Newbie- need help, total newbie

[HaD87]

Greetings!

I'm new to solidcam and cam software in general. I managed to make some simple parts in past, and they turned out good, but now i modeled something for a friend. He's a fisherman and he wanted mold for casting lead. Model is done, but i can't make normal tool paths. I'm just doing something wrong (probably everything) and i don't know what is it. So, if anyone is interested in helping me with this, i'll be more than grateful!
Photo is here, but if anybody want's a model, i'll send it to mail.
ah, yes, i'm using solidcam 2010




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[glovebox20]

Hello

First of all, I would like to ask if you have a working post for the machine your working with. With out that, your pretty much S*** out of luck unless you like hand editing your G-codes after posting to make it work right.

Looks like to me that you should be able to this using only 2D toolpaths along with a few Ball EM's and a Corner Rounding End Mill if there isn't a long point on it. Other wise you may have to 3D some of it out.

If your doing the other half as well, It would proably be easier if you could machine the "Blanks" out first, assemble them together and Drill the "Fill" holes in. You could Drill the "Fill" holes in last, but this would leave more burr in the cavity witch you would have to dig out later. If your not doing the other half, you can mill them using a Ball Mill instead.

Load the part up in Soildcam and Define your Coordiatie system and define the tools that your using. You can define them later as well when your adding your process.

I would start by drawing a sketch to face down the Mold half. Make sure you extend the "open walls" of the contour by at least half of your EM Dia. (I would add a good .032" to .062 for good measure). You can use the Geometery tool in Soildcam to do this, but I find programing right off a sketch easier to do in this appication.

Then try to Rough out the pockets. I would use Hecial Ramping at 2-5*.

Ocen you get this far, I'll help you out with the rest.

I use Inventor at work, so if you could send me a IGES and a Soildwork file or something like that, that would make it easier for me.

Glovebox20

[HaD87]

Hi!
Thanks for reply.
Yes, i do have working post, it's for Siemens 810D.
I will do the other half as well, but i wanted to do fill holes with 6mm ball end mill. Unfortunately, at the moment i'm short of time to try what you told me, but i'll give it a try tonight.
Rough pocketing,finish passes and engraving are done with 10mm,3mm and 1mm end mill. That i manage to do.
What i can't figure out how to do is to make an open pocket between hinges, and how to round them using ball end mill...

[HaD87]

Here are the models for this mold...

[glovebox20]

Got the model. Inventor read the Soildworks file without issiues.

I missed the Radius on the Hinges. Your best bet is to use the 3D plug to machine those. I don't have the 3D plug myself so hopefuly someone else can help out with that. I was thinking you could round them by hand with a file or something, but that wouldn't teach how to 3D out with Soildcam.

Nice job Drawing the model.

When your defining your pocket Geometery, you sould be able to go back and "Right" click on the chain. The sub menue that pops up should show "mark open edges". From there it's a mater of clicking the lines you want to mark as open. NOTE: if you use Point to Point to define your proflie, those lines can't be marked as "open". Don't you love software bugs. That's why I like drawing skectes for open pockets some times. Although it can get tricky to managing your skectes.

One thing you will want to keep in mind while profile milling is the Modify window under the "technology" tab. next to where you can select cut side (left, right, center) there should be a Geomertery Button. If you open up that window, you can extend your Geometery (longer or shorter), offset the profile, and modfiy the Start point on closed contours. Be careful. Advoid hitting the enter key to move to a different window. This can cause Soildcam to crash. Use Tab or click with the mouse.

Glovebox20

[HaD87]

I finally found time to try with open edges. Thank you so much for the tip, it worked excellent. Tomorrow i'll try with profile milling and see the what will come out of that.
Cheers!

[glovebox20]

Thanks for the update.

Glad to hear that you are making progress.