[Mike RZMachine]

so i'm getting some of the functionality of partmaster cam down, and i'm really stumped as to how to do this more efficiently.

i need to cut a pocket into a part where 2 sides of the pocket are open to the outer perimeter of the part. so far i have drawn in some additional lines to bring the contour outside of the original part perimeter, then used the area clear function. this is the only way i've been able to make sure the end mill cuts all the way to the edge of the part and clears the whole pocket.

the problem is that the area clear function using contour milling doesn't always clear all of the area, and its often dependent on the addition geometry i add outside of the part. i'm often left with little slivers between the endmill path. it clears everything with uni/bi directional milling, but i don't like to waste that much machine time.

i have also thought of using 2 open contours, but then i'm still left with finding an effective way to clear the rest of the area.

how do you all approach this? the particular geometry i have attached is a general representation of what i'm trying to accomplish.

Thanks,
Mike

[John S.]

Ignore the drawing of the part, do an additional drawing on another layer that links the two shapes together and in your case looks like a butterfly.
Go over the edge by just over the radius of your cutter so you get square corners.

Not time at the moment to do a quick sketch.

if you have problems with missed pasts drop the overlap down a couple of numbers in Area clear > options, for that toolpath.
It's usually 70% by default and a couple of numbers will make a difference

John s.

[harley4ever]

Mike did you get this squared away?

[Mike RZMachine]

so changing the overlap percentage did solve the remnant problem. i also did make a more efficient overlap sketch, but i guess that must need to be a step in the process.

i also found that creating 'open contours' over the edges i want to completely clear, then running them as 'go around' with parallel approach and runoff takes care of the little nugget left on the corner by the area clear.

i definitely need to brush up with using the sketch function in the cad module.

thanks for the tips
Mike