Help With Toolpath Verification

[oldtbone55]

@LibertyMachine

Hello Seth, 

I'm asking for your help with the CAM operations for a guitar neck that I've just finished modeling as you've been such a great help to me before. I've created the toolpaths but need someone to give them a quick review to see if there's anything wonky or if I could improve any of the toolpath operations. It looks like there's no way to create tabs for a 3D contour like there is for a 2D contour so I only have tabs on one end of the neck. Do I have to create tabs as part of the model for the headstock to get around this problem or is there another way? I've attached my file.

Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[daniel_lyall]

@oldtbone55 The model looks realy good you have come a long way in a short amount of time, you are correct about the tabs in the 3D ops you will have to model them in. 

As just a quick look you have rest machining turned on in the Adaptive toolpaths setup2 and setup1 you don't need it turned on, the model is not set in the toolpaths ( I am not a 100% sure if it needs to be set for this type of cut we will see what Seth has to say).

On your 2 parallel toolpath they look ugly as sin, in the rest machining settings, changing the Adjustment to Use as computed makes them sexiey. any way that's my 5cents.

[LibertyMachine]

Thanks @daniel_lyall for jumping in 🙂

I agree with your assesment, and I'd like to add on a few things:

1) I second what Daniel has said about your modeling skills improvement. Truly such an improvement! Let's take it one step further, for sake of discussion, shall we? Right now we have all these surfaces, but we really don't have a "solid body". We need to select all the faces in a setup. What if we could convert them all into a "Body"? Well, we can! Go into the "Patch" workspace and select the "Stitch" command. Crank down the tolerance and select the faces to stitch. Boom! You now have an actual body and not three separate faces:

2) Your 2D Contour is cutting through your part:

Depressing the A:T key (or Command on a Mac), you can then select a single edge. Click on it again and you will be able to make an open chain around the part:

And generally speaking; Finish passes, I typically avoid "Rest Machining" when possible, simply for the sake of generation time. Of course, if you have two tools finishing one certain area, that does not apply, as you want to use rest machining. 

yes, I prefer to use "As Computed" with a zero offset:

You had your Adaptive cuts set to "Tool Inside Boundary". This will cause the tool to leave a small cusp around the edge of the part. I prefer to set it to "Tool Center on Boundary"

And lastly, Smoothing is your friend. I set your roughing tolerances to .0005 and smoothing to .001, the Parallel I set to .0001 and .001 respectively. Your code was literally cut in half. That was half the movements required to achieve the same result. File has been attached, and I hope this helps!

[oldtbone55]

@daniel_lyall

Hello Daniel, hope you are doing well and thanks for your comments. Could you clarify regarding the parallel toolpath 2 operation? Is it not providing a smooth enough surface? 

Thanks.

[daniel_lyall]

I would show you if the f-in forum would let me, I will post back when it's working.

[oldtbone55]

@daniel_lyall

No problem Daniel. I could also use some help on how to create the tabs I need around the headstock. I didn't have any problem creating them for the tenon portion but I can't get a handle on creating them for the headstock. 

Thanks.

[daniel_lyall]

What I was meaning about ugly is in the pick below the toolpath is all over the show, it skips bits and moves all over the show 

Now if you set Rest Machining to use as computed with 0 adjustment offset you get whats below

It has long straight runs and its cutting to the surfaces not jumping all over the show and there are 4 rapid moves compared to lots, it just looks better and will do a better job and be way faster.

[oldtbone55]

@daniel_lyall

Thanks kindly for the explanation Daniel. These are the kinds of things that I wouldn't see if folks like yourself didn't point them out. I'm working on creating the tabs at the headstock and I think I have it figured out. I'll get back to you with what I've done in a bit.

Best Regards. 

[daniel_lyall]

Cool I am doing my version of how I would do it, I am almost finished.

[oldtbone55]

@daniel_lyall 

Hey Daniel, I was able to create the tabs on the headstock but now I'm having a problem trying to create the toolpath to cut around the tabs. If you could have a look at my file it would be appreciated.

Thanks Kindly.

[oldtbone55]

@LibertyMachine

Hello Seth, really glad to hear from you. I apologize for not responding sooner but dummy me had created the response and not clicked send (mind gets distracted easily these days). Thanks so kindly for your help and the words of encouragement, it's really appreciated. As usual, your responses are spot on. You've taught me something new again. I've tried depressing the A key to pick the edges for machining but it always picks the entire face. Am I pressing the wrong key? Also, I've created the tabs for the head stock but can't get a toolpath to work to cut around the tabs. I've attached my file if you have a chance to look at it.

