trouble with 3D surface

[freman]

Hi,

It's been a while since I used 3D but I don't seem to be able to do what I've done previously with this path tool.

I have a concave surface next to a step. Several problems:

1. I can't get it to cut along Y, IIRC there used to be an option of which axis to cut , X or Y.
2. I can't get it to include the step. Adding this to base geom seems to have zero effect.
2b. I need to overrun the boundary to cut upto or over the edge but that eats off the step.
3. OpToolDiameter is 5mm. I created the TC from a 5mm ballend model and set shank and tool diam to 8mm. Why is this not used ?

One thing is a great improvement , if I don't change anything or have already hit Apply, it does not recaculate on exiting tool editor. Sadly same is not true for 3Dpocket. This would be good if it was the same since it's a horrible time-waster.

Can anyone tell me where I'm going wrong on those 3 issues?

Thanks.

OS: Fedora 34 (Thirty Four) (LXQt//usr/share/xsessions/lxqt)
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.20.26155 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: 0926a4148bcff11249fd4f56bc30256102ffe105
Python version: 3.9.7
Qt version: 5.15.2
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.5.0
Locale: English/United Kingdom (en_GB)

[bmsaus4ax]

1. I can't get it to cut along Y, IIRC there used to be an option of which axis to cut , X or Y.

In the Data Tab properties change the "Cut Pattern Angle" to 90 degrees
.

2. I can't get it to include the step. Adding this to base geom seems to have zero effect.
2b. I need to overrun the boundary to cut upto or over the edge but that eats off the step.

Hide the "end pad" which is currently visible and toggle the Job Model to visible. This shows the tool path does include the top flat. Just the on the wrong shape (see point 3. )
In Data Tab set "Boundary Adjustment" to zero
.

3. OpToolDiameter is 5mm. I created the TC from a 5mm ballend model and set shank and tool diam to 8mm. Why is this not used ?

I think the wrong model being displayed gave that impression.
.
OS: Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS (ubuntu:GNOME/ubuntu)
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.20.26155 (Git) AppImage
Build type: Release
Branch: master
Hash: 0926a4148bcff11249fd4f56bc30256102ffe105
Python version: 3.9.7
Qt version: 5.12.9
Coin version: 4.0.0
OCC version: 7.5.3
Locale: English/Australia (en_AU)

[freman]

Many thanks.

I found that I did not have sufficient step resolution which gave sloping edges to the step.

Cut pattern angle was indeed what I was missing. I must have been confusing with something else which selected X or Y cutting direction.

Anyway I got was I want and it was a nice finish.

HT to Russ once again for his work creating this great feature.