Advice on 5 axis toolpath to use

[azjulian72]

Hi - I have a body that has previously been turned and no its on the 5 axis.  It has .063" radius channels running down it at 8 places.  Back view

Side view 

section analysis side view (to show slots)

The channel (and the body) start straight but then curve off at a 7" radius.  Whats the best toolpath to use to follow that curve in the Z using a .125 ball mill ?  Would that be trace ? (which I never use...) at the moment I'm just using a parallel toolpath 

But for a lot of these things that's too time consuming.

thanks in advance !  

Julian

[seth.madore]

Trace or Project would do the job. If you could share your file, we could apply some toolpaths to your part and see which gets you closest to a solution

[azjulian72]

Hi Seth - I'll give both a try, unfortunately I'm restricted on sharing the file due to client confidentiality.

Julian

[seth.madore]

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@azjulian72 wrote:

Hi Seth - I'll give both a try, unfortunately I'm restricted on sharing the file due to client confidentiality.

Julian

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Understood, it's not an uncommon restriction. If you could "save as" the part and defeature it, or create a sample file and share that, would that be possible?

[azjulian72]

ok I simplified the model to just the problem at hand, the first setup is a turning op (which in the original file has a dovetail etc) the second setup is the 5 axis one, currently I'm solving the problem with a 3+2 axis parallel toolpath.

Julian

[seth.madore · Accepted solution]

Give this file a view. I've used the Project toolpath along with a surface offset and sketch to get you something that will machine a fair bit quicker:

 

[azjulian72]

Thank you Seth - this worked perfectly!

[seth.madore]

Excellent, glad to hear!