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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Finish toolpaths for 3D contouring. Covers multiple 3D finishing toolpath strategies.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
17 min.
Transcript
00:03
Not only does this sample contain a variety of tool path strategies.
00:07
It shows them with different options activated
00:11
with so many different tool path strategies available.
00:14
It's common to wonder which is the best to use.
00:18
If you can see how a tool path is applied
00:21
to a specific part shape,
00:23
it can help you understand which strategy might work best for your part.
00:30
It's about understanding the topology of your part and
00:33
how these tool paths might fit that topology.
00:37
Don't be afraid to explore the tool pass in this sample project.
00:44
For this lesson, we will be working in the overview 3D practice setup.
00:50
Make sure it is the active setup.
00:53
This is evident by the dot shown at the end of the set up name.
00:57
Let's go to the 3D tool path toolbar,
01:00
pull down and select parallel parallel creates a series
01:05
of equal distance parallel cuts across the selected model.
01:10
On the tool tab press select to pick the cutting tool.
01:14
If you click the document heading
01:19
the middle section will show only the tools for this project. Pick tool number two,
01:24
the quarter inch ball and mill and press select
01:28
for now, we will leave the default speeds and feeds for this tool.
01:32
Let's go to the geometry tab.
01:35
This is where we can contain the tool path
01:38
in the X and Y axis cutting plane.
01:41
As a default fusion assumes you want to machine the entire part model.
01:47
But we only want to do this one boss section to
01:50
do that. We will use a machining containment boundary
01:54
from the machining boundary. Pull down pick selection
01:58
for the machining boundary selection. Pick the lower edge that goes around the boss
02:05
under the tool containment.
02:06
Pull down, you can select how to deal with that boundary.
02:10
You can keep the tool inside the boundary
02:13
on center of the boundary or allow it to move outside the boundary.
02:19
All of these include an additional offset amount
02:22
that can be a positive or negative distance.
02:26
For this example,
02:28
we will leave it set to tool center on boundary
02:31
and zero for the offset value.
02:34
Let's go to the heights tab,
02:37
top height is set to stock, top,
02:40
bottom height is set to model bottom.
02:44
We will leave those as they are.
02:47
Let's go to the passes tab,
02:49
change the pass direction
02:51
to 90 degrees and it will cut along the y axis direction,
02:56
change the step over to 40/1000 of an inch
03:01
with the direction parameter set to both ways.
03:04
You will create a back and forth cutting motion
03:08
press OK to create the tool path.
03:12
See how the tool path
03:14
along these steep walls. Seems further apart.
03:19
It doesn't look that way from a top view
03:22
but it is a greater distance because of the angle of the wall
03:27
in the browser, right? Click on the parallel tool path and select edit
03:33
on the passes tab
03:34
enable machine steep areas
03:38
and press, OK.
03:40
Now you will see a finer cut along the steep wall.
03:45
On the next section of the model, we have a boss that has near vertical walls.
03:51
The contour tool pass strategy
03:53
is commonly used to machine this type of shape
03:57
from the 3d tool path toolbar, pull down
04:00
select contour
04:02
on the tool tab.
04:04
The quarter inch ball and mill should be shown
04:06
if it's not
04:07
press select and pick the number two quarter inch ball and mill
04:11
on the geometry tab from the machining boundary. Pull down
04:16
pick selection
04:18
for the machining boundary selection,
04:20
pick the lower edge that goes around the boss.
04:24
You need to consider
04:25
the size of the boundary, the size of the filet
04:29
and the size of the tool.
04:30
A large diameter tool may not be able to stay inside or
04:35
on center and still machine down the wall of the park.
04:39
In that case,
04:40
you might want an additional offset value, our
04:44
tool should fit
04:45
so we can leave the tool containment set to
04:49
tool center on boundary
04:51
with an offset of zero.
04:53
There's nothing to change on the heights tab,
04:57
let's go to the passes tab
04:60
set the maximum step down to 40/1000 of an inch
05:05
press OK? To generate the tool path,
05:11
you can see it did an excellent job on the walls.
05:14
That is what contour does best.
05:17
But the tool path on the top is not going to be the best.
05:22
So we might want to limit the tool path height in Z
05:26
right, click on the contour tool path in the browser and select edit,
05:31
go to the heights tab for the top height.
05:34
The from pull down pick selection and pick any vertex point on this top ed
05:41
go to the passes tab.
05:43
We can also improve the number of passes on the shallow part of this filet
05:48
enable machine shallow areas.
