[extrapilot]

Hey all

Pretty new to the CAM side of the world, just trying to learn a bit when the station is free. I was setting up a simple bracket to hold a microswitch- basically a single piece 1" x .6" with 4 x .08" posts milled from 1/4" 6061 barstock.

I setup the stock as just a boundary box (which would be 1x.6x.25), and then again (in another attempt) as 2x2x.25). The tool is a 1/4" flat end mill. I figured that X2 would have no problem generating a simple path strategy for this part, but I cant seem to find any that work. Yea, I can setup a contour path for each of the 4 pins, and another for the outer boundary, but it seems that I then have lots of islands remaining and the 'rest' milling doesnt seem to handle these islands well. It is frustrating when you see a part that should be very simple to mill confound the toolpath generator- so maybe there are just some weird rules internally about the tool diameter being larger than the pin-edge boundary, etc, but I have had a LOT less trouble generating small/clean paths for complex surfaces than I have with this dumb part. If anyone can take pity on me- what is an appropriate strategy for generating a path for this part?

Regards,
Rob

[Steve Arteman]

Rob,
Use pocket and chain all of the profiles (outside of block, 4 pins) and in the pocketing parameters page in pocket turn on face. This should work. Check out my blog I have some videos up that may help. www.cad2cam.blogspot.com
Steve
www.cad2cam.net

[extrapilot]

Hi Steve

Thanks for the reply. I checked through the vids you posted, and I guess I am not seeing how the samples you have apply to this part. Specifically, I think the challenge for me here is in chaining, and I cant seem to find a way to get a pocketing operation to permit the use of open chains. I think open is required so that I can generate an integrated path that will not surface the area where the 4 pins/islands are supposed to be?

Should I have this part imported as a solid or as faces? I have tried both with no luck, but if you have any additional guidance, I would appreciate your insight.

Sorry to be stuck on what seems to be a very simple part- but to my amazement, I have found complex 3d surfaces a lot easier to path! Maybe this is my lack of experience with 2d chain-based operations...

Regards,
Rob

[extrapilot]

Steve

Never mind that last response- I found the error. The path strategy works very well- thank you for the guidance.

Best,
R

[conceptmachinin]

Hi Steve

Thanks for the reply. I checked through the vids you posted, and I guess I am not seeing how the samples you have apply to this part. Specifically, I think the challenge for me here is in chaining, and I cant seem to find a way to get a pocketing operation to permit the use of open chains. I think open is required so that I can generate an integrated path that will not surface the area where the 4 pins/islands are supposed to be?

Should I have this part imported as a solid or as faces? I have tried both with no luck, but if you have any additional guidance, I would appreciate your insight.

Sorry to be stuck on what seems to be a very simple part- but to my amazement, I have found complex 3d surfaces a lot easier to path! Maybe this is my lack of experience with 2d chain-based operations...

Regards,
Rob

Choose toolpath, pocket, chain partial, wait, make sure you are clicking the outside of the square (all for lines)click end here, chain the 4 circles, after each one, choose done. Mastercam automatically knows that those 4 circular chains are bosses, and they will leave the material there. Choose facing in the pocketing parameters dialog box, that way it doesn't contain inside of the square, but actually cuts the outside also. If you want it to start cutting from a paticular point, choose point after the last chain of the circles in your path, and it will start from there.

Hope this helps a little

Jimmy

[Steve Arteman]

Rob,
Here is a video of a simular part. follow this link to watch.
http://cad2cam.net/pocface/pocface.html
steve
www.cad2cam.blogspot.com