PowerMILL 4.

Pattern Finishing

4. Five Axis Pattern Finishing

Introduction
The following Finishing strategies; 3D Offset, Constant Z, Pencil, Corner, Offset Flat,
Optimised Constant Z, and Raster Flat, do not directly support 5-Axis Tool Alignments.
A 5-Axis conversion is achieved by re-machining using the Pattern finishing strategy. If
Base Position - Automatic is specified the toolpath will be recreated to the selected 5-Axis
Tool Alignment (as illustrated below).

Original
Vertical Alignment

New 5-Axis Alignment

Corner Finishing - Conversion to 5 Axis

• From PowerMILL_data/five_axis/vert_pocket, - Import the model
pocket_sld.dgk.

• Create a Block to the Max/Min limits of the Model.

• Define a Ball Nosed tool of Dia 8mm named BN8.
• Reset Safe Z and Start Z.
• In the Start and End Point form Use - Block Centre Safe for both.

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• Select the Toolpath Strategies icon and in the New strategies form select the
Finishing option.
• Select the Corner Pencil Finishing option and enter details exactly as shown
below before selecting Apply.

Note: Five Axis tool alignment options

are not directly available with the Corner
Pencil Finishing strategy (shown left).
The resultant 3-Axis toolpath can
however be used in a Pattern Finishing
strategy to recreate it as a 5-Axis Tool
Alignment.

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• Select the Toolpath Strategies icon and in the New strategies form select the
Finishing option.
• Select the Pattern Finishing and Tool Axis forms and enter details exactly as
shown below before selecting Apply.

As displayed on the form the Use

Toolpath box is ticked, the original
Toolpath is selected as the Pattern,
and the Base Position is set to
Automatic for the 5-Axis Tool
Alignment to work.
The resultant 5-Axis toolpath is
shown below with the original 3-Axis
tooltrack (inside).

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• Apply Leads/Links as follows:-

Zheights: --- Skim 15 Plunge 5

Lead In/Out: --- Vertical Arc Angle 90 Radius 6
Extensions: --- Inward/Outward Extended Move Distance 5
Links: --- Short/Long/Safe: Skim

• Animate the active toolpath to display the 5-Axis tool movement and the contact
points between both the base and sidewalls of the pocket as shown below.

Corner Finishing - conversion to 5 Axis

The previous example involved a unidirectional toolpath to 5-Axis, Pencil machine the
intersection of the sidewalls with the base of a pocket. In this case the 5-Axis Tool
Alignment was achieved using Lead/Lean with values of 0 and 20 respectively. This would
not be an option for a bi-directional toolpath due to Lead/lean being dependant on the
direction (The Lean of the tool would keep switching sides on the alternate toolpath
direction). For the following Stitch Corner example a From Point - 5-Axis tool alignment is
applied which is not affected by the toolpath direction.

This example uses the same settings as before using the same Dia 8mm Ball Nosed cutter for
the machining process.

• Define a Ball Nosed tool 16mm diameter to be used as the Reference Tool.

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• Select the Toolpath Strategies icon and in the New strategies form select the
Finishing option.
• Select the Corner Stitch Finishing form and enter details exactly as shown below
before selecting Apply.

Note: Five Axis tool alignment options are

not directly available with the Corner Stitch
Finishing strategy (shown left).
The resultant 3-Axis toolpath can however be
used in a Pattern Finishing strategy set to
recreate the original toolpath as a 5-Axis Tool
Alignment.

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• Select the Toolpath Strategies icon and in the New strategies form select the
Finishing option.
• Select the Pattern Finishing form and enter details exactly as shown below before
selecting Apply.

As displayed on the form the Use Toolpath

box is ticked, the original Toolpath is selected
as the Pattern, and the Base Position is set to
Automatic for the 5-Axis Tool Alignment to
apply.
The resultant 5-Axis toolpath is shown left.

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• Apply Leads/Links as follows:-

• Zheights: --- Skim distance 15 Plunge distance 5
• Links: --- Short - On Surface Long/Safe - Skim

• Animate the active toolpath to display 5-Axis tool movement and the contact
points between both the base and sidewalls of the pocket as shown below (Leads
and Links not displayed for clarity).

• Delete all and Reset forms.

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Corner Finishing – conversion to 5 Axis (continued)

• from the local directory :-
PowerMILL_data/five_axis/5axis_Corner_Finish/Corner_finish
Open the Project - Corner_finish

The Project contains a single corner finishing strategy calculated using a Dia 4 ball nosed
tool referenced to a Dia 8 ball nosed tool.

By Attaching the Active Tool it is clearly visible that the bottom of the pocket is unable to be
machined safely using the current tool assembly. This can be confirmed by verifying the
toolpath.

