Fixed and Variable Axis Guiding Curves in NX CAM

In our first example, we have specified one guiding curve on our manufacturing surface that we want our ball tool to follow away from the guide to the outside. The tool will sweep along the tool paths from the guiding curve to the outside of our surface.

In our second example, we want to manufacture another surface of our workpiece and have again defined a guiding curve. Again, we want to move our tool away from this guiding curve to the outside of the guide. Our tool again follows the guiding curve. At the outer end of our workpiece, the tool simply continues the movement with an approach and retract motion.

In our third example, we specify two guiding curves. In this operation, we zigzag with touchdown along the guide and from outside to inside. Siemens NX automatically detects that the tool would collide on top and swivels the tool out of the collision area.

Now let's try the Fixed Guiding Curves operation on a part that has several different shapes that we want to spiral using five guiding curves.

Again, this is no problem thanks to Siemens NX CAM. We get very accurate tool paths along the guiding curves across our entire manufacturing area. The tool paths adapt to the different guiding curves and change their shapes from, for example, star-shaped to circular towards the round center of our workpiece.

The movements are much finer thanks to the guiding curves.