3D Profile - NX 6

[DaSalo]

Hi,
I am trying to generate a toolpath to cut a relief slot at the base of a wall. The wall has a wavy contour and the floor also has a wavy contour in the z axis. The slot is a .0625 radius in cross section so I'll need to run a 1/8 ball mill right down the center of it.

I'm fairly new to to NX and haven't done a lot of contouring yet so am not familier with the tools outside of Cavity Mill and Fixed Contour. I see a tool called 3D profile. Is this the tool for the job? Will it be necessary to elminate the fillets in the model so the the system will only see the Z depth at the bottom of the slot? Thanks if advance for any help.

-Jeff

 

[cadcamnx]

hello jeff

select the walls that you want to generate the machining and machining
the tool will go through the profile following the floor
not necessary to take the rays of the models also select them
and an excellent command to be used in machining of this type
I've used and recommend.

I doubt any disposition ..

Andre ..

specialist and multi axis
development of IS & V
and postprocessors
member committee nxcam plm world
skype:andrenxcam7

 

[markrief]

In Type=mill_contour, look for solid 3d profile (not sure if it was in NX6). If it's there, just pick the wall faces, follow wall bottom, and enter Z depth offset to overshoot the depth to get the correct depth on the groove.

If that's not there, use profile 3D. In this case, instead of selecting the wall faces, you will create a boundary by selecting the bottom edges of the wall. The boundary will display in a plane, but the processor knows the original edges that you select.


Mark Rief
Product Manager
Siemens PLM

 

[DaSalo]

Thanks for the help Andre and Mark. I was able to get exactly the path that I needed using 3D profile. My problem now is that this tool doesn't offer any option for multiple cut depths. I can create several operations, stepping down in Z with each one, but is there a tool that will generate a 3D profile path like this and also allow the option for multiple cut levels? An option like the one in Fixed Contour where I can specify an offset and either a number of passes or a depth increment would be perfect.

Right now the best options look like roughing the wall down to the minimum height using Z-level profile and then create a few 3D profile operations to step down the remaining depth that has Z axis contour.
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[markrief]

An option like the one in Fixed Contour where I can specify an offset and either a number of passes or a depth increment would be perfect.

That's why we added it in 7.5 :*)

In NX6, your approach is probably the best. If you do this a lot, use a boundary group to hold all the operations, then make it in to a template so you can reuse the sequence in other parts.


Mark Rief
Product Manager
Siemens PLM