& Construction
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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Transcript
00:02
In this lesson, we'll use multi-axis flow for both three and 5 axes.
00:09
After completing this lesson, you'll be able to create multi-axis flow toolpaths for 3- and 5-axes,
00:16
modify the tools used to better suit geometry, and you simulate to validate changes.
00:23
In Fusion 360, we want to get started with the supply data set, 3-axis flow example.
00:29
We want to navigate to manufacture, change our units to inch and create a new setup.
00:38
We need to make sure that the orientation of a coordinate system is pointing in the correct direction,
00:44
and we're going to use the default settings for stock and simply say ‘okay’.
00:50
From here, we want to begin by creating a 3D adaptive clearing operation to remove the majority of the material.
00:57
We're going to be using our multi-axis library and our half inch flat or tool number seven.
01:04
We want to make sure that it's using the stock contours, but we can turn off rest machining since this is our first operation.
01:11
We will say ‘okay’ using all the default settings.
01:15
I'm going to turn in process stock back on, and I'm going to hide the passes or cutting moves.
01:21
So that way I can see just the material that's been removed.
01:25
The next thing that we want to take a look at is creating a flow operation.
01:30
So now we're going to select our 3D flow, and we want to use an eighth inch ball end,
01:35
but we also want to talk about the size of the ball end mill and how it's going to affect our cut.
01:40
We're going to filter by milling, and we'll start with ball end mill, and we're going to use an eighth inch ball end.
01:48
Remember this ball end mill doesn't stick out of the holder very far.
01:52
So we want to make sure that we modify it, so that it sticks out from the holder a little bit farther.
01:57
So in this case, we're going to increase the overall length.
02:01
We want to make this 2 inches, we're also going to increase the length below holder to an inch and a half.
02:08
In the holder section, we're going to navigate down to the second CT40,
02:13
which gives us a little bit better of a holder to use in these multi-axis operations.
02:19
In general, you don't want the tools sticking out too far from the holder if you can help it.
02:24
So if it looks like it's sticking out too far, we can always go back in and make adjustments.
02:29
So in this case, the length below holder being an inch and a half seems to be a bit too much.
02:34
I'm going to reduce that to one inch, and this will give us more tool stability.
02:39
From here, we now want to create our operation.
02:43
For our geometry, we're going to select this upper fillet in the main portion of the body.
02:48
Remember before when we select multiple bodies or multiple faces that we're going to have issues based on the number of passes.
02:57
But what we want to do is we want to explore how these are going to be created.
03:03
So now that we have both of those selected, I'm going to change the number of passes, I’m going to set this to 50 and simply say ‘okay’.
03:14
I wanted to generate this, and I would just want to see what the results are.
03:18
Again, it's always good for you to go in and make these changes based on some basic parameters.
03:25
So everything looks pretty good, and I think what I want to do is duplicate this operation.
03:31
And for the first one, I simply want to focus on that small fillet.
03:35
So when I'm going to go back to my geometry,
03:37
I'm going to deselect that larger surface and maybe change the number of stepovers to something a bit smaller.
03:44
I’m going to change it to 35 and say ‘okay’.
03:47
This allows me to focus my attention on just a small fillet, and then with the second flow operation,
03:53
I can go back into geometry and I can remove that fillet, focusing my attention just on the larger area.
04:01
When we do this, we want to increase the number of steps here, and in this case, I'm going to go up to 75 and see if that helps.
04:11
Once we get results on the screen, we can see that it looks pretty good,
04:14
but we have a lot of steps because it's going down in the Z axis and making those passes as it goes around.
04:21
So what I want to do now is I want to explore how this operation will look if we're using multi-axis.
04:28
Without any other changes, I'm going to activate multi-axis for the larger area and just see what the tool does.
04:36
So as the tool moves around, again it can go from 0 to 180 degrees and the surface finish with the same number of steps is quite a bit better.
04:45
Instead of it is stepping down in Z, it's keeping the tool at a specific orientation to the normal of the surface.
04:53
Now, there's another thing that we always need to consider whenever we're talking about complex finishing, whether it's in three axes or five.
