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We have added a new strategy called "Morphed spiral" intended for finishing of shallow areas.
When beta mode is enabled, you can create a morphed spiral operation from the right-click menu of the operation manager under New Operation -> 3D Milling -> Morphed Spiral.
The morphed spiral strategy generally works the same way as the existing spiral strategy. However, the morphed spiral strategy will generate the spiral from the selected boundary as opposed to the spiral strategy which will trim the generated passes to the machining boundary. This means that morphed spiral can be used for additional surfaces for which spiral is not appropriate. Note that nested boundaries are unsupported at the moment. This will be added a bit later.
You would often use scallop for machining free-form/organic surfaces but both the sharp corners and the linking transitions between the generated passes can result in visible marks (see picture "scallop").
The morphed spiral strategy will generally give a much smoother toolpath by avoiding the above issues (see picture "morphed_spiral"). Morphed spiral is not appropriate for steep areas in which case you would still use scallop or one of the other strategies.
René Fonseca
Software Architect
When beta mode is enabled, you can create a morphed spiral operation from the right-click menu of the operation manager under New Operation -> 3D Milling -> Morphed Spiral.
The morphed spiral strategy generally works the same way as the existing spiral strategy. However, the morphed spiral strategy will generate the spiral from the selected boundary as opposed to the spiral strategy which will trim the generated passes to the machining boundary. This means that morphed spiral can be used for additional surfaces for which spiral is not appropriate. Note that nested boundaries are unsupported at the moment. This will be added a bit later.
You would often use scallop for machining free-form/organic surfaces but both the sharp corners and the linking transitions between the generated passes can result in visible marks (see picture "scallop").
The morphed spiral strategy will generally give a much smoother toolpath by avoiding the above issues (see picture "morphed_spiral"). Morphed spiral is not appropriate for steep areas in which case you would still use scallop or one of the other strategies.
René Fonseca
Software Architect
In the latest development release you can now nest contours to get morphed spiral between 2 contours. This allows you to get even better finish for more parts. You can specify any number of contours in the same operation as long as they do not intersect.
Note that morphed spiral will skip nested contours with more that one island inside.
Let us know if you find any issues.
The follow pictures shows an example of a morphed spiral between two selected contours. The first picture shows the spiral toolpath. I sectioned the part so it is easier to see the toolpath. The second picture is a close-up of the cusps as they look. I used a relatively big stepover for they are visible. The important difference to other strategies is that there are no linking transitions which leave visible marks. The last picture shows the selected contours for the operation.
René Fonseca
Software Architect
Note that morphed spiral will skip nested contours with more that one island inside.
Let us know if you find any issues.
The follow pictures shows an example of a morphed spiral between two selected contours. The first picture shows the spiral toolpath. I sectioned the part so it is easier to see the toolpath. The second picture is a close-up of the cusps as they look. I used a relatively big stepover for they are visible. The important difference to other strategies is that there are no linking transitions which leave visible marks. The last picture shows the selected contours for the operation.
René Fonseca
Software Architect
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