I have a solid model of a hammer handle that I am trying to machine out. I have it in Visual mill. I have extended each end of the handle out by 1" but of a smaller dia (ellipse shape). The handle is 12" long and is 14" with the extra material on each end. .I made my material 13" long and centered. The block I start with is 16" long. I profile one side (I machine to a depth of half my Z thickness plus half the radius of the b all mill) then flip and profile the other side. My thought was it would not cut the material al each end because the solid model extends out past the stock material. What happens is it cut to depth on the ends so when I flip it and it roughs out the shape all the way to depth there is no material on the ends left to hold the part to complete the final finish passes.
So my question if how to I make Visualmill not machine on the ends of my part? I know how to do this when doing 2D work. You get a option to leave tabs. That does not show up as a option when doing 3D surface profiling.
Thanks
Scott