Anyone have experience using lollipop mills and HSMWorks?

Through a process of trial-and-error I figured out that you need to use a 3D Path machining strategy if you want to use a lollipop mill, but the word "lollipop" isn't anywhere in the documentation.

I gave it a try with some 2D contouring and 2D adaptive clearing paths and it worked like a ball end mill and ran fine. Actually, I'm not sure what the difference is between a lollipop end mill and a ball end mill would be. They seem the same when I run them.

Here's the reply I received from support:

Gabe,

I'm glad to hear that you are happy with HSMWorks so far.

As you have discovered, we don't have a lot of information for end-users on the support page yet, but we are planning to add a forum and other features, such as a tips and tricks section here. We'll update the text on the site so it's more obvious what happens and how to get support. In addition, we are planning an overhaul of the help files for the HSMWorks 2010 release.

In the meantime please feel free to ask any questions that may arise. You can contact Keith via e-mail or phone, and/or make use of the support@hsmworks.com e-mail. Finally if you have a part that you need help with, feel free to use the "Send Feedback" function from the HSMWorks menu. That will send us whatever you are working on along with a screenshot and your description.

As for lollipop tool support, that is currently limited to the 2D Contour and 3D Path strategies as you have discovered. The former can be used when the cuts are in a plane, while the 3D path supports arbitrary paths, but will require the construction of helper geometry in many cases. In both cases please note that no collision checking against the model is done, so you have to be careful when leading in and out.

We are planning to add better undercutting support, including undercutting with the 3D Contour strategy, but right now that is not at the top of our list.

I have attached two quick examples of undercutting with a 2D Contour. Note that for the lollipop tool I've set the radial stock to leave negative to offset from the selected geometry, and I've picked the bottom point on the circle used for the sweep as the depth for my contour.

I hope this helps you.


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Best regards

Mark Porsby
HSMWorks ApS