What can Gibbscam do similar to Mastercams Scallop surfacing?

[csdilligaf]

I have seen a friend use his Mastercam on what he called a scallop cut for a complex mold surface. After roughing out the mold he used a ball endmill and it climb cut in a spiral oval shape from the center of the mold, never left the surface and even went up vertical walls with out a skip or hop at a constant feed rate. This will use the same ballnose to do the floor, angle walls, vertical walls and any feature on the mold and never leave the surface. This was the most impressive surface finish I have seen. Can this be done in Gibbscam?

thanks,

[csdilligaf]

If you draw a frame or geometery shape and use the pocket option, Select the geometery that is the outer shape of the surface to cut will allow it to confine the pocket to this shape, Select the entire solid with a small step over like .003" and climb cut it will cut the surface in a spiraling climb cut in an outward motion never leaving the surface of the mold. But this is only sometimes. Other times it will crash. When it works right it is the best surface cut I get. Wish it did it like MasterCam, everytime.

[cadman]

You want to use 2 Curve Flow.

[csdilligaf]

will this work on a complex mold with many surfaces or have to do two at a time? I dont seem to be able to get the "do it" box to be available when selecting the entire surface of the mold.

[cadman]

It will work on any surface. To get a toolpath that spirals from outside to inside or vice versa you need a point for the center and an arc or spline for the containment boundry, plus your surface/solid. The point can go anywhere and the spline can be any shape. Experimenting with the two will give different toolpath shapes, but the containment curve will be the biggest influence on the overall shape because that is what the toolpath will follow. Hope this helps.

[csdilligaf]

It has to be an arc or spline, not a rectangle? Like useing the stock size? I just use the create spline tab and drag a spline around it? Will it go to the outer edge of the mold if the spline is outside of the stock size?

thanks so much I was wondering if I ever would get a responce.

[cadman]

Because you can only use 2 curves or pieces of geometry for 2 Curve Flow, the containment geometry can only be a single curve like an arc or a closed spline. There are quite a few choices for creating splines and you should be able to get a rectangluar shape. If the curve goes over the edge of your stock then create a surface in that spot and use it as a constraint surface. The toolpath will avoid that surface.