05:52
This will add additional passes that roll over the top edge.
05:57
There are minimum and maximum shallow values we can enter
06:01
but the defaults will be sufficient.
06:04
Press OK to regenerate the tool path
06:08
to machine. The top of this boss, we can apply several different strategies.
06:13
Let's try scallop first.
06:16
This strategy will follow the boundary
06:18
and produce cuts based on the scallop pipe from the 3d tool path, toolbar,
06:24
pull down select scallop
06:27
on the tool tab.
06:28
The 250 ball and mill should be shown
06:31
if it's not press select and pick tool number two quarter inch ball and mill
06:36
on the geometry tab
06:38
from the machining boundary.
06:41
Pull down pick selection for the machining boundary selection,
06:45
pick the top edge of the boss.
06:48
I'm also going to add an additional offset of 60 thousands
06:53
to make sure it overlaps the previous tool path
06:57
go to the passes tab,
06:58
set the step over to 40/1000 of an inch.
07:02
Set the inside, outside direction to
07:06
outside, to inside
07:08
and press OK. To generate the tool path
07:12
that creates a nice tool path on the top
07:14
that cuts from the outside of the boundary
07:17
to the inside.
07:19
We could have also used that on the entire part.
07:22
It would have done a good job on the vertical walls.
07:26
Next, I want to apply a parallel cut over the same area,
07:31
but I don't want to reselect everything
07:34
in the browser. Right? Click on top of the scallop tool path
07:39
from the list select create derived operation
07:44
from the fly out select 3d milling and then parallel.
07:49
This will open the parallel dialogue
07:52
with the same tool boundary, additional offset
07:56
and step over amounts
07:58
press OK. And it will generate a parallel tool path in the same area.
08:03
Let's do one more
08:05
in the browser, right? Click on top of the parallel tool path
08:09
from the list. Select create derived operation
08:14
from the fly out, select 3d milling
08:17
and then radial.
08:19
This will open the radial dialogue
08:21
with the same tool boundary and the additional offset
08:26
radial creates a tool path that resembles the spokes in a wheel.
08:30
This tool path requires us to specify
08:33
the center of the wheel,
08:35
go to the geometry tab
08:37
and for the center points parameter,
08:40
select this point over the top,
08:43
go to the passes tab.
08:45
You will see this doesn't use a step over,
08:48
it uses an angular step set it to five degrees.
08:53
You can also control the start angle and end
08:57
angles using the angular from and angular two parameters
09:03
press OK. And it will generate a radial tool path in that same area.
09:10
You can see this doesn't cover the top very well
09:13
because the further it gets from the center,
09:16
the wider the gaps will be,
09:19
I'll show you another example where this works better.
09:22
But first, here's something interesting.
09:25
Select the scale
09:26
of tool path in the browser
09:28
and then look in the lower right corner of the graphics window.
09:33
You will see the name of the operation
09:36
and the machining time.
09:38
Now select the parallel tool path.
09:41
Now select the radial tool path.
09:44
We can see the scallop and parallel tool pa
09:47
have a similar machining time.
09:51
Let's move on to the cavity with the flower shape
09:54
in the browser,
09:55
right, click over the radial tool path
09:58
and select duplicate
09:59
to make a copy,
10:02
right, click on the copy and select edit,
10:07
go to the geometry tab
10:09
and clear the existing point
10:11
by selecting the X next to it.
10:15
Then select this point above the flower shape,
10:20
clear the machining boundary
10:22
by selecting the X next to it.
10:26
Then select these two boundaries
10:28
on the outer rim of the cavity,
10:32
go to the passes tab
10:33
and change the angular step to
10:36
two degrees
10:38
press OK.
10:40
And the new radial tool path will be created
10:42
between those two chains.
10:46
Right click over this radial tool path
10:49
and go to create derived operation.
10:53
Then 3d milling
10:56
and morph spiral,
10:59
the morph spiral creates a transitioning tool path
11:04
between a group of curves.
11:07
In this case,
11:08
it will use the two curves from the radial tool path to do a spiral blend between them,
11:15
go to the passes tab
11:17
and change the step over to 50 thousands
11:21
and press OK. To generate the morphed spiral tool path.
11:27
You can see we have a tool path that transitions from the circle
11:32
to the outer rectangular shape.
11:35
Now let's duplicate that tool path,
11:38
right? Click over top of the duplicate
11:41
and select edit,
11:44
go to the geometry tab,
11:46
click on the outer chain
11:49
and select the garbage can
11:51
to delete it.
11:53
So we kept the circle chain.
