Originally Posted by keen  ....
Interested in your moving up your parting line 0.010" thats 0.25mm - wow that quite a lot to grind off - have I got that right?
You copy the parting line up.....I think you are saying you move your part down...and leave the setting for top at Z 0 ? Or do you mean shift the x/y plane down?
Thats a good plan, I must do that also. Before this issue imerged I cut my first V23 cavity - was good but I noticed a small cut on the corner of my cavity of about aah in thou.....0.002 ish.( Not a critical depth so I can grind that off). But I see why you do that. I suppose it can be due to cutter errors, depth setting errors, software accuracy errors, run out errors etc. |
Here's my procedure for mold cavities:
1. Import model from Solidworks.
2. Translate/rotate model so top of model is Z zero.
3. Unstitch parting line surface and translate/copy Z+.01"
( This amount is dependent on job. I use .01" for molds that get heat-treated and polished. My machine is an old VMC, so I need to allow for spindle growth and accel/deccel issues. When I ran a modern shop with EDMs, .005" was the norm. I will gladly trade the time to grind something just to get that nice crisp parting line.)
4. Increase Top of Part value by the amount of Z translation.
5. Create G-code
( I read the code to make sure that Zs are cutting the parting line at +.01")
6. At the machine, set all my tool lengths off the top of the part. Then either drop the Z fixture offset .01" or do a mass edit of the tools and increase by .01".
Being a one man shop, there are no communication errors with setup people. That can be a problem when you start adding/subtracting lengths.
Good luck,
moldmker