having trouble with project geometry

[ihs]

basicly i am trying to project a profile on a curved surface and it is coming up too faint. my tapered endmill is barely touching the surface of the part

[inflateable]

You sure it's edgecam?
Run the simulator - if it's 'cutting' in simulator, then you've got the edgecam side of things right and the problem's at the machine.

Check your code and see if the Z figures you're getting look like they're cutting the material. Check tool length offset - wear offsets, etc..

Other suggestions - your modelled part in edgecam isn't quite exactly the same as the real life part. I do some engraving on curved surfaces and you can get strange results unless your material is identical to your model. I use a spring loaded tool to absorb the differences.

Or if all else fails, cheat and make the tool 'longer' with an minus length wear offset in the machine. ahem.

[ihs]

thanks for the help. it was showing up too faint in the simulator, but i think if i mess with the offsets i think i can get it to work

[chrisryn]

If the simulator was showing it faint then you might have some settings wrong in your toolpath make sure your clearance, retract, level, and depth are correct. If its a solid make sure associative is checked.

[timf]

are you setting the depth of cut in the projection box?

the profile your projecting should be flat with no depth then in the projection box you can dictate the depth of cut and it will be relative to the surface you project to.

if you have none in the project depth box it will only touch the surface not mill into it.

you could fix it with tlo depending on the application but in the projection box is where you want to i believe.