Need Help!- 3-D roughing

[mars13]

I've got aluminum forgings to machine with a countoured surface. The 2d pocket routine runs fast but it cuts too much air. What's the best way to rough the countoured surface to the flat with the holes? Naturally I'll need to run more pathes to get past the flat but I want to use an 1.250" dia. rougher/finisher to remove the most amout of material the fastest?

[mcphill]

Originally Posted by mars13 I've got aluminum forgings to machine with a countoured surface. The 2d pocket routine runs fast but it cuts too much air. What's the best way to rough the countoured surface to the flat with the holes? Naturally I'll need to run more pathes to get past the flat but I want to use an 1.250" dia. rougher/finisher to remove the most amout of material the fastest?

May I ask where you source those forgings? Got dimensions and/or a link?

Sorry, can't help to answer your question as I am a relative noob...

[mars13]

I get them from several sources. They come in different sizes and contours. PM for more info.

[Jason S]

Originally Posted by mars13 I've got aluminum forgings to machine with a countoured surface. The 2d pocket routine runs fast but it cuts too much air. What's the best way to rough the countoured surface to the flat with the holes? Naturally I'll need to run more pathes to get past the flat but I want to use an 1.250" dia. rougher/finisher to remove the most amout of material the fastest?

Looks like you have 2 different styles of "spokes". I would program it down to selected levels depending on depth of cuts you wish to take. This would involve a little time to get the geo. for the mat'l boundries and so on but in the end you will have a cleaner program. I would do this to both styles on one spoke only. Once you have your routines for both styles then you can transform-circular array to the desired angle and you should have your complete program. This is just at a glance, naturally with the model in hand and chance to play around with some cuts I could possible come up with some different scenerios and time savings.

[John Welden]

I don't understand why you're cutting a bunch of air with your 2d tool path unless you're cutting on multiple Z depths with the same full tool path.

Can you copy the geometry and then trim it up at the various Z levels you're going to cut. Trim away the portion that would be air cuts.

Without knowing how big the part is and what kind of a setup you've got, it's hard to say how big of a cutter to run.

PM me if you need help with the 2d geometry creation.