How to avoid plunging into "shallow areas" when pocket clearing?

[deutirium]

I have a program where I'm machining a pocket with internal fillets, I'm roughing the pocket using a 6mm endmill. In order to reduce the stock left for later ball mills, I've enabled "machine shallow areas". However this option causes unexpected ramping moves. The tool seemingly ignores ramping when doing a small (though still significant) stepdowns, and sometimes does actually do a helical ramp, but only after it has already plunged into the stock (ignoring ramp clearance height basically). I've attached the program for study. The toolpath is D61, Pocket clearing using 6mm flat endmill with machine shallow areas enabled. If anyone downloads the program, even if only to check out the toolpaths, do please tell me if you have any pointers for improving my toolpath strategies overall (this is completely seperate from the issue I'm posting about).

I'm also posted a screenshot of the simulation showing some of these plunges.

[deutirium]

I have a program where I'm machining a pocket with internal fillets, I'm roughing the pocket using a 6mm endmill. In order to reduce the stock left for later ball mills, I've enabled "machine shallow areas". However this option causes unexpected ramping moves. The tool seemingly ignores ramping when doing a small (though still significant) stepdowns, and sometimes does actually do a helical ramp, but only after it has already plunged into the stock (ignoring ramp clearance height basically). I've attached the program for study. The toolpath is D61, Pocket clearing using 6mm flat endmill with machine shallow areas enabled. If anyone downloads the program, even if only to check out the toolpaths, do please tell me if you have any pointers for improving my toolpath strategies overall (this is completely seperate from the issue I'm posting about).

I'm also posted a screenshot of the simulation showing some of these plunges.

[matty.fuller]

Not really sure about the ramping behaviour of 3D Pocket... the truth is I almost never use it because Adaptive is vastly superior IMO. I've programmed an adaptive toolpath with the same tool in the attached file, take a look.

It's hard to say without knowing the material or the quality of the machine, but your stepdowns were extremely conservative, I bumped them up a bit in the adaptive path.

[matty.fuller]

Not really sure about the ramping behaviour of 3D Pocket... the truth is I almost never use it because Adaptive is vastly superior IMO. I've programmed an adaptive toolpath with the same tool in the attached file, take a look.

It's hard to say without knowing the material or the quality of the machine, but your stepdowns were extremely conservative, I bumped them up a bit in the adaptive path.

[oleg.tikhomirov · Accepted solution]

Hi @deutirium,

Thanks for feedback. It looks like a bug related to combination of enabled "machine shalow areas" option + plunging outside stock. I'll investigate it and create a ticket if it's necessary. You can workaround the problem by using 0 for "Maximum Stay-Down Distance".

[oleg.tikhomirov · Accepted solution]

Hi @deutirium,

Thanks for feedback. It looks like a bug related to combination of enabled "machine shalow areas" option + plunging outside stock. I'll investigate it and create a ticket if it's necessary. You can workaround the problem by using 0 for "Maximum Stay-Down Distance".

[oleg.tikhomirov]

CAM-50465

[oleg.tikhomirov]

CAM-50465

[deutirium]

Thank you for your suggestion. I'm still building my confidence in my machine, which is a Chinese 60x40 with a 3kW Spindle, and I'm wary of using large stepdowns with a 6mm endmill since there's practically no failsafes in case something goes wrong (like a blockage in cooling leading to aluminium melting on the tool which could lead to catastrophic failure). However I'll be using the parameters you suggest as a reference as I experiment with different setups. Much Appreciated!

[deutirium]

Thank you for your suggestion. I'm still building my confidence in my machine, which is a Chinese 60x40 with a 3kW Spindle, and I'm wary of using large stepdowns with a 6mm endmill since there's practically no failsafes in case something goes wrong (like a blockage in cooling leading to aluminium melting on the tool which could lead to catastrophic failure). However I'll be using the parameters you suggest as a reference as I experiment with different setups. Much Appreciated!