How would you machine this out?

[CNCadmin]

Here is my first part, took me about 1/2 to draw. How would you machine it?

[Cold Fusion]

What you mind posting the file?

[CNCadmin]

Here it is and remove the .txt

[Ken_Shea]

Paul, just zip the .xfa, no txt

This piece will not be a problem for you.

Ken

[CNCadmin]

I just renamed it, just have to rename it and remove the txt, I thought that would be faster than zipping it.

[Ken_Shea]

OK, I see what you did now.

I am getting kinda tired but I will try and get you something tonight, Andy is young so he may may be wide awake yet

In the mean time Paul, you might consider re-thinking your drawing to reflect the top of part to always be Z=0 and the XY to be in the negative that way you always know that any - XYZ coordinates will be cutting. I try and mimic my peers, WSM he has 25 years in the business so I figure I cannot go to wrong copying his typical methods. Of course you are the machinist and it is up to you to determine what is comfortable and right for you.


Ken

[CNCadmin]

In the mean time Paul, you might consider re-thinking your drawing to reflect the top of part to always be Z=0 and the XY to be in the negative that way you always know that any - XYZ coordinates will be cutting. I try and mimic my peers, WSM he has 25 years in the business so I figure I cannot go to wrong copying his typical methods. Of course you are the machinist and it is up to you to determine what is comfortable and right for you.


Ken

That explains why I got the machining result I did.

[Ken_Shea]

Paul,
Here is one way, not complete since you will need to flip your part, but it may help you get some ideas.

I am going to Bed

I would create the stock material for starters since it will be easier to rotate.

UH-OH no file, let me try again

[nervis1]

, like Ken said, put the top of the part at z-0. Draw a horizontal tangent line from the bottom of that boss to x-0 y-0, and another from one of the end arcs. Use this intersection to set the part zero. Consider drilling or cir milling the hole, or just z-level rough the whole thing but leave some at the bottom so it does not fall out of the stock. Make a fixture from a couple of pieces of stock with a notch for that boss, chuck it up in the vice, re-zero on the same spot but in the software flip the part over 180. Re do the same z-level rough. You shouldn't need a finish pass.

Thats just the way I'd approach it, theres at least 10 other ways, let us know how you end up doing it, I always like to see how other people approach things.

[RandMan]

You are the machinist. I work mostly with wood unless I'm making jigs from AL or phenolics. WMS or Hu will give you much better answers but here's some things I'd do:

For Z-level roughing I changed to:
- 1/16" end mill so your find flats with 0 finish allowance will make the horizontal surfaces well flat and then you won't need to planar finish those at all.
- speeds and feeds seem pretty high. I changed tolerance to .001 for roughing.
- up clearances to 1" and .25". Your plunge clearance was below the part extents so a simulation reports rapid gouges.
- change stepover to something like .03 You can type "1/16/2=" into the box and it will calculate for you. Any box. Really handy.

That will get a good roughing of the part. The big flat areas of the part will not need finishing ops, just the walls. If you make the same clearances changes your z-level finish toolpath works fine.

As Ken said you need to pick your strategy for part location and how you will hold and machine it. I also generally tend to locate my part top at Z=0. If you were to hold the stock in a vise you would want to set explicit Z extents instead of using the automatic so that you could set a hard limit on the Z depth for the top-side operation and of course you'd have a whole new set of bottom side ops. The clearances are a byproduct of where you locate the part etc.

Really powerful software. Enjoy, Rand

[CNCadmin]

Paul,
Here is one way, not complete since you will need to flip your part, but it may help you get some ideas.

I am going to Bed

I would create the stock material for starters since it will be easier to rotate.

UH-OH no file, let me try again

Thanks Ken, now I see what I was doing wrong, I'm gonna give it a try again.

[Ken_Shea]

Paul here is the (I hesitate to use the word complete) complete file, perhaps there may be something in it that you can use, if not let me know and I will give your money back

EDIT:
This is not usable as is Paul, you will have to adjust thing for your machine.