[stevieboy]

I have a BMC20 with ultimax3 control that has a 3D option. I have to make some parts for a car and the best way to discribe them is they look like an upturned soup bowl. My lathe is manual so in the past I have roughed them out on the mill using circular frame milling and then finished them on the lathe. I would like to do the whole job on the mill to save time. I've never used the 3D option so how do I start. How do I get the mill to cut in circles stepping down in depth but also increasing in diameter. Just imagine an upturned soup bowl on the table and you're looking at it from above. Any help?

[MaxxLagg]

Well, I have a WinMax at work so I don't know if this will be the same.

I uploaded a sample program similar to what you are talking about, go here:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/ab707e/n/SoupBowl_HWM

You'll need 2 tools, a regular endmill and a ball endmill, preferably both the same diameter.

Milling
3D Mold
XZ Revolved About Z
Start Angle 0
End Angle 360
Z Start (I always make it the radius of the ball endmill)
Centerline X 0 (or whatever your centerline of this feature needs to be)
Centerline Y 0 (or whatever your centerline of this feature needs to be)

Fill out your speeds and feed and tools accordingly and decide on your milling strategy like if you want the contour to stay normal to the programed feature or to follow it. Just play with it and you'll see what I mean.

Put your cursor on the Type field and then press the softkey on the side that says Edit 3D Mold Contour

For this example :
X start 0
Z start 0
next segement
Arc
CCW
X end -2
Z end -2
X center 0
Z center -2
Radius 2

Hit draw and see if that's what you want.
Edit to suit

This isn't intended to be a complete example but should get you close. Just play with it.

Kenny
[email protected]