Remachine tab

This tab is available on pencil milling operations only.

Tool diameter –  The pencil milling diameter is not settable. Use the Tools tab to choose the tool.

Stock boundary – Choose a stock boundary to roughly limit the region searched for remachining regions.

Tolerance – For pencil milling, this is the tolerance for the final toolpaths.

Preview region – Shows the boundary curves of the remachining region. Forces the region to be computed and saved on the feature if necessary. Clicking a second time unshows the curves.

Overcut percent – This is an amount to cut past the boundary. It is specified as a percentage of the tool diameter. It is usually a good idea to overcut a little to ensure complete coverage.

Grid size

The Grid size is used in the second phase of remachining or pencil milling to sort and connect the arcs into regions. The default value for Grid size depends on the size of the part (or stock curve) and the Previous tool diameter for remachining or Tool diameter for pencil milling. In order for 3 or more regions to be joined correctly at a corner where they come together the grid size has to be sufficiently small to distinguish which region an arc belongs to. Generally the default value is used and it is not recommended that this value be increased. Smaller values need to be used to correctly join multiple regions in certain instances. Using smaller values will decrease performance, so try the default value before adjusting this parameter. The right-hand figure shows the proper regions for the camera mold displayed on the left.

Recompute regions – Forces the remachining region to be recomputed. Regions should be invalidated automatically in most cases. One use for this is to force the region to fully recompute at a tighter tolerance because some regions may not get detected by the first phase of the algorithm if the tolerance is too loose.

Improve region – If checked, this option will perform additional processing to improve the calculated boundary of the region. This setting is recommended if remachining using spiral milling techniques. It should prevent the boundary from becoming ragged.

Default checkboxes – Click a Default checkbox to return a number to the FeatureCAM default.

See also Pencil milling, Remachining and Troubleshooting remachining.