Part machining poorly, new issues (pictures included)

[bilingham]

I have created a new model for the wheel I have been working on.  It is quite small, .67 in diameter. Using all the new information I have recently gained from this forum, the result is really quite good.  However, a new problem has surfaced.

Here is a view of the wheel.  notice that the inside edge on the right is quite smooth.

this picture shows the same wheel rotated 180.  Notice that there are a number of vertical grooves cut between the spokes.  These lines are in the tool path and appear in the G-code starting at line 11588 and continuing until line 11744.

Is this a bug?  This same flaw has occurred numerous times when making my miniature parts.  How do I fix this?

My set up is an X2 mini mill, running Mach3, 10,000 rpm, 1/16" carbide 2 flute ball nose end mill.  Thanks for your help!

[Trigg3r]

Not so much a bug, but the groves are a result of your spiral op trying to machine the vertical walls in certain places.

There are better ways to machine the other areas of your model, so think about containing the spiral to do the jobs not covered with more conventional ops like contour.

Above I've just contained the tool path with an inner boundary and moved the outer boundary inward slightly.

Sorry I can't go into more detail but it time to head off to my real job 😮

[bilingham]

Did you indicate a "don't touch surface" to limit the machining?

[HughesTooling]

It looks like spiral with circles is not working

It's supposed to do a full circle at the min and max but it doesn't!

Mark

[bilingham]

That's odd.  What do you suggest?

[HughesTooling]

I finally figured it out, the picture shows arrows across the diameter for the min and max rad but the text says you need to input the radius. You also need to under size by the radius of the cutter, then I found I needed to undersize a bit more before I got a good toolpath.

I found this works, unselect all restrictions on the geometry tab, I have attached the file as well. I added a 2d profile to finish the outer step, still needs the middle finished.

Mark

[bilingham · Accepted solution]

EXCELLENT!  Thanks so much.

Here is what my final product looks like.

The center of the wheel gets media blasted for a matt finish.  The outer rim gets turned with a lathe form tool, and the center is drilled and given a skim cut on the lathe.