Untidy 3D toolpath Scallop, Flow, & Morph & Spiral

[martin.claytonHV5U7]

Hi and thanks for reading this.

I'm trying to create 1mm rad around a scallop on a cylinder. with a ball nose cutter

the amount of material to be removed is very very minimal

and with all the 3D toolpaths to choose from.

seems like a  straightforward enough task, however, i just can't seem to get a smooth toolpath. 

scallop:  seams ok but has lots of unnecessary green linking moves

morph & spiral has too much toolpath 

flow look very jerky, not smooth at all.

in the geometry tab i'm selecting the inner and outer geometry

and set the tool to outside.

(i'm assuming this is correct)?

in passes try to work from outside to in where possible

and use smoothing thinking this will help but can't seem to get in right?

am i missing something simple here??

not particularly smooth and with green linking movestoo much toolpathmessy toolpath

[seth.madore · Accepted solution]

It's going to be a combination of Tolerance, "Additional Offset" and a hidden field called "Surface Triangulation", which is accessible thru the Compare and Edit menu when you right click on a toolpath.

Let me know if this is closer to what you had in mind:

 

[martin.claytonHV5U7]

Hi @seth.madore 

Thanks for your time. I've learnt loads on this subject in the last 24hrs...

in answer to your question yes that is exactly what i had in mind

after doing some research on tolerances and smoothing i've increased my knowledge, plus i was definitely getting better results

along with the additional offsets i was definitely getting a more visually pleasing looking toolpath.

but still with what looked like unnecessary linking moves.. 

i started looking up  "Surface Triangulation"

when it occurred to me ...

let's go back to basics.

here is my thought process.. 

I was trying to create a finishing toolpath without creating a roughing toolpath? 

which kinda seamed counter intuitive .

so i did an adaptive toolpath to remove the main 11.5mm scallop

"i didn't intend to run the adaptive as the material would have been removed in a previous op"

then i created a  "morph" finishing toolpath using the rest machining feature.. 

and Bingo!!! a very pleasing looking tool path 

1 single lead in, and 1 single lead out ..

so the plan is to post just the morph toolpath 

not sure this is a recommend way to produce a toolpath ? but it seams to be a work around.

i will defiantly look into your  "Surface Triangulation" suggestion.

Thanks again.

morphadaptive then morph