[jlembas]

I am new to machining so bear with me...So far I have most of the operations figured out in Mastercam. Tapping, face milling, contouring, etc. I would like to know more about machining and removing the larger areas of stock around the part.

What programming techiniques do I use to do this? I would like to remove the stock in each corner and move to the next. Then do a contour of the part. Is this the right way to go about machining this part? If so, then how do I do this in mastercam?

I am clamping the part in a vise and flipping for the 2nd op.

Stock: 4.625" x 3" x 1"
Part: 4.5" x 2.98" x .875"

[Steve Arteman]

Make your stock lines to the very outside of the part chain your part profile and the stock profile using pocket. in pocket parameters there is facing option you may want to use that.
steve
www.cad2cam.blogspot.com

[SORCHEROR]

what material is the part?makes a big difference on how you can attack it so to speak
if its aluminum,than i usually would add 1/4 on the bottom to hold in the vise and machine the part from one side,than flip it and face off the bottom,as far as the out side i would use a 2 flute endmill and contour around the outside taking depth cuts of around .1 or .2 a pass(depends of rigidity of your machine)staying away from finish about .025,than finish contour with 4 passes of about .005,i would do this with steel too but using carbide insert cutters to rough,pocket milling is ok,but slower,this part doesnt need to be done that way
hope it helps
steve

[jlembas]

Thanks for the input.

The material is 6061. Machine is a Fadal 4020.

I did try the facing option that Steve mentioned and that seemed to do the trick. I picked the outside stock parameter and also the part contour. I still find it difficult to manipulate the paths to my liking. Mastercam seems to be very finicky that way...at least with this operation.

[cadcam]

Well whats your liking as we don't know what you want it to do.
May be you don't want it to collapse in bu you want to pick the corners first the profile.
share your file so we can see whats it is doing then help you change it.