Which toolpath?

[istan]

Which way is the best to do a cutout from a cylinder on a 5-axis machine?

Rotatory Finish seem not the right way.

Actually I need a spiral movement and the z-axis shall point towards the center.

 

[Carlos.PintoLRW5G]

Hello, I would use "Pattern finishing" with tool axis set to "Towards line"  following  a spiral pattern created in "curve editor"

[istan]

Thanks, but this has some disadvantages:
The tool-z-distance cannot be defined properly - i.e. is only depending on the turns of the spiral
The spiral curve cannot be post-edited properly
The distance to the part surface needs to be fully setupped by hand (plane, tool-diameter..)
I hoped, there exists a more convinient solution.

[Michaelangelo631 · Accepted solution]

You can try using rotary finishing and set the lead in to ramp.  Adjust the ramp height and angle to get the depth and spacing.  We use this for finishing a single wall and for parting off operations.

Regards,

Mike

[Sean570]

If rotary finishing is not something that works for you, I think you can just use a constant Z with a towards line tool axis, but I can't remember. If not you should be able to use parametric spiral finishing with a tool axis on towards line, but I don't always get good results with that. Otherwise if you are okay not having a spiral use a line projection toolpath.

[istan]

The rotatory finish with ramping does still not allow to enter a numerical stepdown value and requires to set a proper working plane, but currently it looks like the best compromise to me - as long I find no better way 😉