A uniform cutting condition can be achieved by carefully controlling the width of cut. Limiting and controlling the width of cut is important when machining hard stock material where the programmed peripheral stepover is small. The curly corner toolpath is excellent for controlling the width of cut. Going from a small stepover to a tight corner or slot cutting produces a high percentage increase of the width of cut, up to the reciprocal of the stepover percent setting in FeatureCAM. For example, a 25% stepover can produce 4 times increase in the tool load, whereas a 5% stepover can produce up to 20 times increase in the tool load. The following images shows the varying width of cut for a corner move and the consistent width of the cuts of the curly corner toolpath.
We call this type of toolpath the curly Corner toolpath because of the tool's swirling motions around corners while moving forward. With the rounded corners and the curly corners, there are no sharp angles in the toolpath and the width of cut is limited by the desired stepover size. Because of the extra circular motions and the bounded tool load, it is expected to take more time to machine the same pocket then the previous two types of toolpaths. The curly corner toolpath machines the corners and slots multiple times. Each time, the tool cuts no more than the desired width of cut. The image below shows the shape of the toolpath for cutting a corner using the curly corner toolpath.
The curly corner toolpath is applicable to 2.5D pockets, bosses and sides.
To enable this technique
Click the Curly corner buttonon the operation's Milling tab.
Check the Enable curly corner toolpath checkbox.
See Curly corner options for additional details.