Simulating toolpaths

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After you have added toolpaths to a part, it is good practice to use

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the Simulate tool to verify that all the toolpaths work as expected.

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In the Browser, select Setup1.

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For this video, open the file Turning Simulation.f3d.

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In the Browser, select Setup1.

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Then, on the Toolbar, Manufacture workspace, Turning tab, Actions panel, click Simulate.

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The Simulate dialog displays.

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In the canvas, pan and zoom around the part.

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Observe that all the toolpaths appear at once.

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On the Simulation Player, use the feedrate slider to slow down the animation, and then click Play.

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In the canvas, an animation of the tool cutting along the toolpaths plays.

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Notice that without the stock being visible, it is more difficult to see how the tool is functioning.

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In the Simulate dialog, click Close.

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To better see exactly how the tool is functioning,

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you can turn on the visibility of the stock and replay the simulation.

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In the Browser, click Setup1 again.

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On the toolbar, click Simulate.

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In the Simulate dialog, under Toolpath, expand the Mode drop-down and click Tail.

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Then, enable the checkbox next to Stock.

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Under Stock, expand the Colorization drop-down and ensure that Comparison is selected.

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With comparison color enabled, on the canvas,

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anything that highlights in blue denotes remaining stock,

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anything in green denotes a finished part, and anything in red denotes a gouge.

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On the Simulation Player, click Play.

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Now, with the stock visible, you can easily see how the tool cuts the part.

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As you are verifying the simulation, if you were satisfied with an operation,

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you could click Go to next operation to jump ahead an operation.

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You can also skip ahead, rewind, watch the simulation in reverse, and see collisions on the Timeline.

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In the canvas, zoom in on the part.

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Rotate the view to verify that the toolpaths are working as expected.

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Zoom in on the areas of gray on the model.

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These are where the actual model appears through the simulation.

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To combat this, in the Browser, under Models,

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expand all the models and turn off the visibility for the part that you are programming.

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In this example, that is Steering Quick Release v1:1.

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Now, in the canvas, you can better see the chamfer.

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Rotate the view to also see that some material is left in the areas

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where there should be a 90-degree angle on the profile and on the inside of the bore.

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If it becomes important to remove that material, you might need to switch to a sharper tool.

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Zoom in on the part again.

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You can see that the material for the parting is still attached to the backside of the part.

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This indicates that, when the tool went past the inside bore, it did not go far enough.

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To fix this, you must edit the parting toolpath.

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In the Browser, under Setup1, click Part1, and, from the shortcut menu, select Edit.

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The Part1 dialog appears.

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Open the Radii tab.

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Under Inner Radius, notice that, in the Offset field, there is a positive value instead of a negative value.

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In the field, type “-.05”.

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Then, click OK.

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Now, you must verify the toolpath again using the Simulate tool.

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In the Browser, click Setup1, and then, on the toolbar, click Simulate.

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In the Browser, click the parting toolpath, and then, on the Simulation Player, click Play.

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Zoom in again, and you can see that the chamfer has been applied.

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However, there is a red band around it.

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This is because the chamfer does not apply to the model.

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Technically, you are gouging it, but, in this case, a gouge is what you want.