[ToolChatter]

Hey Folks!
Wow, this exploded a little more than I thought it would. Sorry for the radio silence...I'm outta town this weekend and just jumped online.
So, I think we can establish that there's no convenient way for someone running the SW plugin to share files with people running the standalone version. Definitely a downside of the plugin. Screen shots are probably the best bet in that situation.
Back to the original question. First I have to apologize for asking the question without access to the file that was causing the problem. It should have been a simple 2D profiling job, but the fact that I was holding the stock in a vise, making 4 identical parts using subroutines with G52, and using non-center-cutting endmills meant that I needed to ramp into the stock. There was an issue with the Centroid postprocessor included with Bobcad that wasn't allowing it to contour ramp (subsequently covered and resolved in another thread here), and when I chose spiral or zig-zag lead-ins it would place them outside the boundary and into the vise jaws. So in desperation I switched to a 3D strategy and managed to get it to work, although a lot less efficiently than a 2D profile would have been.
I'm going to try to recreate the problem when I get back to the office and share some screen shots. But basically what I'm hearing is that if you want to keep a tool out of an area, a boundary is not the way to do it. Rather, it sounds like you need to construct additional geometry and then make sure that that geometry isn't selected as part of the feature. Did I read that correctly? Hopefully when my training videos arrive they will shed some light on this for me.
Thanks to everyone who has chimed in and sorry for any breaches of forum etiquette
Tom

[jrmach]

In addition to the training video's,,don't overlook the value of these https://www.youtube.com/user/Depoalo...view=0&sort=dd

Someone correct me if I am wrong,but I think the V26 and V27 CAM video's are pretty relevant to you also.There are also a few Solid Works video's there,I think also.

[The Engine Guy]

Tom

See attached image, al I have done is a simple pocket using the Advanced Pocket, I left one end open (Dotted Line) so the tool could start off the stock and then also put in a ramp for the internal leads and it works fine, the geometry was simple 2D lines and for the second shape I just used the translate-copy. I made it slightly smaller than the distance between the Blue vise jaws.

Very quick and easy to do, no need to draw any solids at all, just a few lines and for illustration purposes I used the "Simple Solids" to make the vise jaws and the stock, again fast and easy

Hope it helps with what you`re doing



Regards
Rob
:rainfro: :rainfro: :rainfro:

[aldepoalo]

You can open the SLDPRT file in the stand alone software, but at this time the CAM tree does not come with the file.

At this point I think I understand what the OP is questing. When working with non center cutting tools a ramp / spiral lead in option is needed to allow the tool to enter the material. So let's say we are doing a pocket, and we have a spiral lead in.

What you'll find is there is no gouge protection on the lead in. So you'll need to pay attention to your settings as not to have the tool lead in and gouge the part profile. This is true for 2 axis toolpath features. In 3 axis there is gouge protection for the lead in.

So what's you need to do is change you lead in settings to making sure it "fits"

Al

[aldepoalo]

Something you should take notice of!

When it comes to simulation you have a few options, and like in my cause I had collisions turned off so the gouge was not coming up in red or being reported at first.

This is what you want to see when you have a collision



To change your simulation settings you click here



You want to make sure that enable machine components collision and proximity detection when cut sim is enabled is checked under the verification process




Under the simulation process tab you want to make sure material collision is checked.

[ToolChatter]

Thanks everyone,

I've been at it all morning and I can't get the "bad" behavior that I saw before to happen again. I realize that I mispoke in my previous post...it was when I I couldn't get contour ramping to work because of the postprocessor issue that I switched to a 3D strategy and then started having problems with the lead-ins coming from way outside the boundary. Now it's behaving exactly as I would expect, so I must have screwed up before to cause the problem. I probably forgot to reselect the boundary after making a change to its sketch or something like that (the other plug-in that I use regularly is an FEA package and such geometry updates happen automatically, so I keep catching myself expecting that to happen). Sorry to throw such a red herring at the group. At least we learned a few things along the way! One thing I think I discovered (when trying to cut a 3D part out of the middle of a larger piece of stock and using a boundary to avoid removing a bunch of stock uneccessarily) is that if you're leaving an allowance for a finish pass, you have to make sure the boundary is large enough to allow the tool diameter plus the allowance on both the part AND the boundary.

Thanks again!
Tom

[The Engine Guy]

Tom

Hey, that`s great news, glad you got it sorted and you have a better understanding of what it was that went a bit skewed

Regards
Rob
:rainfro: :rainfro: :rainfro: