high speed toolpath help

[Teh Bear without Brains kinda idiot]

Are you talking about simply creating offset surfaces on another level? Sometimes I do that instead of actual check surfaces. I can control those a little better depending on the application.

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Actually yes .

This is the only sutable way in HSM now ,JMHO

[Bob W.]

So how exactly does this work?

[Colin Gilchrist]

Hi Bob,

 

What they are describing is taking the actual part surfaces, selecting a surface you want to stay away from, then creating an offset surface from this surface (say offset by .1 for example) and include these surfaces as drive surfaces. This keeps the toolpath from cutting in areas where you don't want it to cut. This is because Mastercam's toolpaths won't cut a surface if it is covered by another surface that is higher in Z. This is part of the reason you can pick an entire solid model, and choose a roughing toolpath. The toolpath will cut only the faces it can reach from your current toolplane.

 

As for how to do it... If you have a solid, you need to create surfaces from the solid, then use

 

Create - Surface - Offset Surface and then enter your offset amount.

[Bob W.]

So these surfaces are ignored when their level is turned off?

[Thee Rickster ™]

Yes

They will be ignored if you don't select them.

 

Basically only turn that layer on when you need

your tool to stay clear of the surfaces that you

want to avoid on your component.