Improved tooling paths in Turned Profile Zlevel Gadget

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mrmfwilson
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Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 6:49 pm
Model of CNC Machine: Legacy Arty 36
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Improved tooling paths in Turned Profile Zlevel Gadget

Post by mrmfwilson »

I have been using this gadget and it works great. There are two things that I think would make it more usable create less tool wear and create a better part. The first thing would be to have a different step over for the finishing pass on the multiple passes. I want to use a big step over on the leveling passes and a small step over for the finishing pass. Currently it uses the same step over for all passes. I am accomplishing that now by removing the final pass out of the multiple pass file and inserting a full pass with a smaller step over. One other thing that I think would be helpful and also help my bits last longer. On the single pass, the first pass needs to have multiple passes. This would help with large diameter turnings. I can't slow down the bit rotation an path speed enough to us a 1/2 ball nose on part that has a cut that is 1.5 inches deep. It's just a small section but it smokes the bit every time I try and use it. As I'm writing this I'm thinking that if you could do Zlevel passes that would stop at an certain material allowance then you could do a single pass with a smaller stepover. The current multiple pass selection has a material allowance but it seems to assign that for the material left for the final pass of the multiple pass option. In the current 3D tool paths the Zlevel pass can leave some material. Then you can do another finishing pass. It would be great if it was the same for the gadget. I've looked at the code and I think I understand what is going on. I just don't have the knowledge of the functions that might do what I want it to do. It would take a while for me to come up to speed on the tool path functions. If someone could point me in the right direction or look at the code to see if the changes I want are doable I would appreciate it. I might try just commenting out the final pass section on the multiple passes in the gadget code. Then it would leave the material allowance and I could use the single pass for the finishing pass.

Michael Wilson
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