[sansbury]

I have a part that looks something like the attached image. 1/4" wide and 4" long, and has a few more complicated features in the middle area which is why I didn't hand-code it. The part that actually stumped me was how to clear away the notches on the left and right side. It started with a piece of rectangular bar and then I went around it with a profiling cut to shape the central area (the edges are radiused). However, this left about .10" of material sticking up on the far left and right ends. If you look at the top view, there are two smaller rectangles in the drawing (I'd started with a DXF) that define these two notches. I was trying different machining operations to find one that would clear out these two areas, but nothing wanted to work, I think because I tried to program them to use the same .375" EM that was used for the other operations. This presumably failed (no error messages, but I couldn't get it to generate toolpaths) because the pocket is only .25" wide.

Anyway, I ended up just manually adding some code to clear the remaining stock, but I'm wondering if there is a better way. I prefer to not mix hand and CAM-created code more than necessary because it's an opportunity to crash things up. I realize I could have drawn some larger rectangles and them programmed those as pockets, but I also prefer to not have to add or change a drawing for the same reasons. Anyway, just wondering if there is a better way to accomplish this type of thing without hand-coding or drawing false shapes to program to.

[jrmach]

If I understand correctly,Advanced Pocketing would one of many ways to do this.I like it.

[mmoe]

I think the OP has Mill Standard from one of his other questions. I don't have V25 and V24 doesn't have advanced pocketing at all (even in Pro), so I'm not sure if that feature is available in his package.

If the OP has Standard and not Pro, the options for this are more limited (as I recently discovered and upgraded to Pro). While I know it wasn't what is preferred by the OP, I think the simplest solution is to draw a large box over each end and do a simple pocket routine. With V25 Pro, I think the Advanced pocketing is the way to go, like jrmach shows. If the part is 3d, the Flatlands might be the best bet, though with flatlands you'd have to select both the two surfaces that he's wanting to machine PLUS the top surface (and machine it as well) or you would get gouging.

[aldepoalo]

Watch this video and let me know if it helps. You want to use is a profile feature with side roughing.

V25 Facing, Side Rough, Open Pocket - YouTube

[sansbury]

OK, I'll give some of those things a look. I do have the Pro version so I should have those features.