Best Regards.

[daniel_lyall]

@oldtbone55 I am doing it another way. How you have the tabs wont work very well they are too close together, you will need some for the other end as well.  

After you have cut side one you still have two sections of material at each end, if you use those sections to hold it down and put a support under the model you can use those to hold the material down, then if you do it section by section, then leave the finishing cuts at each end to last you can clamp down the center section then cut the ends of.

[oldtbone55]

@daniel_lyall

Hello Daniel, I've re-done the tabs on the headstock and now have just two larger tabs on each side. I'm still unable to create the toolpath to cut around the tabs. I keep getting a warning saying 'Empty Toolpath'. Funny that I can pick the tabs and they highlight but nothing happens.  I can create tabs at the other end using 2D Contour rather than design them into the model as this area is flat. Both ends of the stock will still be there to keep everything together and you're right, I'll need to support the underside once I've machined the one side. Let me know what you come up with.

Thanks.

[daniel_lyall]

I am up to doing a jig for it to sit on so the ends will just slot into it and you can just whack a screw in at each end, ruff the ends out, rough the middle out and finish it clamp it down there, finish the ends then cut them out.

It's a good exercise working it out so it's simple it works and the jig is reusable so then you only have to make it onces.

[oldtbone55]

@daniel_lyall

Sounds real good Daniel. Can't wait to see it.

[daniel_lyall]

Here's a vid on what it is I have done.

It's not quite finished yet I just need to double check through the model to make sure it is good to go, I have attached it anyway for you to look over.

I went all out on it, so there's the guitar model and a stock solid, for the second side I did a 2nd op model what is what's left of the stock after the first side has been cut, and the jig for it to sit in and on.

There is a lag with it it's a big model so something will take a min or so to sort it self out, anyway look over it and ask any question or tag someone to look over it as well.

[oldtbone55]

@daniel_lyall

Hey Daniel, thank you so much for the video. I'll have a real good look over it and get back to you with questions I'm sure. 

Cheers!

[oldtbone55]

@daniel_lyall

Hello Daniel, that is quite a piece of work you've done! I've been going over it and I certainly have questions. Here are just a few.

1. What is the purpose of the stock solid and how did you create it? 

2. How did you create the op 2 stock body and what is the reason for doing this.

3. Was the jig body created from the sketches below the construction section in the modeling environment?

I think what I really need is a step by step description of how you got from A to B. There is a lot of stuff you've done that I'm not familiar with. I tried to follow the process from the file you've provided but I'm still lost. 

Fantastic Work My Man!

Thanks.

[daniel_lyall]

I was going to do a vid but my mic is not working with screencast and my other program has stopped working.

The stock solid is from sketch 38 and plane 12, basicly I just did a plane on a flat part of the guitar mode and extruded it in two directions so it was at the size you set in the setup.

The reasion I did it was so I have a solid reputation of the stock, so I could visually use it to make sure the origin is in the correct spot for the second cut and when I inserted the op2 stock it was in the correct spot. Is it needed no it's not, it's just a visual guide.

The op2 stock was gotten by running the simulation for op1 by right clicking on the simulation and going down to stock on the pop up and selecting save stock, it puts it out as a stl that I had to inset back into fusion, it is a representation of what is left after the first op has been done.

The reasion I did it is so I could use it to make the jig by just drawing a rectangle to the size of the stock then extruded it up so it went just past where it needed to be, then I did a combine cut so it cut out the shape of the second op model and trimmed it up a bit more so the bit that connects to the guitar is supported plus the longest part is supported so you can clamp the center section down without moving the body, It is also for visual reasons so I can see what gets cut and what gets left behind. 

It's a fancy way to do it you don't realy need to do most of what I did, but it's a visual guide to make sure everything is lined up and you can see what's left to cut away at the last ops at each end.

[oldtbone55]

@daniel_lyall

Hello Daniel, thank you very kindly for the explanation. It does answer some of the questions I had. I'm going to try and replicate what you did on a copy of the file by following the build history from the file you sent me. No doubt I' going to have more questions and I'll try to keep them to a minimum and make them as succinct as possible. I like what you did even if some of it isn't necessary as it will prevent mistakes down the line and probably a lot of rework. As usual, there are different ways of achieving the same result, but as I learned while designing the guitar neck, sometimes it takes a combination of different techniques to achieve the best result. Thanks again for the great help.

Cheers!