I need to mill parts in aluminum but the tool paths generated seem a bit on the aggressive side. Is there a way to specify multiple passes only dropping a specified amount in the z?
I suppose for that it might be useful to provide stock dimensions...
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DropCutter will go trough lines X samples points and "drop" the tool until it hits the model.
PushCutter will go trough lines and push the cutter along the X axis until it hits the model
the postprocessors generate a toolpath from the list of "hits"
pathaccumulator is simply adding points to the list
zigzag will reverse the direction at the end
Polygon will try to keep the cuts together
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I need to mill parts in aluminum but the tool paths generated seem a bit on the aggressive side. Is there a way to specify multiple passes only dropping a specified amount in the z?
I suppose for that it might be useful to provide stock dimensions...
You can specify the number of steps in z, which is the field called "layers".
(This only works for the pushcutter though)
What is the difference between the various cutting strategies?
Actually, they are all different ideas.
as a practical approach, you would probably:
1) use the Cylindrical cutter with the PushCutter Pathgenerator and the Polygon PostProcessor to do the "rough" cutting
2) use the Spherical cutter with the DropCutter Pathgenerator and the ZigZag PostProcessor to do the "finish" cutting.
on the screw-holder.stl, I tried the following settings:
min x = -5 max x = +70
min y = -5 max y = +45
min z = 0 max z = +16
toolsize = 5mm
(rough)
Cylindrical / PushCutter / Polygon
layers = 6 (3mm per layer)
lines = 25 (2mm per line)
(finish)
Cylindrical / DropCutter / ZigZag
lines = 50 (1mm per line)
DropCutter will go trough lines X samples points and "drop" the tool until it hits the model.
PushCutter will go trough lines and push the cutter along the X axis until it hits the model
the postprocessors generate a toolpath from the list of "hits"
pathaccumulator is simply adding points to the list
zigzag will reverse the direction at the end
Polygon will try to keep the cuts together