A contour cut with 20° walls
The SURFCAM 2 Axis Plus (or higher) systems let you do some additional 2 1/2 axis procedures.
Tapered Walls
During the pocket and contour operations, you can select an angle for the cuts on a wall. This angle is defined from the side view of the elements. A 0° angle is a straight wall. A 20° angle is wall that tapers toward the inside of the pocket or contour, at 20°.
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A contour cut with 20° walls
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Multiple Island Depths
The Pocket operation can cut a pocket that has islands that are at different depths.
During the operation, the tool passes over the top of an island until it is below the island Z level. 3 Axis option
To cut the islands at different depths, select the Multiple option for the Path Island Depths parameter on the 2 Axis Options tab.
Construction View Machining
You can do 2 axis operations from the construction views. You can machine the different sides of a block of material with the construction view machining.
SURFCAM can be used to index the rotary axis for positioning. The axis can be positioned for each cutting view. These views can be created from part sides, fixture sides, or work offset locations. The views define the index positioning for each SURFCAM operation.
A view to define each tool orientation must be created. After you select the X and Y axis locations for the view, the Z axis origin is defined. The Z axis origin is defined as the zero position.
The best results occur when you place the Z axis origin at the center of the rotary table for each view. If this procedure is not done, you must be careful when you select the clearance locations.
Create the part geometry in 3D space around the axis of rotation. The operation must be done in the View coordinates. On the Status bar, set Coord to VIEW. Set the CView to the defined plane for the operation.
Rotary axis index operations are not done in the 4 Axis mode. The Post Processor sends the rotary axis index positions for the 2 axis or 3 axis mode operations.
The View 1 plane is the rotary axis zero. The following drawing shows the axis of rotation along the X axis, from negative to the positive. The line through the center of the box is the X axis. The arrow indicates the positive direction of tool motion for the rotary axis. The top of the box is on the View 1 plane. The front of the box is on the View 2 plane. When the Coord button on the SURFCAM Status bar is set to View, the top of the box is cut in CView 1. The output for the top is at the rotary axis zero. The front is cut in CView 2. The output for the front is rotary axis 90º.
axis of rotation along the X axis, from negative to positive
tool orientation for indexing during the pocket cutting
tool orientation for indexing during the pocket cutting
