[david martin]

Could anyone help me out with a few Milling questions I have?

I tried using a Rough Surface Pocket toolpath today and was unsuccessful because the toolpath would not reach the floor. The stock to keep on the drive surface was set at 0. The toolpath appeared to finish the walls the way I wanted but left unwanted stock on the floor. Any ideas?

Second, what is the best approach for tappering a 3/8" wide by 3/16" depth conical slot? The finished slot would appear as like a half cone layed on its side. I used a Contour toolpath with a 3/8 Ball endmill to rough followed by a Surface Finish Contour toolpath with a 3/32 ball end mill with acceptable results. It worked alright but the floor wasn't smooth even with a .002" stepover.

Lastly, I wasted alot of time today redrawing edge entities that were to be used for chain creating. Without the redrawn entities chains would not branch, instead would create individual chains. I decreased the chain tolerance in the options dialoge box, which didn't fix it. I'm working with a parasolid file.

Thanks for any help!

[Rstewart]

When working with imported solids always try to Create Curves on all edges so that you can have some Geo to chain to.

[hujd1978]

could you paste a image and together with the problem, and let me see if i can help you.
i also suggest you to use an end mill for rough mill, it will works more efficiency.
how do u thk?

[Superman]

Second, what is the best approach for tappering a 3/8" wide by 3/16" depth conical slot? The finished slot would appear as like a half cone layed on its side. I used a Contour toolpath with a 3/8 Ball endmill to rough followed by a Surface Finish Contour toolpath with a 3/32 ball end mill with acceptable results. It worked alright but the floor wasn't smooth even with a .002" stepover.

This is OK for roughing
Try the Surface Finish Flowline for the finish passes, cusp height of about 0.0005 - 0.0010" ( it'll work the step over in relation to the surfaces being cut - you will have to select the cutting direction & starting point )

Lastly, I wasted alot of time today redrawing edge entities that were to be used for chain creating. Without the redrawn entities chains would not branch, instead would create individual chains. I decreased the chain tolerance in the options dialoge box, which didn't fix it. I'm working with a parasolid file.

Try using the Create, curves from solid, ( you should have had wireframe entities when importing,.....you could have multiple copies ( this also stops chaining )....try the Delete Duplicates