topic Re: "Toolpath gaps" issue in PowerMill Forum

"Toolpath gaps" issue

kukelyk — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 09:51:30 GMT

Hi.

How could I check all my toolpaths, if they are corrupted or not?

Thanks in advance

Re: "Toolpath gaps" issue

lokesh.kalia — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 19:40:36 GMT

@kukelyk Hi. Are there any 'obvious' gaps in the project? If not, this may be a case that this check is being too strict: it checks that the distance between the end of one toolpath component and the start of the next is less than the machining tolerance. If the tolerance is very fine and the toolpath coordinates large, it is possible for some numerical discrepancies to result in a false positive.

As for checking all the toolpaths in one go, the only solution that I can think of is to put them all in an NC program and try to write them out; I don't recall any other tools that we provide that could help, unfortunately. That won't tell you where the gaps are though. It would be better if the error message provided that information, at the very least. I'll see what can be done about that. Is it possible for you to provide a project that shows this problem please?

Does re-applying the links make the error go away? - If you are able to provide a project, please provide a version before the links are re-applied Thanks.

Re: "Toolpath gaps" issue

iamcdn79 — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 11:31:07 GMT

I have received this msg about 2-3 times in the last 3 yrs, scared the sh*t out of me thinking that I have to redo that toolpath but fortunately, all it took was to re-apply the leads/links and all was ok

Re: "Toolpath gaps" issue

kukelyk — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 12:20:54 GMT

Hi @lokesh.kalia,

the project is in the attachment.

reapplying links fix the toolpath.

Thanks

Re: "Toolpath gaps" issue

iamcdn79 — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 12:35:38 GMT

Do you use the corner clearance strategy often? I find results like these turn me off to the strategy

Re: "Toolpath gaps" issue

lokesh.kalia — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 16:00:31 GMT

@kukelyk Hi. Thanks for the data. The gap is around: -131.08, 29.42, 39.5. If you zoom in you'll see a small segment. The odd thing is that the segment is open but the lead in and lead out are both connected to the same end. The bug/error is that this this small segment has been mistaken for a closed segment. - It looks as if some changes have been made in a subsequent codebase to improve this. The toolpath was calculated in 1187262. Are you using a later codebase now?

Re: "Toolpath gaps" issue

iamcdn79 — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 15:53:35 GMT

How did you find that small segment? Is there a special command? Or you just have to look for it manually?

Re: "Toolpath gaps" issue

lokesh.kalia — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 16:09:03 GMT

@iamcdn79 Hi. In this case I found the 'gap' by debugging the code.

As it happens, there is a command that copies short segments (and their associated leads) to a separate toolpath:

EDIT TOOLPATH <name> EXTRACT_SHORT_SEGMENTS <max_length> -- extracts segments shorter than max_length

It's something that we would like to 'wrap up' properly. One of these days hopefully ...

Re: "Toolpath gaps" issue

kukelyk — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 18:40:30 GMT

I never use this strategy, just because these kind of toolpath segments. Some of my colleagues use this. The corner cleareance and the corner finishing strategies should be improved. Calculating , trimming and cleaning 'along_corner' takes almost half of the programming time at our company.

Re: "Toolpath gaps" issue

kukelyk — Wed, 04 Jul 2018 05:04:59 GMT

We mainly use Version20.0.10.64.1187262, what is PM2016SP13. Is there SP14 somewhere?

Re: "Toolpath gaps" issue

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Jul 2018 15:36:50 GMT

Yes, PM 2016 SP14 - it will be very good to found it