I think I found a bug...

[greevedogg]

After trying to create a pocket toolpath, I noticed that it was doing something strange. In the toolpath preview, it showed the tool plunging up and down thousands of times, resulting in a REALLY long estimated time to cut a simple pocket. You can see what I mean in the screenshot attached.

This happened after I checked the box 'Ramp Plunge Moves'. Even after I uncheck that box, it doesn't change my toolpath. It's still plunging up and down the entire length of the pocket that I'm trying to cut. This is a very small pocket, which should take 5 minutes at the most, and now it will not revert back to normal. I have Aspire on both my office computer and the ShopBot-dedicated comp, and I was able to replicate the problem on BOTH pc's. But now I'm stuck with this mess-up. Restarting the program doesn't seem to help. Any ideas as to what's going on?

[Rcnewcomb]

My guess is that the slot is the same width as the tool diameter. For example, if you are tying to pocket a 0.25" inch wide slot with a 0.25" wide bit

Solutions:
either change the bit size to 0.249
or change the slot width to 0.251

[greevedogg]

With of the slot is .45"

[greevedogg]

I just had to bust out V-Carve to make the part...Same exact specs and it worked flawlessly...

[Adrian]

What type of pocket toolpath was it? Raster? What did you have the angle set to?

[scottp55]

Do you have a bit in a size where you can do an inside profile toolpath with a spiral ramp instead of a pocket?
scott

[greevedogg]

What type of pocket toolpath was it? Raster? What did you have the angle set to?

Offset with a climb direction

[greevedogg]

Do you have a bit in a size where you can do an inside profile toolpath with a spiral ramp instead of a pocket?
scott

I suppose I could have done an inside profile toolpath and that would have worked. The pocket width in question here was .45". The bit was a 1/4" end mill.

See if anyone can recreate this bug.
I was trying to cut out a 1/2 arc piece of trim for a circular window we are making.
Inside radius 14.625"
outside radius 15.875"
material thickness .875"
Rabbit cutout .5" deep .375" wide from the I.D.

I was trying to pocket out the rabbit first, then do a profile cut around the piece of trim, so I created a new arc @ radius 14.625" + .375" = 15" and an additional arc @ radius 14.55, (which is slightly smaller than the I.D.). I extended those arcs past the half circle to make sure my inner rounded corners were clear. Closed those 2 arc with lines to make my pocket vector. The pocket was to be .5" deep cut in 3 passes. Not sure why I checked the box Ramp Plunge Moves, but I did, and that screwed up the toolpath, creating thousands of up and down z plunges along the entire length of the pocket. Unchecking the box had no effect. Closing the file, reopening the file, Restarting Aspire, etc hasn't fixed this.

Like I said, I had to go back to V Carve to create this. Doing the exact same procedure as I did before, so I know it works, it's just getting buggy somewhere in Aspire. Does all of that make sense? If I need to explain it better, let me know.

Attached is a picture of the piece previewed in VCP.

[greevedogg]

If I change the toolpath from offset to raster in Aspire, it works. If I change it back to offset, it gets funky again wanting to plunge along the entire length of the arc.
What I'm thinking is, somehow Aspire computes the toolpaths and I'm guessing because the width of the pocket is .45" and the bit is .25", it 'sees' small fragments in between the two outer toolpaths, and wants to raise and lower each time to get that piece, instead of just cutting along the entire middle section of the arc. I was thinking .45" is smaller than 2x the .25" end mill, and it would be able to cut it in 2 passes, but I guess not.

I'm thinking if I change the width of the pocket to something a little larger or smaller than .45", it would fix this issue.

Edit: Changing the pocket to .4" solved the issue. I guess Aspire didn't like .45"...Funny that it worked in VCP though no problem, though.