SmartCAM V18.5 Milling Improvements: Pocket/Face Morph Pattern & Other Core Milling Improvements

A new high-speed machining Morph Pattern toolpath type in wireframe Pocket and Face processes adds significant high-speed machining capability to SmartCAM V18.5 milling products. New options for island tops and solid milling closed profiles provide greater control.

Watch the "Morph Pattern Roughing with SmartCAM V18.5" Video

Morph Pattern Roughing - in V18.5

A new Morph Path Type provides a high speed machining roughing strategy that creates a continuous toolpath which blends between an outer boundary and an inner point or island. The blended toolpath can be optionally smoothed so sharp corners are replaced with tangent fillets. This new path type ensures the specified cut convention (climb or conventional) is consistently maintained throughout the entire cut while eliminating retracts and re-entries, which are hard on the cutting tool.

Morph toolpath type used to rough pocket by blending from outer boundary to center point.

Island Pass None Option - v18.5

The Island Top Pass behaviors have been expanded to include a new "None" option in addition to the existing entire "Level" and "Island Tops" only methods. When "None" is specified, machining at island top elevations is skipped entirely. This new option provides more control for scenarios where the island boundary represents a core that will later be machined with a different strategy, or when the island top surface has already been machined.

Morph toolpath type used to rough protruding boss from stock boundary. Island Pass None option is used to eliminate additional depth level that would otherwise occur at island top.

Solid Planar/Profile Closed Profiles Only - v18.5

A new "Closed Profiles Only" option available in the Parameters dialog of Planar Rough and Profile can now be used to further restrict machining of closed regions containing surfaces that extend into other areas. When enabled only closed profiles are machined and all open profiles are ignored.

Closed Profiles Only option used to eliminate unwanted cuts that would otherwise result from pocket feature containing wall surface that extends into adjacent region.