Which 2D milling operation should I use for this?

[j9lemmon]

On the image below, I need to setup a 2D milling operation to mill the surface shown in blue. I tried 2D Contour, Face and Slot. Each operation resulted in serious error messages. 

After that operation,  I'll do a 2D Contour to cut out the exterior of the part. 

Which operation should I use for this; it looks very simple, but I'm clearly doing something wrong.

[john.h]

Use 2d contour climb cut with no leadout. That should get you there. 

leadout setting can be found in the rightmost tab of the operation window. 

Good luck!

-John

[john.h]

Might need some more info. How big is that area in relation to the tool? If it’s a 1 pass cut, use 2d contour like I said selecting only the edge at the root of the wall of that pocket. 

if it requires multiple passes, add those passes as offset passes in the path setting tab. 

[john.h · Accepted solution]

Another option is you wanted to try a more complicated, model aware operation, would be to use “horizontal” in the 3d drop down. 

Select that surface as the top and bottom height with the bottom having a negative offset of .001”.

Let it try and figure that out, it might give you a good result. 

-John 

[seth.madore]

Please share your model here. Right click on the file in the Data Panel and select "Share Public Link", making sure that it's set to "Allow Downloading of items". Paste that link here

[j9lemmon]

Thanks, @john.h 

2D Contour worked.

When I tried 2D Contour before, I selected the entire boundary of that face, so "selecting only the edge at the root of the wall of that pocket" fixed that. And I imagine the reason to omit the Leadout is to avoid violating other areas of the part. 

And I played around with the Horizontal 3D operation, too; will be useful for other projects, but 2D Contour seemed easier for this one.

And thanks, @seth.madore - I didn't know about that way of sharing a file; faster than exporting.

Great Forum!