11:56
Now select each of the outer ovals.
12:00
You should now have six chains,
12:05
set the additional offset to zero,
12:09
go to the passes tab,
12:12
set the step over to 65,000
12:16
press. OK. To generate the morphed spiral tool path.
12:20
To see more examples of the morphed spiral.
12:23
Look at the tool paths in the cap tool paths setup.
12:29
Let's make a duplicate of the parallel tool path
12:33
that we used for the top of this boss.
12:37
Then we can drag it
12:39
to the end of the tool paths in our setup,
12:44
right. Click over it
12:46
and select edit
12:48
on the geometry tab,
12:50
delete the machining boundary selection,
12:58
select the second cavity boundary at this position
13:03
set the additional offset
13:05
to zero
13:07
press OK to machine the cavity.
13:11
For our final tool path, we are going to do a projection
13:16
project. Lets you cut a two D sketch onto a 3d surface.
13:23
Go to the 3d tool path, pull down and select project
13:28
on the tool tab.
13:30
Press select to pick a new cutting tool
13:34
pick to number six,
13:36
the 1/16 ball and mill
13:39
and press select
13:41
on the geometry tab
13:44
under curve selections,
13:46
pick the kidney shaped sketch above the cavity
13:53
on the passes tab
13:54
set the axial offset value to minus 20/1000 of an inch for the depth of the cut
14:01
press. OK. To generate the tool path,
14:06
you probably won't see the tool path because it's been cut into the cavity.
14:11
You can turn off the model visibility to see the cut.
14:17
That's how you do a projection.
14:19
Please review the other tool pass in this file to learn more about what you can do.
14:25
The last thing I want to show you is how to do a comparison of tool path. Let's expand
14:32
the overview 3D setup,
14:37
select the contour all tool path,
14:40
then holding the control key
14:42
or command key on the mac,
14:44
select the other two contour tool paths,
14:48
right? Click over the top of them
14:51
and select compare and edit
14:55
as you scroll through the page,
14:56
you can see the parameters that are the same in green
15:01
and the parameters that are different in orange.
15:04
This is a great way to find out what made a tool path work differently.
15:10
You can even change the parameters in here.
Video transcript
00:03
Not only does this sample contain a variety of tool path strategies.
00:07
It shows them with different options activated
00:11
with so many different tool path strategies available.
00:14
It's common to wonder which is the best to use.
00:18
If you can see how a tool path is applied
00:21
to a specific part shape,
00:23
it can help you understand which strategy might work best for your part.
00:30
It's about understanding the topology of your part and
00:33
how these tool paths might fit that topology.
00:37
Don't be afraid to explore the tool pass in this sample project.
00:44
For this lesson, we will be working in the overview 3D practice setup.
00:50
Make sure it is the active setup.
00:53
This is evident by the dot shown at the end of the set up name.
00:57
Let's go to the 3D tool path toolbar,
01:00
pull down and select parallel parallel creates a series
01:05
of equal distance parallel cuts across the selected model.
01:10
On the tool tab press select to pick the cutting tool.
01:14
If you click the document heading
01:19
the middle section will show only the tools for this project. Pick tool number two,
01:24
the quarter inch ball and mill and press select
01:28
for now, we will leave the default speeds and feeds for this tool.
01:32
Let's go to the geometry tab.
01:35
This is where we can contain the tool path
01:38
in the X and Y axis cutting plane.
01:41
As a default fusion assumes you want to machine the entire part model.
01:47
But we only want to do this one boss section to
01:50
do that. We will use a machining containment boundary
01:54
from the machining boundary. Pull down pick selection
01:58
for the machining boundary selection. Pick the lower edge that goes around the boss
02:05
under the tool containment.
02:06
Pull down, you can select how to deal with that boundary.
02:10
You can keep the tool inside the boundary
02:13
on center of the boundary or allow it to move outside the boundary.
02:19
All of these include an additional offset amount
02:22
that can be a positive or negative distance.
02:26
For this example,
02:28
we will leave it set to tool center on boundary
02:31
and zero for the offset value.
02:34
Let's go to the heights tab,
02:37
top height is set to stock, top,
02:40
bottom height is set to model bottom.
02:44
We will leave those as they are.
02:47
Let's go to the passes tab,
02:49
change the pass direction
02:51
to 90 degrees and it will cut along the y axis direction,
02:56
change the step over to 40/1000 of an inch
03:01
with the direction parameter set to both ways.
03:04
You will create a back and forth cutting motion
03:08
press OK to create the tool path.
