topic Re: Which toolpath? in PowerMill Forum

Which toolpath?

istan — Mon, 23 May 2022 19:40:02 GMT

Which way is the best to do a cutout from a cylinder on a 5-axis machine?

Rotatory Finish seem not the right way.

Actually I need a spiral movement and the z-axis shall point towards the center.

Re: Which toolpath?

Carlos.PintoLRW5G — Tue, 24 May 2022 08:52:22 GMT

Hello, I would use "Pattern finishing" with tool axis set to "Towards line" following a spiral pattern created in "curve editor"

Re: Which toolpath?

istan — Tue, 24 May 2022 12:53:50 GMT

Thanks, but this has some disadvantages:
The tool-z-distance cannot be defined properly - i.e. is only depending on the turns of the spiral
The spiral curve cannot be post-edited properly
The distance to the part surface needs to be fully setupped by hand (plane, tool-diameter..)
I hoped, there exists a more convinient solution.

Re: Which toolpath?

Michaelangelo631 — Tue, 24 May 2022 18:24:25 GMT

You can try using rotary finishing and set the lead in to ramp. Adjust the ramp height and angle to get the depth and spacing. We use this for finishing a single wall and for parting off operations.

Regards,

Mike

Re: Which toolpath?

Sean570 — Wed, 25 May 2022 17:37:33 GMT

If rotary finishing is not something that works for you, I think you can just use a constant Z with a towards line tool axis, but I can't remember. If not you should be able to use parametric spiral finishing with a tool axis on towards line, but I don't always get good results with that. Otherwise if you are okay not having a spiral use a line projection toolpath.

Re: Which toolpath?

istan — Wed, 25 May 2022 22:47:37 GMT

The rotatory finish with ramping does still not allow to enter a numerical stepdown value and requires to set a proper working plane, but currently it looks like the best compromise to me - as long I find no better way 😉