How to change the direction of cut

[concombrefrais]

Hello,

I am trying feature cam and while playing around I run into a problem I can't figure out. I am creating a few parallel slots and manage to create the toolpath. However the tool is always moving from left to right which creates a bench of useless rapids. I checked "bidirectional" in the machining tab but it does not help. If you have any suggestion I'd like to hear them.
Thanks!

Chris

[Janos]

If you are using the groove feature, open the dialog box in the left column. Select the "strategy tab" and click the box marked "reverse cut" to reverse the direction. Also if you have more than one curve selected it will reverse them all. That is why I like to split some things up, so I can get it to do exactly what I want. If you have a bunch of grooves that are parallel to each other, create one groove feature to your liking. Then select and paste the feature below the one you just copied. After that just open each copy up and select the curve that you want associated with that. At this point you can keep some in one direction and reverse the others. It sounds like a lot to do but it's REALLY easy.

[concombrefrais]

Thank you Janos, I will try to use the groove feature for now.

It seems that there should be a way to force feature cam to optimize such things. For example, between two passes for the same slot, the tool is sent to the begining of the slot why simply reversing the direction would save up some rapid time. It seems so obvious that I can only assume I am missing something. In case someone has another suggestion, I'd be glad to hear.
Thank you again Janos for your answer.
C.

[Janos]

If you open up the "Milling" tab in the groove properties you can change the Depth of cut and anything else related to this feature. BUT.... this only changes this item. If you want to make changes (Set a baseline configuration). Go to the top menu bar and select Manufacturing>Machining Configurations. Then choose which config. you would like to change, or you can make a new one. I have changed the "My configuration" and set as a master config. From here you can make new ones for different operators to address any little things they might like to do.

You can make it do what you like, It just takes a little while to make it understand what you want.

I understand how aggravating it is, imagine working in a prototype / R&D shop and having to still get the part made without not knowing the right way to do it. Feel free to ask questions.

John

[concombrefrais]

Hey Janos,

Thank you for your new suggestion. As it turns out, I just figured it out about 5 min ago. Or at least one way to do what I wanted. So, here it is for other interested user:
just select "simple" in the window asking the dimension of the slot and it will then generate a tool path cutting in both direction. I dont quite undestand the logic but I suspect there is one since featurecam since generally very well thought.

I do agree that learning a CAM software can be aggravating, so thank you again for helping me on that one Janos.
C.

[Janos]

That too is another way. I typically work from a solid model which has all the geometry in it. Normally I only have to use "Simple" if I want to change the way FeatureCAM does a 4th axis slot. Because it sometimes wants to do some things still it's way.