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• Right click over the toolpath 4mm_corner finish in the explorer window and
select Verify - Toolpath from the local menu.

• Enter the values into the form exactly as shown and Apply.

Note: The original toolpath is colliding and as requested

in the Tool Verification settings a newly defined tool
(4bn_1) with increased length has been substituted for
the original (4bn). There are also 2 extra toolpaths
which include two parts of the original toolpath, Split
into the safe working, depth for the original tool (4bn)
and the remaining depth using the longer tool (4bn_1).

In this case, due to the tool length modification being

relatively small, the user may be justified in using the
original toolpath with the substited tool of increased
length

PowerMILL will check the toolpath for collisions using the 4bn tool assembly. The toolpath
will be divided into safe and unsafe moves with safe moves machined using the current 4bn
tool and unsafe moves machined with an automatically created tool called 4bn_1. This newly
created tool is a replica of the original tool assembly, with a modified overhang value, to
enable the bottom of the pocket to be machined without collision.

• From the explorer window display the properties of the 4bn and 4bn_1 tools.

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To machine the pocket using vertical tool alignment it may be possible to introduce an
additional ‘extended’ tool. However this tactic raises further issues i.e. Increased tool
deflection, reduced cutting speed etc. all of which may not be acceptable to the user. By
applying a suitable 5-Axis, tool alignment the pocket will be easily accessible to the original
tool. The existing 4mm_corner finish_2 strategy does not support 5-Axis tool alignments
but can be used in a Pattern Finishing strategy to create the required 5-Axis tool alignment.

• Select the Toolpath Strategies icon and in the New strategies form select the
Finishing option.
• Select the Pattern Finishing and Tool Axis forms and enter details exactly as
shown below before selecting Apply.

As displayed on the form

the Use Toolpath box is
ticked, the 4mm_corner
finish_2 Toolpath is
selected as the Pattern,
and the Base Position is
set to Automatic for 5-
Axis Tool Alignment to
work.

• Accept the form.

• Animate the Toolpath.

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The tool can be seen to be leaning away from the walls of the pocket thus avoiding any
collision. This can be confirmed by verifying the toolpath.

• Right click over the toolpath 4mm pattern corner finish in the explorer window
and select Verify from the list.
• Use the values stored within the form from its previous application and Apply.

PowerMILL will confirm that the toolpath is collision free.

• Delete all and Reset forms.

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Constant Z Finishing - conversion to 5-Axis

• Import the model punch2_insert.dgk from the local directory
PowerMILL_data/five_axis/punch2.

Initially a 3-Axis, Constant Z finishing

strategy will be created, which when
checked will be found to be in collision
with the component form. The strategy
will then be re-machined as a Pattern
finishing strategy along with a suitable
5-Axis, Tool Alignment. A full
collision check will again be performed
on the final toolpath.

• Create a Block to the Max/Min Limits of the Model.

• Reset Safe Z and Start Z.
• In the Start/End Point form set Use - Block Centre safe for both.
• Create a Ball Nosed tool Dia 20, Length 100, Name BN20 as shown in the
following form.
• Add a Shank with Upper Dia 30, Lower Dia 20 and Length 50.
• Add a Holder with Upper/Lower Dia 50, Length 30 and Overhang as 140.

• Activate the Ball Nosed, BN20.

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• Select the Sidewall Surface (shown shaded dark below) and Create a Selected
Surface Boundary with the name constZ.

• Select the Toolpath Strategies icon followed by the Finishing option located
in the strategies form.
• Enter the remaining values into the Constant Z Finishing form exactly as shown
below and Apply.

Toolpath Name is ConstZ_vert.

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• Attach the Active tool, bn20 to a point along the base of the toolpath near to the
highest point of the model to observe the Collision condition.

• Select the Toolpath Strategies icon followed by the Finishing option located
in the New strategies form.
• Enter the remaining values into the Pattern Finishing form exactly as shown
below and Apply.

As displayed on the form

the Use Toolpath box is
ticked, the original
Toolpath is selected as the
Pattern, and the Base
Position is set to
Automatic for the 5-Axis
tool alignment (Lead 0,
Lean 30) to work.

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The resultant toolpath (shown below) is a 5-Axis version of the original Constant Z strategy.

• Open the Collision checking form by selecting the icon in the top toolbar.

• Select the option Check Collisions.

• Set Scope All.

• Uncheck Split Toolpath.

• Apply the form to receive the following message

confirming that the toolpath is collision safe.

The lower fillet is yet to be machined and again requires a suitable 5-Axis strategy to avoid a
collision situation (This will be covered later in Chapter 9 - Tool Axis Limits).

• Save the Project as C:\temp\Punch2 to be continued later during Chapter 8 -Tool

Axis Limits.

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