03:12
See how the tool path
03:14
along these steep walls. Seems further apart.
03:19
It doesn't look that way from a top view
03:22
but it is a greater distance because of the angle of the wall
03:27
in the browser, right? Click on the parallel tool path and select edit
03:33
on the passes tab
03:34
enable machine steep areas
03:38
and press, OK.
03:40
Now you will see a finer cut along the steep wall.
03:45
On the next section of the model, we have a boss that has near vertical walls.
03:51
The contour tool pass strategy
03:53
is commonly used to machine this type of shape
03:57
from the 3d tool path toolbar, pull down
04:00
select contour
04:02
on the tool tab.
04:04
The quarter inch ball and mill should be shown
04:06
if it's not
04:07
press select and pick the number two quarter inch ball and mill
04:11
on the geometry tab from the machining boundary. Pull down
04:16
pick selection
04:18
for the machining boundary selection,
04:20
pick the lower edge that goes around the boss.
04:24
You need to consider
04:25
the size of the boundary, the size of the filet
04:29
and the size of the tool.
04:30
A large diameter tool may not be able to stay inside or
04:35
on center and still machine down the wall of the park.
04:39
In that case,
04:40
you might want an additional offset value, our
04:44
tool should fit
04:45
so we can leave the tool containment set to
04:49
tool center on boundary
04:51
with an offset of zero.
04:53
There's nothing to change on the heights tab,
04:57
let's go to the passes tab
04:60
set the maximum step down to 40/1000 of an inch
05:05
press OK? To generate the tool path,
05:11
you can see it did an excellent job on the walls.
05:14
That is what contour does best.
05:17
But the tool path on the top is not going to be the best.
05:22
So we might want to limit the tool path height in Z
05:26
right, click on the contour tool path in the browser and select edit,
05:31
go to the heights tab for the top height.
05:34
The from pull down pick selection and pick any vertex point on this top ed
05:41
go to the passes tab.
05:43
We can also improve the number of passes on the shallow part of this filet
05:48
enable machine shallow areas.
05:52
This will add additional passes that roll over the top edge.
05:57
There are minimum and maximum shallow values we can enter
06:01
but the defaults will be sufficient.
06:04
Press OK to regenerate the tool path
06:08
to machine. The top of this boss, we can apply several different strategies.
06:13
Let's try scallop first.
06:16
This strategy will follow the boundary
06:18
and produce cuts based on the scallop pipe from the 3d tool path, toolbar,
06:24
pull down select scallop
06:27
on the tool tab.
06:28
The 250 ball and mill should be shown
06:31
if it's not press select and pick tool number two quarter inch ball and mill
06:36
on the geometry tab
06:38
from the machining boundary.
06:41
Pull down pick selection for the machining boundary selection,
06:45
pick the top edge of the boss.
06:48
I'm also going to add an additional offset of 60 thousands
06:53
to make sure it overlaps the previous tool path
06:57
go to the passes tab,
06:58
set the step over to 40/1000 of an inch.
07:02
Set the inside, outside direction to
07:06
outside, to inside
07:08
and press OK. To generate the tool path
07:12
that creates a nice tool path on the top
07:14
that cuts from the outside of the boundary
07:17
to the inside.
07:19
We could have also used that on the entire part.
07:22
It would have done a good job on the vertical walls.
07:26
Next, I want to apply a parallel cut over the same area,
07:31
but I don't want to reselect everything
07:34
in the browser. Right? Click on top of the scallop tool path
07:39
from the list select create derived operation
07:44
from the fly out select 3d milling and then parallel.
07:49
This will open the parallel dialogue
07:52
with the same tool boundary, additional offset
07:56
and step over amounts
07:58
press OK. And it will generate a parallel tool path in the same area.
08:03
Let's do one more
08:05
in the browser, right? Click on top of the parallel tool path
08:09
from the list. Select create derived operation
08:14
from the fly out, select 3d milling
08:17
and then radial.
08:19
This will open the radial dialogue
08:21
with the same tool boundary and the additional offset
08:26
radial creates a tool path that resembles the spokes in a wheel.
08:30
This tool path requires us to specify
08:33
the center of the wheel,
08:35
go to the geometry tab
08:37
and for the center points parameter,
08:40
select this point over the top,
08:43
go to the passes tab.
08:45
You will see this doesn't use a step over,
08:48
it uses an angular step set it to five degrees.
08:53
You can also control the start angle and end
08:57
angles using the angular from and angular two parameters
09:03
press OK. And it will generate a radial tool path in that same area.
