Roughing with Guiding Curves

Heinrich Flaum shows you how to use the 5-axis Guiding Curve operation for roughing.

For this scenario, we've already programmed our part in and the last operation we did is the solid profile 3D operation. Unfortunately, we can see that there is still quite a bit of residual material after this operation.

To solve this problem, we will start with the variable axis guiding curves operation. The cut-area is already defined, and the Part Stock is set to 4 mm. When we generate the toolpath, we see that it is not ideal because there is still too much stock material left for the small tool that we are using. So we need multiple depths:

To get that we must click on “strategy” and activate the “Multi-Depth Cut”. We also must specify a “Part Stock Offset”. In this case we will set it to 15 mm. This means that there is still 15mm of material left. The increment is set to 5mm. 15 divided by 5 equals 3 depth paths. Turning on the toolpath verification, we see that there are many air cuts, especially at the top. This happens because we originally selected the lower surface and "raised it 3 times," and now it follows those paths.

To move only where there is actual material, we click on “Geometry” and set the “In Process Workpiece (IPW) "Use 3D." This way, it considers both the Multi-Depth Cut in depth and the IPW (“In Process Workpiece”), working only where material has to be removed. This helps avoid many air cuts. Now we see multiple depth cuts where there is a lot of material and only one cut where there is little material.