Multi-axis flow for 3 vs 5 axes

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In this lesson, we'll use multi-axis flow for both three and 5 axes.

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After completing this lesson, you'll be able to create multi-axis flow toolpaths for 3- and 5-axes,

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modify the tools used to better suit geometry, and you simulate to validate changes.

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In Fusion 360, we want to get started with the supply data set, 3-axis flow example.

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We want to navigate to manufacture, change our units to inch and create a new setup.

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We need to make sure that the orientation of a coordinate system is pointing in the correct direction,

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and we're going to use the default settings for stock and simply say ‘okay’.

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From here, we want to begin by creating a 3D adaptive clearing operation to remove the majority of the material.

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We're going to be using our multi-axis library and our half inch flat or tool number seven.

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We want to make sure that it's using the stock contours, but we can turn off rest machining since this is our first operation.

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We will say ‘okay’ using all the default settings.

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I'm going to turn in process stock back on, and I'm going to hide the passes or cutting moves.

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So that way I can see just the material that's been removed.

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The next thing that we want to take a look at is creating a flow operation.

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So now we're going to select our 3D flow, and we want to use an eighth inch ball end,

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but we also want to talk about the size of the ball end mill and how it's going to affect our cut.

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We're going to filter by milling, and we'll start with ball end mill, and we're going to use an eighth inch ball end.

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Remember this ball end mill doesn't stick out of the holder very far.

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So we want to make sure that we modify it, so that it sticks out from the holder a little bit farther.

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So in this case, we're going to increase the overall length.

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We want to make this 2 inches, we're also going to increase the length below holder to an inch and a half.

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In the holder section, we're going to navigate down to the second CT40,

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which gives us a little bit better of a holder to use in these multi-axis operations.

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In general, you don't want the tools sticking out too far from the holder if you can help it.

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So if it looks like it's sticking out too far, we can always go back in and make adjustments.

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So in this case, the length below holder being an inch and a half seems to be a bit too much.

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I'm going to reduce that to one inch, and this will give us more tool stability.

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From here, we now want to create our operation.

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For our geometry, we're going to select this upper fillet in the main portion of the body.

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Remember before when we select multiple bodies or multiple faces that we're going to have issues based on the number of passes.

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But what we want to do is we want to explore how these are going to be created.

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So now that we have both of those selected, I'm going to change the number of passes, I’m going to set this to 50 and simply say ‘okay’.

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I wanted to generate this, and I would just want to see what the results are.

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Again, it's always good for you to go in and make these changes based on some basic parameters.

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So everything looks pretty good, and I think what I want to do is duplicate this operation.

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And for the first one, I simply want to focus on that small fillet.

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So when I'm going to go back to my geometry,

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I'm going to deselect that larger surface and maybe change the number of stepovers to something a bit smaller.

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I’m going to change it to 35 and say ‘okay’.

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This allows me to focus my attention on just a small fillet, and then with the second flow operation,

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I can go back into geometry and I can remove that fillet, focusing my attention just on the larger area.

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When we do this, we want to increase the number of steps here, and in this case, I'm going to go up to 75 and see if that helps.

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Once we get results on the screen, we can see that it looks pretty good,

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but we have a lot of steps because it's going down in the Z axis and making those passes as it goes around.

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So what I want to do now is I want to explore how this operation will look if we're using multi-axis.

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Without any other changes, I'm going to activate multi-axis for the larger area and just see what the tool does.

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So as the tool moves around, again it can go from 0 to 180 degrees and the surface finish with the same number of steps is quite a bit better.

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Instead of it is stepping down in Z, it's keeping the tool at a specific orientation to the normal of the surface.

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Now, there's another thing that we always need to consider whenever we're talking about complex finishing, whether it's in three axes or five.

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We want to make sure that we're not using too small of a tool based on the geometry we're trying to cut.

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All of the fillets and the smooth sections on this part are external and rather large, which means that we don't need to use such a small tool.

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What I want to do is go back in and select a larger tool from my samples tool inch library.

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Again, milling ball end mill but this time we're going to be using a 3/8th ball end mill, and I'm going to use it for aluminium and finishing.

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I'm going to say ‘okay’, allow it to regenerate that, and then see what the results look like.

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Because we're using a larger tool, that means that we can do the same cut with fewer steps.

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So this is still using 50 steps.

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But based on some calculations we could do, we could come back in here and decide that maybe 35 steps is enough.

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Again, it's a little bit difficult with these complex surfaces because we need to understand how much the tool can step over each time,

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and we're looking at a surface area rather than an actual numerical value.

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But we can play around with these numbers, see what the preview looks like on screen and make changes, so that the view looks better.

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Another thing that we always want to keep in mind is that the in-process stock preview on the screen,

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the resolution is going to be a bit lower than something we can do is say simulate.

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Now that it's recalculated, we can see on the screen that 35 passes is probably a little bit low but 75 is probably too much.

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So we can continue to look for that perfect value to see exactly how many passes we need,

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to figure out how long the program actually needs to be to get the resolution that we're looking for.

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I'm going to turn off the toolpath and just simply show the tool going around.

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And again, it's important to note that the tool stays normal to the selected surface, which means that we're using the same portion of the cutter,

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and we can control that by adjusting things like lead and lag angles or tilts in different directions.

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This allows us to have a consistent cut across the geometry rather than keeping the tools straight up and down,

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meaning that we're cutting certain areas with more or less of the tools.

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Once we've made these adjustments, let's make sure that we're back at a Home view and save the design before moving on.