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Suggested Technique for Creating an Open Cutline SurfaceMilling Sequence Using Projected Inner Cut Lines


This Suggested Technique describes how to utilize projected inner cut lines to create an Open Cutline Surface milling tool path on the model shown in Figure 1.

Surfaces to be machined will be selected from the reference model, cut lines will be selected from boundary edges of the surfaces to be machined and the inner cut line will be projected onto the surfaces.


Procedure
  1. To begin creation of the tool path, the type of NC sequence must be chosen. Select Machining, NC Sequence, New Sequence, Surface Mill,  and Done. This presents the NC SEQUENCE and SEQ SETUP menu which contain all the options necessary to define the NC sequence.

    mil229a

    Figure 1


  2. Select an appropriate tool, coordinate system and retract plane using the Tool, Coord Sys and Retract options respectively, if they have not been previously established.
  3. NC sequence parameters must be established before the tool path can be created. Critical parameters are shown in Figure 2.

    SCAN_TYPE TYPE_1
    LACE_OPTION LINE_CONNECT
    REMAINDER_SURFACE NO
    TOLERANCE 0.001
    STEP_OVER 0.0625
    PROF_STOCK_ALLOW 0

    Figure 2


  4. The next item that must be defined is the surfaces to be machined. For this example select Model and Done from the SURF PICK menu and select the surfaces shown in Figure 3. Once the surfaces have been selected, select Done Sel, Done, and Done/Return.

    mil229d

    Figure 3


  5. Immediately after completing the surface selections, the CUTLINE DEFINITION User interface will appear. In the CUTLINE DEFINITION User Interface select Machine Srfs for the Cut Line Reference Geometry, Open Ends for the Cut line type, next select the Plus (+) button to select the start cut line. From the ADD/REDEFINE CUTLINE User Interface select From Edges, since there are multiple edges to select for each cut line which belong to the surfaces selected for machining, use the Boundary Chain option. Select the "c" shaped segments using From-To option as shown in Figure 4. Once the edges have been selected, select Done Sel, Done, and OK. Define the end cut line the same way as the start cut line has been defined. To Preview the cut lines simply select each cut line from the Cut Line Setup list, this will highlight the selected cut line on the model.

    mil229e

    Figure 4


  6. The DIRECTION can be controlled from the CUTLINE DEFINITION User Interface using the Cutting Direction button. The direction of machining is determined by the red flip arrow displayed at the beginning of the first defined cut line.
  7. The last step is to create the inner cut line by sketching it on the retract plane and projecting it onto the surfaces selected for machining. Inner cut lines help define exactly how the tool path will blend from the start cut line to the end cut line. Select Add from the SETUP CUT LINES section of the CUTLINE DEFINITION User Interface, and then select Projected. At this point the retract plane will automatically be selected as the sketching plane and sketcher will be started, next Sketch a horizontal line from one end of the workpiece to the other as shown in Figure 5. Align the ends of the sketched line with the workpiece edges and dimension the distance from the side of workpiece to regenerate the section. Use the Preview button from the ADD/REDEFINE CUTLINE User Interface to insure the proper cut line was created.

    mil229g

    Figure 5


  8. The resultant tool path is shown in Figure 7.

    mil229h

    Figure 6



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