except that different default values are set. The roughing remachining operations perform removal of the entire volume of residual material, and the finishing ones, machine the actual surface of the model only in un-machined areas. The rest milling operations allow the user to optimize machining for complex details. They are designed to be used for roughing or finish rest milling using a tool of a different shape or smaller diameter than the tool used in previous operations."

This and some other paragraphs that I can't find right now imply that the Rest operations are just shortcuts for regular ops which have different defaults set. Does this track with what you guys have seen?
If so, what specific defaults are different, other than taking the workpiece from the previous op?

Someday my head will stop hurting. :-)

Thanks for listening.