05:01
We want to make sure that we're not using too small of a tool based on the geometry we're trying to cut.
05:07
All of the fillets and the smooth sections on this part are external and rather large, which means that we don't need to use such a small tool.
05:16
What I want to do is go back in and select a larger tool from my samples tool inch library.
05:21
Again, milling ball end mill but this time we're going to be using a 3/8th ball end mill, and I'm going to use it for aluminium and finishing.
05:30
I'm going to say ‘okay’, allow it to regenerate that, and then see what the results look like.
05:37
Because we're using a larger tool, that means that we can do the same cut with fewer steps.
05:43
So this is still using 50 steps.
05:46
But based on some calculations we could do, we could come back in here and decide that maybe 35 steps is enough.
05:54
Again, it's a little bit difficult with these complex surfaces because we need to understand how much the tool can step over each time,
06:02
and we're looking at a surface area rather than an actual numerical value.
06:07
But we can play around with these numbers, see what the preview looks like on screen and make changes, so that the view looks better.
06:15
Another thing that we always want to keep in mind is that the in-process stock preview on the screen,
06:20
the resolution is going to be a bit lower than something we can do is say simulate.
06:27
Now that it's recalculated, we can see on the screen that 35 passes is probably a little bit low but 75 is probably too much.
06:36
So we can continue to look for that perfect value to see exactly how many passes we need,
06:44
to figure out how long the program actually needs to be to get the resolution that we're looking for.
06:50
I'm going to turn off the toolpath and just simply show the tool going around.
06:54
And again, it's important to note that the tool stays normal to the selected surface, which means that we're using the same portion of the cutter,
07:03
and we can control that by adjusting things like lead and lag angles or tilts in different directions.
07:09
This allows us to have a consistent cut across the geometry rather than keeping the tools straight up and down,
07:16
meaning that we're cutting certain areas with more or less of the tools.
07:20
Once we've made these adjustments, let's make sure that we're back at a Home view and save the design before moving on.
Video transcript
00:02
In this lesson, we'll use multi-axis flow for both three and 5 axes.
00:09
After completing this lesson, you'll be able to create multi-axis flow toolpaths for 3- and 5-axes,
00:16
modify the tools used to better suit geometry, and you simulate to validate changes.
00:23
In Fusion 360, we want to get started with the supply data set, 3-axis flow example.
00:29
We want to navigate to manufacture, change our units to inch and create a new setup.
00:38
We need to make sure that the orientation of a coordinate system is pointing in the correct direction,
00:44
and we're going to use the default settings for stock and simply say ‘okay’.
00:50
From here, we want to begin by creating a 3D adaptive clearing operation to remove the majority of the material.
00:57
We're going to be using our multi-axis library and our half inch flat or tool number seven.
01:04
We want to make sure that it's using the stock contours, but we can turn off rest machining since this is our first operation.
01:11
We will say ‘okay’ using all the default settings.
01:15
I'm going to turn in process stock back on, and I'm going to hide the passes or cutting moves.
01:21
So that way I can see just the material that's been removed.
01:25
The next thing that we want to take a look at is creating a flow operation.
01:30
So now we're going to select our 3D flow, and we want to use an eighth inch ball end,
01:35
but we also want to talk about the size of the ball end mill and how it's going to affect our cut.
01:40
We're going to filter by milling, and we'll start with ball end mill, and we're going to use an eighth inch ball end.
01:48
Remember this ball end mill doesn't stick out of the holder very far.
01:52
So we want to make sure that we modify it, so that it sticks out from the holder a little bit farther.
01:57
So in this case, we're going to increase the overall length.
02:01
We want to make this 2 inches, we're also going to increase the length below holder to an inch and a half.
02:08
In the holder section, we're going to navigate down to the second CT40,
02:13
which gives us a little bit better of a holder to use in these multi-axis operations.
02:19
In general, you don't want the tools sticking out too far from the holder if you can help it.
02:24
So if it looks like it's sticking out too far, we can always go back in and make adjustments.
