efficient tool path

[creative_mind]

balsaman,

Didn't you post the Harley Davidson logo somewhere here or somewhere else?

I am interested in the image. Is it possible to send me the image in DXF format?

Thanks

[balsaman]

www.e-zflight.com/files/hd.dxf

[cadcam]

Balsaman I too the DXF and put under Cade_Files on the CNCzone FTP. Hope that is ok..

one of my students at my school has been busy drawing a profile of a nice HD.
I will get it this week and share it..
I asked him if this was ok of course..

[cadcam]

"optimize toolpath"

There really is anot per-say that button but has to do with the Chaining options.

when you go to chain say using a window around all click on the button after chaining that says "Options" if it has a astris next to this means some thing in the chaining options is active.

I alwas have by default the options for "Plane Mask" & "Color Mask" checked these are vary helpful.

Use the Help buttun under the Chaining options to get more of chist of the setting control you have.

[bill south]

Hey Balsaman;
Can I get a copy of the HD logo for my play time and enjoyment? If possible, email to bsouthnow@aol.com. I can't seem to find it in this thread. I take it your an rc builder. Did that once myself (from kits) but never could stand to fly the things. After hundreds of hours working on a quarter scale J3 cub, built to perfection, it only took a few seconds and re-kitting (crashing) to make my flyiny time miserable. I was a nervous wreck when all that love was in the air.
Sooooooooooo, long story short, I built a cnc machine. Breaking things made from metal takes more effort!!!!!!
Thx in advance!
billyjack
cheers

[jerry1957]

does anyone have any harley davidson logo g-codes I can get, thanks

[ajl6549]

Play around with dif patterns "zig-zag" as a default may not be best

[Mike Mattera]

Mastercam is looking at each piece of geometry and trying not to back into other pieces of geometry while cutting them. If you have a lot of small lines/arcs, it might do some small moves on each piece and look like its backing over the same area each time. Especialy if they are not tangent.

Try not to worry about the efficency of a small part like this. It's much less efficent to program it manually (because of the tiome it would take). If you had to make 100's of these it might effect your cycle time, but for a 1 off I wouldn't worrk about it.

But I understand your question. "Making it more efficent". I would certianly try selecting some of the other pocket types and then run a backplot to view the cycle time. That will give you some idea of efficency. Selecting the right pocket type depends on the shape of the geometry. In you part there's not much room to move.

If your want to learn Mastercam V8 on you oun, you might want to look at my training videos at the web site below. http://www.tipsformanufacturing.com

Mike Mattera

[Rekd]

You also might try it without "minimize tool burial".