Roughing Question

[mhackney]

Believe it or not "rough" and "roughing" search terms are considered too common! So after trying to manually browse for an answer I gave up and decided to ask!

I want to take a roughing pass and then a finishing pass full depth in .0625" aluminum with a .125" bit on an inside profile (these are 30 small cutouts in a 3" diameter disk). I've created the roughing tool path by adding .002" in the allowance offset. I am trying to replicate that part in VCarve). It seems like I should be able to copy the roughing profile, edit the allowance to 0" and I'd be done instead of having to select all of the vectors and go through configuring the tool path again. I couldn't find anything in the docs. This would be a big time (and mistake) saver, is it possible?

regards,
Michael

[mhackney]

And of course I found it after making this post! There is a Copy Toolpath button on the Toolpath Operations panel that does exactly what I want.

regards,
Michael

[mhackney]

Now that I've figure out the above I realize that it might not be the optimal way to do the roughing/finishing path. The above would do a roughing pass over all 30 of the cutouts, then go back and do a finishing path on them all. Is there a way to interleave the tool paths so it does a rough pass on cutout #1 then a finish pass, moves on to do a rough pass on cutout #2 then a finish pass, etc until all 30 are done? I suppose that the brute force method would be to create an individual tool path for each of the cutouts and cut them that way. Are there other ways to do this in VCarve?

Basically, I am trying to figure out how to use the software the best way.

cheers,
Michael

[knighttoolworks]

Now that I've figure out the above I realize that it might not be the optimal way to do the roughing/finishing path. The above would do a roughing pass over all 30 of the cutouts, then go back and do a finishing path on them all. Is there a way to interleave the tool paths so it does a rough pass on cutout #1 then a finish pass, moves on to do a rough pass on cutout #2 then a finish pass, etc until all 30 are done? I suppose that the brute force method would be to create an individual tool path for each of the cutouts and cut them that way. Are there other ways to do this in VCarve?

Basically, I am trying to figure out how to use the software the best way.

cheers,
Michael

toolpaths for each is the only way.

[John Murphy]

Checked out your website Michael. Very interesting.
Are you using your equipment to produce reels?

John

[mhackney]

Thanks John, yes I fabricate all of the parts for my reel kits and finished reels myself. Some of my higher end reels not shown on the site are made one at a time without CNC. The kits are all cut on my X2 mill and soon, my Grizzly G0704 mill.

Thanks knighttoolworks. That's what I thought. It turns out not to be too painful to do it that way.

cheers,
Michael

[knighttoolworks]

Thanks John, yes I fabricate all of the parts for my reel kits and finished reels myself. Some of my higher end reels not shown on the site are made one at a time without CNC. The kits are all cut on my X2 mill and soon, my Grizzly G0704 mill.

Thanks knighttoolworks. That's what I thought. It turns out not to be too painful to do it that way.

cheers,
Michael

no and it lets you control things better if you have some you don't want to cut. it's also faster too.

[mhackney]

Well, going this route of using individual rough/smooth tool paths for each of the little cutouts was a bit tedious but VCarve is pretty easy to use to do it. It would be nice if there were some way to edit the tool path and not have to calculate that tool path until I've created all of them. The way I am doing this is:

1) create a rouging tool path for the first cutout
2) calculate the path
3) create a finishing tool path for it
4) calculate the path

then for each of the other 29 cutouts:

1) copy the tool path from 1 above
2) edit the tool path to select the original vector and select a new vector
3) calculate the path - this is the step that would be nice to avoid but if I don't calculate, the path "loses" the edit I made to the vector (it reverts to the original vector). Because I have to recalculate, I get the "too deep" warning (since I do cut too deep to make sure to separate the part), switched to the 3D view so I have to switch back to 2D to do the next tool path selection, etc. Doing this 30 x 2 (60) times is a bit tedious! Is there a way to create the path and select the vector without doing a calculate?

cheers,
Michael

[Tony Mac]

Hi Michael,

There's an option to stop the 3D view from automatically opening

Edit > Options > Auto Open 3D View = No

Also a keyboard shortcut,
Holding Ctrl when clicking Calculate = Keeps the Toolpath Form + 2D view open

Tony

[mhackney]

Thanks Tony, those are both going to be great time savers for me!

cheers,
Michael

[knighttoolworks]

Hi Michael,

There's an option to stop the 3D view from automatically opening

Edit > Options > Auto Open 3D View = No

Also a keyboard shortcut,
Holding Ctrl when clicking Calculate = Keeps the Toolpath Form + 2D view open

Tony

the only bad part about this is it does not close the calculate window. it would be nice if it did.

[mhackney]

Well, I am very pleased with the results of using multiple tool paths for each cut out. It reduced my cut time from 18 minutes down to 12. Further optimizations and increasing the speed (cutting at 15IPM with a 1/8" 3 flute end mill, mist coolant and 6000 RPM) and I should be able to shave a few more minutes. Here is an example of the parts I am making:



Now some more questions from a newbie:

Creating individual tool paths for each of the cutout roughing and smoothing pass is a little tedious but not overwhelming using the copy and edit tool path tools and some of the suggestion above. However, when it comes time to make a modification, like changing the depth of cut (to use a different material for instance) or change roughing pass offset, it is a bit tedious. I have made 1 pass through the manual and nothing jumped out. It would be nice to be able to multi select tool paths and change a common parameter. Anyone have any tips?

cheers,
Michael

[Adrian]

Have a read up on toolpath templates. I think they would be a massive time saver for you once you've got them setup for the toolpaths you use.

[mhackney]

Thanks for the tip Adrian. Toolpath templates will save me some work and they'll be great for my standard set of tool paths for different materials.

Here's another question; I use Mach 3 for my machine controller. The Save Toolpaths to File allows me to select a post processor. However, all of the Mach post processors output to a .txt file and it would be more convenient to output to a .nc file. I use Cutmill Viewer and it won't read a .txt file and even Mach has a filter for .nc. Is there a way to change this default? I can certainly save and add the .nc extension but I am sure I'll forget to do that more often than not.

cheers,
Michael

[mhackney]

Ok, I figured out the .nc file extension. I ws confused in that the documentation says to edit the post processor file in the applications folder. However, version 6.5 puts those files (and others) in a completely different place. So I was not aware of their existence. But a little snooping on google and I was able to find them, found the post processor guide and copied and edited the Mach post processor to output a .nc file. Good stuff!

Cheers,
Michael