09:10
You can see this doesn't cover the top very well
09:13
because the further it gets from the center,
09:16
the wider the gaps will be,
09:19
I'll show you another example where this works better.
09:22
But first, here's something interesting.
09:25
Select the scale
09:26
of tool path in the browser
09:28
and then look in the lower right corner of the graphics window.
09:33
You will see the name of the operation
09:36
and the machining time.
09:38
Now select the parallel tool path.
09:41
Now select the radial tool path.
09:44
We can see the scallop and parallel tool pa
09:47
have a similar machining time.
09:51
Let's move on to the cavity with the flower shape
09:54
in the browser,
09:55
right, click over the radial tool path
09:58
and select duplicate
09:59
to make a copy,
10:02
right, click on the copy and select edit,
10:07
go to the geometry tab
10:09
and clear the existing point
10:11
by selecting the X next to it.
10:15
Then select this point above the flower shape,
10:20
clear the machining boundary
10:22
by selecting the X next to it.
10:26
Then select these two boundaries
10:28
on the outer rim of the cavity,
10:32
go to the passes tab
10:33
and change the angular step to
10:36
two degrees
10:38
press OK.
10:40
And the new radial tool path will be created
10:42
between those two chains.
10:46
Right click over this radial tool path
10:49
and go to create derived operation.
10:53
Then 3d milling
10:56
and morph spiral,
10:59
the morph spiral creates a transitioning tool path
11:04
between a group of curves.
11:07
In this case,
11:08
it will use the two curves from the radial tool path to do a spiral blend between them,
11:15
go to the passes tab
11:17
and change the step over to 50 thousands
11:21
and press OK. To generate the morphed spiral tool path.
11:27
You can see we have a tool path that transitions from the circle
11:32
to the outer rectangular shape.
11:35
Now let's duplicate that tool path,
11:38
right? Click over top of the duplicate
11:41
and select edit,
11:44
go to the geometry tab,
11:46
click on the outer chain
11:49
and select the garbage can
11:51
to delete it.
11:53
So we kept the circle chain.
11:56
Now select each of the outer ovals.
12:00
You should now have six chains,
12:05
set the additional offset to zero,
12:09
go to the passes tab,
12:12
set the step over to 65,000
12:16
press. OK. To generate the morphed spiral tool path.
12:20
To see more examples of the morphed spiral.
12:23
Look at the tool paths in the cap tool paths setup.
12:29
Let's make a duplicate of the parallel tool path
12:33
that we used for the top of this boss.
12:37
Then we can drag it
12:39
to the end of the tool paths in our setup,
12:44
right. Click over it
12:46
and select edit
12:48
on the geometry tab,
12:50
delete the machining boundary selection,
12:58
select the second cavity boundary at this position
13:03
set the additional offset
13:05
to zero
13:07
press OK to machine the cavity.
13:11
For our final tool path, we are going to do a projection
13:16
project. Lets you cut a two D sketch onto a 3d surface.
13:23
Go to the 3d tool path, pull down and select project
13:28
on the tool tab.
13:30
Press select to pick a new cutting tool
13:34
pick to number six,
13:36
the 1/16 ball and mill
13:39
and press select
13:41
on the geometry tab
13:44
under curve selections,
13:46
pick the kidney shaped sketch above the cavity
13:53
on the passes tab
13:54
set the axial offset value to minus 20/1000 of an inch for the depth of the cut
14:01
press. OK. To generate the tool path,
14:06
you probably won't see the tool path because it's been cut into the cavity.
14:11
You can turn off the model visibility to see the cut.
14:17
That's how you do a projection.
14:19
Please review the other tool pass in this file to learn more about what you can do.
14:25
The last thing I want to show you is how to do a comparison of tool path. Let's expand
14:32
the overview 3D setup,
14:37
select the contour all tool path,
14:40
then holding the control key
14:42
or command key on the mac,
14:44
select the other two contour tool paths,
14:48
right? Click over the top of them
14:51
and select compare and edit
14:55
as you scroll through the page,
14:56
you can see the parameters that are the same in green
15:01
and the parameters that are different in orange.
15:04
This is a great way to find out what made a tool path work differently.
15:10
You can even change the parameters in here.
Manufacture > Milling > 3D
This video is a collection of 3D finishing toolpaths applied to a variety of surface model shapes. The idea of these videos is to familiarize you with how the toolpath styles can fit onto a particular surface shape. Besides the toolpaths themselves, there are a number of useful tips for everyday toolpath generation.
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