[ALMOSTxFAMOUS]

Hello,
I'm having a hard time doing the toolpath for the outside profile. I never work with any 3D parts before. The file I'm using is from solidworks, which i use to design my part that i want to machine out. Any help will be very appreciated! Thank you!!

[Matt Berube]

I am a little confused. You're asking about cutting the outside profile but this part looks as though it will need extensive 3d surface toolpaths...

If you really just want to cut the outer profile an easy way to accomplish this might be to use Solidworks to create a 2-D drawing and export as .dxf which should give a nice clean file for cutting the profile in MC.

If you intend to actually machine this part and you're not an accomplished MC user you're going to need some serious help...

If I was making this part I'd probably start with a Surface Rough Pocket operation instead of the profile cut you are asking about.

Here is a link to somebody else's project of machining a lower so you can get an idea of what direction you need to head in...

http://www.cncguns.com/projects/ar15lower.html

[Boots]

Like Matt says you will need to do some Surfacing here. You will also need to have the correct Advanced version of MC in order to surface machine a part.

[ALMOSTxFAMOUS]

thanks guys. ill give it a shot.

[fizzissist]

Yeah, there's some serious 3D surfacing on that part.

To the direct question, there's a silhouette C-hook that will give a simple outline chain to let you do an outer contour (or inner contour for fixturing). It's in X and later.

[ALMOSTxFAMOUS]

i haven't got around to it yet but i have access to X3. silhouette C-hook?

[fizzissist]

Change your Z construction plane level to someplace above the part, say .5" above, and change color to something other than what the part is made of so you can easily see the result.

Hit ALT-C to open up the C-hook list and select SilhouetteBoundry.dll. You'll be prompted to select solids, solid faces, or surfaces, and after doing so a window will pop up allowing you to refine the selection. Most of the time you can just use the default and hit apply.

What you should see is a chain that floats above your part that is an outline of the whole thing. Then you can do whatever you want with it independant of the rest of the part.

Open up Help, go to Index and type in C-Hooks, and select " supplied with Mastercam" for an overview of the stock ones. You can write your own if you get ambitious...

I'm writing one now to greatly speed up my workflow. It's going to be called WYGIWYW.dll ... or... What You Get Is What You Want. Mastercam will ignore keystrokes I use and give me what I want. Hoping to sell it to CNC Software for their X5 release as a psychic interface.....

[fizzissist]

It should look something like this...
(Thanks to Matt for the cncguns link! That's where the .igs file of the lower came from)

[Matt Berube]

I could be wrong but my understanding of the silhouette boundary c-hook is that it is intended for use as a containment boundary and not really geometry that you would cut directly...

In the earlier versions I found some accuracy issues with the silhouette boundary c-hook which is how I formed the opinion above. I don't use this much anyway but if you do use it proceed with caution.

[fizzissist]

Accuracy issues? I haven't used it enough to notice that, but now I'll be looking for it. Thanks for the heads-up!

It's useful for cutting a pocket for fixturing jaws, which is what I've used it for mostly.

[cadcam]

I use it allot and as of X3 mu1 for profiling an outside profile , they fixed the corner issues. you do need to do some checking of the profile on real comples parts.
And as for x4 thay made more improvements on it . it gives you a tollrence adjustments now.
I see the part you are trying to cut as 70 to 80 % 2d cuts.there are for sure some 3d.

you can add the silhouette boundary button to the menu bars I do this by default.

[ALMOSTxFAMOUS]

Thanks man!!! I can't wait to try it out when i get the chance to use mastercam again.

Change your Z construction plane level to someplace above the part, say .5" above, and change color to something other than what the part is made of so you can easily see the result.

Hit ALT-C to open up the C-hook list and select SilhouetteBoundry.dll. You'll be prompted to select solids, solid faces, or surfaces, and after doing so a window will pop up allowing you to refine the selection. Most of the time you can just use the default and hit apply.

What you should see is a chain that floats above your part that is an outline of the whole thing. Then you can do whatever you want with it independant of the rest of the part.

Open up Help, go to Index and type in C-Hooks, and select " supplied with Mastercam" for an overview of the stock ones. You can write your own if you get ambitious...

I'm writing one now to greatly speed up my workflow. It's going to be called WYGIWYW.dll ... or... What You Get Is What You Want. Mastercam will ignore keystrokes I use and give me what I want. Hoping to sell it to CNC Software for their X5 release as a psychic interface.....

[ALMOSTxFAMOUS]

Thanks again guys what a life saver. the SilhouetteBoundry.dll is what i wanted to get done.

how do i adjust the Z construction plane? now i need to figure out how i want to machine the surface.

[Superman]

To pick off the part
Along the bottom toolbar
find and L-click on the "Z" , you will be prompted to select a new construction depth by picking a point on the screen

Manually input a depth
Along the bottom toolbar
next to the "Z" is a feild imforming you of the current Z-depth
enter in a new depth

and this post may help

and using a grid