02:29
So in this case, the length below holder being an inch and a half seems to be a bit too much.
02:34
I'm going to reduce that to one inch, and this will give us more tool stability.
02:39
From here, we now want to create our operation.
02:43
For our geometry, we're going to select this upper fillet in the main portion of the body.
02:48
Remember before when we select multiple bodies or multiple faces that we're going to have issues based on the number of passes.
02:57
But what we want to do is we want to explore how these are going to be created.
03:03
So now that we have both of those selected, I'm going to change the number of passes, I’m going to set this to 50 and simply say ‘okay’.
03:14
I wanted to generate this, and I would just want to see what the results are.
03:18
Again, it's always good for you to go in and make these changes based on some basic parameters.
03:25
So everything looks pretty good, and I think what I want to do is duplicate this operation.
03:31
And for the first one, I simply want to focus on that small fillet.
03:35
So when I'm going to go back to my geometry,
03:37
I'm going to deselect that larger surface and maybe change the number of stepovers to something a bit smaller.
03:44
I’m going to change it to 35 and say ‘okay’.
03:47
This allows me to focus my attention on just a small fillet, and then with the second flow operation,
03:53
I can go back into geometry and I can remove that fillet, focusing my attention just on the larger area.
04:01
When we do this, we want to increase the number of steps here, and in this case, I'm going to go up to 75 and see if that helps.
04:11
Once we get results on the screen, we can see that it looks pretty good,
04:14
but we have a lot of steps because it's going down in the Z axis and making those passes as it goes around.
04:21
So what I want to do now is I want to explore how this operation will look if we're using multi-axis.
04:28
Without any other changes, I'm going to activate multi-axis for the larger area and just see what the tool does.
04:36
So as the tool moves around, again it can go from 0 to 180 degrees and the surface finish with the same number of steps is quite a bit better.
04:45
Instead of it is stepping down in Z, it's keeping the tool at a specific orientation to the normal of the surface.
04:53
Now, there's another thing that we always need to consider whenever we're talking about complex finishing, whether it's in three axes or five.
05:01
We want to make sure that we're not using too small of a tool based on the geometry we're trying to cut.
05:07
All of the fillets and the smooth sections on this part are external and rather large, which means that we don't need to use such a small tool.
05:16
What I want to do is go back in and select a larger tool from my samples tool inch library.
05:21
Again, milling ball end mill but this time we're going to be using a 3/8th ball end mill, and I'm going to use it for aluminium and finishing.
05:30
I'm going to say ‘okay’, allow it to regenerate that, and then see what the results look like.
05:37
Because we're using a larger tool, that means that we can do the same cut with fewer steps.
05:43
So this is still using 50 steps.
05:46
But based on some calculations we could do, we could come back in here and decide that maybe 35 steps is enough.
05:54
Again, it's a little bit difficult with these complex surfaces because we need to understand how much the tool can step over each time,
06:02
and we're looking at a surface area rather than an actual numerical value.
06:07
But we can play around with these numbers, see what the preview looks like on screen and make changes, so that the view looks better.
06:15
Another thing that we always want to keep in mind is that the in-process stock preview on the screen,
06:20
the resolution is going to be a bit lower than something we can do is say simulate.
06:27
Now that it's recalculated, we can see on the screen that 35 passes is probably a little bit low but 75 is probably too much.
06:36
So we can continue to look for that perfect value to see exactly how many passes we need,
06:44
to figure out how long the program actually needs to be to get the resolution that we're looking for.
06:50
I'm going to turn off the toolpath and just simply show the tool going around.
06:54
And again, it's important to note that the tool stays normal to the selected surface, which means that we're using the same portion of the cutter,
07:03
and we can control that by adjusting things like lead and lag angles or tilts in different directions.
07:09
This allows us to have a consistent cut across the geometry rather than keeping the tools straight up and down,
07:16
meaning that we're cutting certain areas with more or less of the tools.
07:20
Once we've made these adjustments, let's make sure that we're back at a Home view and save the design before moving on.
Step-by-step guide
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