spline help,mc9.1

[GRANDPA]

hi all. i have a aluminum plate that i have to machine a form similar to a wing of an airplane. i converted the surface file from a parasolid. the ends of the "wing" are created with splines. my problem is when i machine this plate using the surface, finish, parallel, i'm getting flat surfaces instead of smooth curves. it's as if MC is creating my cutter path by using the node points of the spline and making a straight line between each point instead of following the curves generated by these points. could someone please explain what i'm doing wrong. thank you in advance.

[ObrienDave]

If you post a copy of your MC9 file, we can help you alot easier

[GRANDPA]

sorry, i hope this works...

[JIMMY]

I could not get it in on my end. I will try again.

[Mike Mattera]

Did you really convert it to "Surfaces" or is it in Mastercam as a solid model? The surface patches might be causing the problem. Also what is your tolerance set to?

Mike

[SORCHEROR]

its most likely your cut tolerance and step over is to big,are you using a parrallel surface cut?and what size ball cutter?

steve

[GRANDPA]

i did convert to surface, not solid. i'm using surface-finish-parallel for my finish cut with a 3/16 ball at .001 tolerance and .007 stepover. the finish is not my concern, it seems MC is using the node points of the spline to generate the surface cut. in the flatter area i'm getting flats of about 3/4 in. wide and as i get to the more curvy area the flats get shorter. it doesnt show up on my screen, it shows up in the post and on the machine. it's not the machine causing it because i tried it on two machines.

[SORCHEROR]

could you send me the surface file?i could look at it,did you run a check model
on the surfaces?what do you have your tolerances set for when you created
the surfaces?maybe check that,best would be for me to see the file,send me the parasolid too
steve

[pp-TG]

I have had some of these same problems, does master cam use G17,G18,G19 or does it just brake up the arcs into little lines?

[GRANDPA]

in the mastercamX advertisement they show a turbin impeller and if you look close you will see the flats i am talking about. these blades must be created with splines.

[million84]

It simpel..

Go to "trim" and select "break in many pieces" or what ever its called...

Set the tolerance to 0.001 and click the "lines and arcs" or whutnut..

The problem is caused by endpoints...a spline has max 2 points..a start and a end point or 1 if it is a closed chain-spline. A mill for example can only move in lines and arcs, and a spline have multiple arcs and lines but no breaks i between.


i hope it makes sense

Million