I checked the demo of Excalibur to see how the toolpaths get updated automatically according to changes that a person makes in the drawing.

Although associativity sounds nifty for many circumstances, I was wondering if this could lead to accidental gouging? Suppose the original path was intertwined between a few islands, or between an island and a wall. Once the original tool and toolpath are created, and everything fits, what happens if you move the islands closer, so that let's say the tool can no longer fit. Will this contingency be apparent in the updated file when the toolpath is reposted?

If the above condition is trapped for, how likely are you to encounter an unexpected "heavy stock area" in subsequent processes where you may have forgotten that the adjusted area did not get roughed out as originally planned?

I'm not asking that the software do the impossible, but rather, I am trying to determine the practical limitations of "automatic associative updating" of toolpaths.

Hu,

Actually Excalibur does account for this very circumstance. Since you don't have to save tool path, the tool path is optimized every time you post or animate. This means the parameters of the operation, the tool parameters and the geometry applied to that operation is looked at for any changes. New tool path is then created and optimized...no gouging!

Thanks for the reply, Merlin. :)

It's a good package eh.....LOL

I see you're in Canada. It was actually a friend in Edmonton Canada who put me onto it when doing some contract work. He used it so I had to as well.

Don, about the toolpathing, I was speaking with you on the phone about cylinder head porting and you mentioned something about rotating the drawing, running toolpaths and saving them, then rotating and posting. Could we touch base on that again as I've had some enquiries about this.
I'm looking at making a plug of the port, having this scanned at one of the universtities here and it will be converted into a cloud of points. Is there a maximium file size for the cloud of points?...I haven't really done anything with this option yet so will be on a steep learning curve.
When we spoke on the phone, I mentioned i wanted to cut on the top of the tool as well to better get around the short side radius etc.

Greig

MPE,

It is important to know how the scanning process is being done...Is it a lasar/visual scanner or a mechanical with a ball at the tip of the scanning device?

Lets start a new thread on this forum to discuss this...