A180 TOOL PATH FAIL

this is a file of a model that I am trying to path using a drive surface on the A180 side the path does not work . the same drive surface with the same settings works from the A0 side

I think this is because you have to set the drive surface calculation height and depth. It is imprtant to set the height and depth of the model relative to the drive surface. (If the cutter cant reach the model, no toolpath will be created).

1) Creating a planar finishing from top by using the drive surface.
Attachment 272970
Pick height and depth
Attachment 272972
Attachment 272974
Create a toolpath.
Attachment 272976

2) From bottom.
Pick drive surface and direction.
Attachment 272978
Set drive surface height and depth.
Attachment 272980
Create the toolpath.
Attachment 272982

/
Joakim

This is exactly what I am doing .

from the top I select the drive surface then set direction then I pick the level I am usually setting to the middle of the model , then press ok. For the bottom surface I flip the drive surface across 0,0,0, and then select direction and pick level usually the center of the model on the attach model I selected the top of the model so the tool path would cut all the way through the whole model then pressed ok, as you can see the tool paths did not work.

One thing I do notice that is different is that your selection window has a negative number on the pick level box mine never gives me a negative number when selecting upwards from the drive surface ,could this be why , if so why would my version not be giving me a negative number ?

I just tried typing a negative number into the box and it makes no difference in the tool pathing, but it still seems very odd that mine would not be giving a negative number when using the pick level tab.

I know this seems strange that it would not act the same as yours but this is what is happening

I used the same drive surface for both sides.
Important! The height and depth is measured from the drive surface in the projection direction from the drive surface. (Direction of the arrow when selecting a drive surface)

Top side: The drive surface is below the model compared to the projection direction. Both depth and height will be positive values.

Bottom side: The drive surface is above the model compared to the projection direction. This is why both deptd and height will be negative values.

If you don't get a negative value for the depth when milling from the bottom side, the direction is wrong when you select the drive surface. Make sure that the direction arrow is pointing towards the model (upwards in Z in this case) when you select the drive surface.

/ Joakim

I will have to post some pics tomorrow to show that I am doing it just as you describe but not getting the same results.

When I first downloaded madcam as a tester program I was able to get it to tool path from both sides first try , it continued to work for over a year , then one day I up graded madcam and rhino , and boom it no longer worked from the bottom sides . I know this is hard for you to believe that I am not doing some thing different from you , ( I would feel the same way if I were you .... User error) but there is only 2 directions available to me towards the model and away from it and 2 possibilities either I am chooseing far enough into the model to reach it or I am not and of the 4 possible options none of the combination create a tool path , so something must be wrong .

Is it at all possible that when rhino was upgraded that something changed in the settings that does not allow madcam to tool path from the bottom sides ?

Or some other rhino plug in that is effecting it?

this is what I am doing to get a tool path from the bottom

Attachment 273520Attachment 273522Attachment 273524

here is me trying the same way you did, patching the top from the bottom( I did not know this was possible.... thanks) and patching the bottom with the exact same settings in the dialogue box and no second tool path. just some weird squiggle lines

Attachment 273526

I think I now know what's causing this problem.
The drive surface direction is supposed to automatically be adjusted depending on the "eye position" in the perspective view. It seems like this doesn't work as it should if using a 4-views window in Rhino.
I am sorry for the trouble this must have caused you. Thank you for finding this bug! It will be a fix for this as soon as possible.

In the meantime, make sure that you are using one maximized perspective view in Rhino when you select drive surfaces. The drive surface direction will then automatically be adjusted correctly.

/Joakim

that works thank you for finding the problem , I could see how no one would notice as i think most people now work in persecutive view

i did notice that in perspective view the choose direction arrow for the drive surface will not allow me to point towards the model even though the UV directions are correct, I tried flipping them and flipping back to see if they were stuck , but still not working , so i made a new drive surface in perspective view and this one worked , i also noticed in the 4 view window, that in perspective the arrow is pointing away from the model and all the other views are pointing towards. I assume that all of these problems are connected to 1 bug

I noticed that the new madcam release mentioned affix for this problem but now when I drag the drive surface underneath the model and switch UV direction towards the bottom of the model in rhino , madcam will not let me select upwards towards the model, the select direction arrow always points away from the model . Then if I go into perspective view and try it still will not go , but if I right click and tilt the view up and down the direction arrow swaps from down to up as I tilt the view . If I leave it in the up direction a run a tool path I get the same results I used to get before the new service release.

The drive surface direction arrow is controlled from the eye direction in the perspective view. This means that you can only change the direction in the perspective view even if having 4 views in Rhino. The only difference in the latest release is that you can work in 4-views and the arrow will display correctly in all 4 views, but you can only change the direction by rotating the perspective view.

It is meant to be as easy as possible for the user by automatically put the arrow in the same direction as the users viewing angle in the perspective view. You just have to look in the direction you want to mill. Maybe this isn't the best way. Would you prefer a toggle option from the Rhino command line?

/Joakim

I will play with this today and let you know how it goes , obviously it is working the way you do it , so what am I doing differently.

now that was weird. the other day I downloaded the newest version of madam along with rhino. yesterday I mentioned i was still having trouble getting the paths to work from underneath , I tried another 10 to 15 times today all kinds of ways and nothing worked.

then I closed the program and restarted it and viola it worked as one would expect it to .



thanks