CAM exceeds max Z height

[Sales6QKF5]

I am machining with a CNC Router with a max Z of 7 inches and want Fusion to recognize this. This is a professional unit, not a home made build it yourself machine. Though the machine does not exist in the default Fusion library, the kinematics are all set properly in the machine definition and I've been using it with Fusion for years without issue (other than Z). 

Because Fusion uses coordinates relative to the tool and not the absolute machine coordinates, I have to be very careful about watching the Z height. The current struggle is that I have to use a tool with almost 4 inches of stickout on my 3 inch material. It will just barely clear the material at max Z. Fusion doesn't see any problem because it only seems to know the cutting coordinate.

Example:

Let's say I try to use a fake tool with 12 inches of stickout to cut my 3" stock. My max absolute Z is 7 inches so there's no way this could work. However, Fusion happily zips along because it is only seeing a 3.5 inch max height not the true 15.5 inch number that's more than double my absolute max Z.  

Questions:

1. Is there any way to get Fusion to recognize this problem?

2. If Fusion recognized the problem, would it avoid it? Say I'm just doing a profile cut around the outside of a pyramid that has a 24x24 base but peaks at 7 inches tall. I could machine all around it no problem, but if the toolpath tries to go over the middle without exceeding max Z, it will crash. Can Fusion know that it needs to go around the outside of the part to get to the back side without crashing?

Thanks!

[boopathi.sivakumar · Accepted solution]

Hi @Sales6QKF5 

Currently I think it is not possible with fusion today but once the machine simulation gaps are filled you may able to get all the information like overtravel alarms, collision etc..

But what we can do currently is with the help of post processor modification we can able to error out or warning messages while post processing if it exceeds the machine max limit. (It includes the stock height + tool sickout length) By this way you can be always sure that the outputted codes are within the limit.

But changing the toolpath based on machining scenarios is not possible at this point of time.