help with 3d contour

[CuttingEdgeManufacturing]

hello guys,

i was given this file to program this morning, and i'm having a problem finishing up this radius at the bottom of the groove. i used a 1/4 ballmill to get whatever i could, then switched to an 1/8 ballmill to finish it up. and it generates like 1 tiny little line with the 1/8 ballmill and that's all it will cut. im using rest machining, and have it checked to previous ops.. not too sure what im missing here.. help?

also as a side note, i cant seem to figure out how to contain the 3d adaptive.. im planning on doing the center bore in the lathe before it gets to the mill so it would be a waste of time for the cutter to hit the bore, any suggestions on either of these would be great!

[seth.madore · Accepted solution]

The 3D Adaptive can be contained via selections:

Gives us:

For the radii, here's my opinion: I hate interuptions in my 3D toolpath. All the starts and stops will yield a lot of code. All the holes that it needs to skip are a major annoyance. So, I'm going to copy/paste your model and delete all the holes on the copied version. Using this one, we can make our selections in a much cleaner manner:

I've attached the file, hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

I take different approach to parts like this, large groove on part face is turning feature in my book.

I would first turn, drill and bore, drill and mill 3 face holes, than rough and finish groove, mill rest of the features and drill side holes.

Instead of using ball end mills, you would use flat grooving tool to rough and full radius grooving tool to finish large groove.

There is logical progression that benefits your case, in current arrangement, you are milling part of the holes you haven't yet drilled.

Of course, depending on type of material, interrupted  cut in grooving can be an issue so above assessment is based on incomplete information and assuming you are cutting aluminum.