Control tilt and offset during a multi-axis contour

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In this lesson, we will control maximum tilt during a multi-axis contour.

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After completing this lesson, you'll be able to modify toolpath, cutting model and maximum tilt parameters,

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and you simulate to validate parameter adjustments.

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In Fusion 360, we're going to carry on with our multi-axis contour.

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Right now we've been playing around with multi-axis contour on a planer contour.

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It's simply along the flat edge on the top of our part.

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But now we want to explore what happens when this curve starts to move around in all three directions.

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So we're going to begin by editing this operation, and I want to start by editing the tool.

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The tool that we've created this taper mill doesn't currently have a holder to find.

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So I want to go into the holder section, and I want to pick a holder,

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so that way we can better understand what is happening when we are colliding with geometry.

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So I'm going to scroll down until I find a CT40,

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and I want to move through and I want to see exactly which holder makes the most sense for this tool.

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In this case, just like we use in previous operations.

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I'm going to use that CT40 -.125 by 2.36.

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We will accept that and select it, and now we have a holder represented when we're going to be simulating.

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The next thing that I want to do is move to my geometry section, and I'm going to be working around the outside of the part.

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I want to use this small contour here, and I want to take a look at this to make sure I can understand,

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how I can control the tool and what limitations I might have when we get close to the fixture and also when we get close to stock.

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Without making any other changes, let's say ‘okay’, allow it to generate this operation, and then we can simulate it to see what we're working with.

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Once it's been created, let's go ahead and simulate and take a look to make sure that we understand exactly where these collisions are happening.

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So I'm going to slow this down, but I want to play through and see what the tool is doing.

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So you can see in the underside, we are actually going directly through that stock with a portion of the tool that is not cutting.

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We could, of course, come in and clean out that stock.

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But we are in a situation where even if we clean the stock out to the end of that fixture,

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the tool would still be going through it and that's not something that we want to happen.

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So we need to look at the control that we have over this tool and what that really means.

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So let's edit this operation.

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We're going to go into our Passes section, and we're going to modify the maximum tilt value to be 90 degrees.

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We will say ‘okay’ and allow it to regenerate.

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Once it has been regenerated, let's go ahead and simulate this, and we'll play through it at normal speed.

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So now you can see that it's trying to adjust its position down here but as it's going through the stock,

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it is actually tilting below that 90 degrees value that we gave it.

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I'll slow it down, so we can see it a little bit better.

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You can see that it's tilting down as soon as it gets to those straight sections where it's trying to cut that geometry.

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So this obviously isn't giving us the result that we would expect.

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Let's edit this and go back to the Passes and take a look at some of our cutting mode settings.

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This is going to specify what happens along in this case a contact curve.

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Right now we haven't set to trim impossible, which basically means that it's just going to hog through.

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We have failed when impossible or turn when impossible.

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So I'm going to set it to turn when impossible just to see what happens.

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Whenever we're working out, what options we need on these multi-axis contours.

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It's always a good idea to change a single option at a time, then go back and simulate it and play through just to see what happens.

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Going to allow to play through and note that we don't have any collisions at the bottom in this case.

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But what's happening is as soon as it gets to the situation where it would start to tilt down and intersect with some of this, it just doesn't.

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It just simply pulls away from the part and then it moves on up.

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So this is telling me that the settings are working to allow us to prevent that collision.

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We can make some additional adjustments.

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For example, in the Passes section, we can maybe go up to 120 degrees, allowing it to tilt a little bit more.

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We're going to say ‘okay’, again allow it to regenerate.

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And once it's regenerated, let's go ahead and simulate it again.

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It's always a good idea as soon as the simulation loads to take a look at the bottom and see where collisions might appear.

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As soon as it gets to this position when we had it set between 0 and 90, it would simply pull away because it was going to start colliding.

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However, now at 120 degrees, it's working its way through that stock.

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Now, this is a situation where we could very easily come and clean this out first,

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and allow the tool to go through there without contacting the fixture itself.

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Let's go back into the multi-axis contour and in the geometry section, notice that we have tool orientation and model.

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In the tool section, we have our feeds and speeds and at the bottom, we have shaft and holder.

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Shaft and holder allows us to specify some clearances to avoid collisions with the work piece.

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And this is something that we will take a look at but for right now,

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we're not going to turn that on because we want to make sure that we understand these settings.

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There's also a few more down here, such as the maximum fan distance and tool axis sweep.

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So these values allow us to control some of the max parameters that will be on a single line of NC code.

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So what I mean by that is when we're generating the position that the tool is in, the way that it's moving.

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Each time the tool is repositioned,

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that's going to be another line of code that ends up in your NC file and ultimately controls the tool and the machine.

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Well, sometimes those can get to be a lot of lines, especially when we're dealing with these multi-axis contours.

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So sometimes having these maximum sweep angles will allow us to change the amount of lines that end up in the code,

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which ultimately changes the size of the file.

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Now, while those aren't going to necessarily affect what we're trying to do here with these collisions,

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they are helpful to understand to make sure that we can really identify the efficiencies that can be gained with some of these.

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What I want to do at this point is I want to reset my maximum tilt to 180 degrees.

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I want to go back to a Home view, and I want to save this before I make any other changes or adjustments.

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So once you have it saved, let's go ahead and move on to the next step.