[jay_dizzle]

as the title states, i need to rough machine a face gear. i would like the tool to travel back and forth through the gear tooth profile and basically generate a gear tooth. best way i could describe it would be like a pocket with two open ends, i would think there would be a way to just traverse back and forth but i cant figure it out.... i have attached a .zip of what i currently have....

[BurrMan]

Here's a file to look at. I used "advanced Planar" which gives you more options than the old planar.... I didn't really look at all your settings. Just a reference to look at...

The advanced planar has a pattern choice of "up or down"... Then I chose a lead-in and out of Parallel...

Attachment 452788

Then I added a radial pattern for 57 teeth...

Attachment 452790

Anyway, there is probably a few other ways... We can look at those too... Most are going to involve moving away from the old, standard toolpaths and using the newer, modulworks paths...

[jay_dizzle]

thanks for the reply BurrMan, im using endmills to rough the gear teeth out so i was hoping to avoid any z axis movements while engaged in the work.
i found the best way to do this was to tighten up my boundary to the very edges of the gear tooth geometry, or even offset it a few thousandths inside the geometry. compute the tool path desired, and then edit the toolpath by extending the cut moves. this seems to bring all z axis movements off of the work, while retaining the toolpath i desired. thanks again for your reply!

[BurrMan]

I missed the "No Z movements on the surface" part....

They DO have a toolpath for this.. I made this with "Parallel Cuts" on a surface...

Attachment 452966

If you do a lot of this, may want to look into it...

[jay_dizzle]

you know.... i always forget about the multi-axis functions.... such a noob move on my part. thanks BurrMan, that will make life a lot easier!

[BurrMan]

There is alot of power in those toolpaths.... thats nice that you already had those...

[jay_dizzle]

ok, unfortunately im back.... im trying to use the multiaxis toolpath and everything is exactly how i want it EXCEPT ONE LINE.... it rapids right through my work for whatever reason.... any insight on this?

[aldepoalo]

The purple line is a link move to connect the toolpath from one side of the part to another.

1) You can use a different link strategy for larger moves

Attachment 453338

By adjusting the large move link strategy from direct to a rapid at clearance. You can also use the " small move size" value to adjust what's considered a small move ...

2) To keep the toolpath from violating the surface, turn on a gouge check against the drive surfaces with a retract strategy. This will force the link move to be along the drive surface vs violating it.

Attachment 453340

Before gouge check -

Attachment 453342

After gouge check -

Attachment 453344

You'll notice both screen shots show the bottom v of the surface doesn't fully clean up ( simulating just the finish pass )

3) You could consider some of the other toolpaths like morph or even equidistant to finish this shape. Depending on how strong you CAD skills are, you can make some simple geometry updates that would allow for a "cleaner" toolpath resulting in a better finish using some of the other strategies.

[jay_dizzle]

this is what i get when i turn on my gouge checking... cant say that i trust all those rapids in there?

[BurrMan]

this is what i get when i turn on my gouge checking... cant say that i trust all those rapids in there?

So i'm stuck on another island now, away from my computer... won't be much help...

Try to track down Al in the after dark group...

I'll see if i can remote into another system to look. But it wil be some amount of time...

[aldepoalo]

this is what i get when i turn on my gouge checking... cant say that i trust all those rapids in there?

Those aren't rapids, they are link moves. Rapid moves show up as dotted lines.

[jay_dizzle]

Those aren't rapids, they are link moves. Rapid moves show up as dotted lines.

i see that now, thanks Al. my boss is now hinting that he would like to try and finish this gear in the mill........ so ill likely be back tomorrow to figure out the most accurate way to finish this thing....

So i'm stuck on another island now, away from my computer... won't be much help...

Try to track down Al in the after dark group...

I'll see if i can remote into another system to look. But it wil be some amount of time...

no worries BurrMan, i am up and running!

[jrmach]

So i'm stuck on another island now, away from my computer... won't be much help...

Try to track down Al in the after dark group...

I'll see if i can remote into another system to look. But it wil be some amount of time...

the Islands,,,very nice

[BurrMan]

the Islands,,,very nice

Not really at the moment jr... full draconian lockdowns...

They think they can isolate....it's getting tough for the specific groups they decided to impose upon...