[jimmyjolly]

Hi all, I have been using Powermill for years to do my milling and have recently started using Featurecam for some 2.5D work. Just got a question about safe Z heights and start points. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make the tool rapid down to the toolpath start point in Z safely. In powermill there was a function in leads and links to rapid down to a nominal amount above the start of the toolpath eg 2mm but I have tried moving my plunge/start points in Z and yet the tool still feeds down to the start of the toolpath. Is there an easy way of fixing this? Thanks for any help! Cheers Jimmy

[Perfect Circle]

jimmyjolly

See attached image.
Change this parameter, it sounds like what you are looking for.
You can also change the Z rapid plane on this page, to get you closer to the part.
:cheers:

[maxaspitfire]

In featurecam, tooltracks, leads, links, plunge points, start points, Z rapid planes... are all the parts of the feature you create and set within it.
You can find on Misc. tab, within a feature you create, parameter "Z rapid plane" and "Plunge clearance". Z rapid plane defines a plane parallel to XY plane, below which rapid moves in XY are forbidden. Plunge clearance defines a Z height from feature start, where toolpath begin to use "Plunge feed". You can set "plunge clearance" as negative value or 0 value if you want to rapid to toolpath start (assuming the 0 is start of a feature). Also, you can define separately plunge point height for rough and for finish on "Plunge" tab. Parameter "Plunge points",on the same tab, where you select point or curve, defines only XY location eg. pt(100,250,-5), -5 for Z is ignored.
By the way, featurecam is more comfortable for 2.5D features than powermill.

[jimmyjolly]

Thanks for the help guys, I have managed to sort this out and the plunge clearance differs from powermill as a distance from the Z zero rather than the distance from the start of the toolpath z. Either way, all sorted and happy, and yes have to agree maxaspitfire, featurecam is way better on the 2.5d machining, nowhere near as powerful as Powermill on 3D but swings and roundabouts.