Pattern a pocket toolpath

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In this lesson, we will pattern a pocket toolpath.

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After completing this lesson, you'll be able to create a toolpath pattern.

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In Fusion 360, let's carry on with our multi-axis positioning design,

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so far we've created a 2D contour to take care of geometry on each of these two arms.

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However, we also need to machine the other side before we can create a mirrored pattern.

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In order to do this, we will simply duplicate the operations again and then determine the order of operations.

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To get started, I'm going to use the first operation, and I'm going to select duplicate.

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Keeping in mind that when we do this, it places it directly after inside of our browser.

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And that's okay and in this instance, I'm actually going to modify the original by taking a look at editing the operation,

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and I want to make some changes.

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The first thing that I want to do is change the Z orientation.

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I'm going to be machining from this other side.

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So I'm going to start by selecting this face.

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And if we need to, we can flip the X and Y axis.

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We need to always be mindful of the orientation of the coordinate system.

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Whenever we're setting these operations up using our tool orientation, then we want to select a different chain.

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Again, we need to make sure that we're on the inside of the chain, and then we can move onto our predrill entry position.

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If we make an improper selection, go ahead and just cancel the predrill position, making sure that you are using the center position of that hole.

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Once we do this, we will allow it to regenerate, and now we're cutting this first position, the tools moving over to its second position,

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then it moves over to its third, and now we can duplicate this third operation.

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What we're trying to do is make sure that the motion around the part is meaningful.

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We don't want to spend a lot of time jumping around to different positions.

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So we'll edit this last operation, and we'll handle the coordinate system by first reselecting a Z face,

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flipping the X axis if we need to, and then we want to reselect our chain.

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Lastly, we want to come down to our entry or predrill position, and then we can say ‘okay’.

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Now this fourth operation is going to be handling the backside.

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Now keep in mind that we've done this with both drilling operations and now a 2D contour.

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But it's going to work the same whether we're using a 2D pocket or an adaptive clearing operation,

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we simply need to make sure the coordinate system is the same and that the geometry were machining is all being handled by that specific orientation.

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Now that we have these four, let's take a second to rename them.

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So I'm going to start with the first one, and this is my 2D contour but I'm going to call this a 2D bore, and I need to determine the position.

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When we were doing our drilling, we considered this position one, and then I'm going to put a two in brackets.

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And the reason I want to do that is because this is position one, but it's the second instance of it.

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Then I'm going to rename the second one 2D bore position one, and then this third one is going to be our 2D bore,

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and this will be position 2 based on our drilling operations, and then we're going to handle a 2D bore,

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and this will be two but again in brackets, we will put a two.

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It's the second position in that instance.

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Again, these names simply need to be meaningful to you.

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They don't necessarily have to follow a specific flow but it's a good idea when we're creating operations like this,

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especially in multi-axis that we have a good understanding of what they're actually doing.

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Now that we have these four, I'm going to select all of them, I’m going to go to my setup, and I'm going to select a new pattern.

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The new pattern is going to be a mirror pattern.

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We're going to keep the original order by tool but we need to select a mirror plane.

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Again we'll need to expand the models, expand the views in the origin and select the XY plane.

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We're going to say ‘okay’ and allowed to create the pattern which will create those operations on the other side.

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It's always a good idea to double check this.

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So we're going to do a quick simulation and make sure that all of these are being removed, allow it to play through...

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and we can see that it's jumping around to the other side.

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One thing you'll notice is it went from this position all the way over to this position.

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Now this oftentimes happens when we're talking about creating a pattern and when we create that pattern,

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we don't necessarily have precise control over the pattern.

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And what I mean by that is we can allow it to calculate by tool or orientation,

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but sometimes we might want to manually control those and in those cases, we might need to change the order of operations.

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For example, preserve order and if we preserve the order,

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let's go ahead and allow these all to recalculate and then re-simulate and see how that changes it.

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So now if we go to our simulation and we begin playing through, you can see that it handles our first position, our second, our third, our fourth,

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but then it jumps back over to this side.

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And the reason it's doing that is because we mirrored it from the side that we worked on to the other side,

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which means that it's going to handle this left ear first which is in our case will be positioned four if we're going counter clockwise 1, 2, 3 and 4.

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So if we needed more precise control over these,

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we might decide to maybe do these two sides first and mirror across the Y Z plane or maybe manually create all the operations.

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In our instance, it's not going to add too much time.

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So I'm going to move forward with that pattern but just keep in mind that the order of operations can be adjusted in the pattern.

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But sometimes you might need to plan ahead with exactly how you're creating these operations,

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and you might end up actually manually creating them rather than the pattern.

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At this point, let's make sure that we do save the design before moving on.