[Jamespvill]

Hello Gentlemen!

I'm brand new to the CNC world and find myself without any knowledge of CAM softwares.

I feel silly asking such a simple question.. But how do I do tell BobCAD to profile this properly and leave just the circle in the middle? .Attachment 258792

I've been trying for awhile with no success so I figured I would just ask the professionals.

Thanks!
James

[BurrMan]

But how do I do tell BobCAD to profile this properly and leave just the circle in the middle?

Hi James,
Right click the "machine setup1" and choose "Mill 2 axis"....

From there, select the face that's at the bottom of the cylinder for geometry and choose ok. Click next twice.
From there select "pocketing".. Your current operations will now be a pocket and a profile finish....

Compute that and run a simulation....

There will be other ways to do things, like just selecting the bottom edge of the cylinder for a profile operation, Making an open pocket, etc, etc.....

Start with that and come back with further questions,

[Jamespvill]

BurrMan,

Thanks for the info! Unfortunately, I seem to need additional hand-holding. So this is what I'm going for....Attachment 258808

The best I can get so far....Attachment 258810

Although an appealing shape, not quite what I want...

I've got pocketing operations down pretty good, but this profiling continues to elude me...

James

[mmoe]

Here's a quick video using Profile instead of Pocket, but as with everything in CAM there are many ways to do the same thing. Pocketing gives you some more advanced strategies, but I think takes a bit more knowledge to use. In the "Profile Rough" toolpath option, you can "Side Rough" to clear out most of the material and then follow it up with a finishing pass. Video is at the link:

https://files.secureserver.net/0smVA36E5CBj6j

[Jamespvill]

Whoohoo!! I am one happy chappy! Attachment 258866

Huge thanks to mmoe, thank you for the walk-though video, that was perfect!

So onto my next question, the "Number of passes" is self explanatory, but I don't quite get the "Stock Remaining". I just fiddled with numbers until It was what I wanted it to be. Would someone mind elaborating on this for me? Attachment 258868

[mmoe]

Stock remaining is basically how far from the finished edge of the part your material extends. If you have a 25mm circle in the middle, and a block of material that is 100mm square, you'll have somewhere around 45-50mm of "Stock Remaining" to remove going from the circle edge to the corner of the stock (diagonal is longer than the 37.5mm to the face of the stock at the side). To some degree, I just guess the dimension and correct it if I come up short or too big. It would be nice if there was a way to automate this parameter, but in truth you will eventually not use it very often once you learn some of the more advanced methods, so I understand why it would not be very high on their list of improvements. This is just the easiest method to get you started in my opinion.

[Jamespvill]

Ah, That makes plenty of sense now. Thanks again for installing my training wheels. I will undoubtedly be back with more questions before my CNC adventure is all said and done.

[LeWhite]

Tip: profile and pocket are interchangeable by reversing direction of cut (start point/direction in cam)