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Mastercams3DAdvancedToolpathRefinementAQuickQ&A

MastercamX4s3DAdvancedToolpathRefinementgivesyouasinglecontrolpanelfortwopowerful

methodsoftoolpathimprovement.Thefirstmethod Line/ArcFilteringyoumayalreadybefamiliar

with.ThesecondmethodoftoolpathrefinementSmoothingisnewtoMastercam.

Note:TheCutParametersSmoothingoptionusedtoroundcornersinhighspeedtoolpathsisunrelatedto3DAdvanced

ToolpathRefinement.

HereareafewcommonlyaskedquestionsthatshouldhelpyoudecideifthenewSmoothingfeatureis

foryou:

WhattoolpathscanuseSmoothing?

All3Dsurfacetoolpathsandsurfacehighspeedtoolpathshavetheoptionofusingthenewtechnique.

Thisincludesbothroughingandfinishingtoolpaths.

WhatdoesSmoothingdo?

Smoothingdistributesatoolpathsnodepoints,avoidingtheclusteringandgroupingofpointsthatcan

causemarksandotherimperfections.Itdoesthisthroughshifting,removing,and/oraddingnodepoints

alonganalreadygeneratedtoolpath.

Whatarethebenefits?

Smoothingdeliversthreeclearbenefitsoncertainparts:

1. Superiorfinishquality.Testsshowamuchsmoother,consistentfinishwithfewervisibletool

marksonmanyparts.

2.

Reducedmachining

time.

Smoothed

toolpaths

eliminate

many

of

the

small

moves

common

to

3Dtoolpaths,lettingyouruntheprogramatmuchhigherfeedrates.

3. Reducedtoolwear.

HowdoIaccesstheRefineToolpathoptions?

Choosea3DsurfacetoolpathorasurfacehighspeedtoolpathfromtheMastercamToolpathmenuor

toolbar.

Thenchooseoneofthefollowingactionsbasedonyourtoolpathselection:

Fortreestyletoolpaths:

ChoosetheArcFilter/Tolerancepage.

EnteraTotalTolerancevalue.

ThenclicktheRefineToolpathbutton.

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Fortabstyletoolpaths:

Choosethetoolpath'sparameterstab(forexample,RoughradialparametersorFinishproject

parameters).

EnteraTotal

Tolerance

value.

ThenclicktheTotalTolerancebutton.

Whyisthisnewfeaturenotincludedasthedefaultmethod?

Sincegreaterbenefitsareseenwithsomepartsversusothers,youhavetheoptiontochoosewhich

techniqueisbestforyourpartsthestandardmethodorthisnewtechnique.Also,toolpathsthatuse

thenewtechniquetakeslightlylongertocalculate(approximately10%).Fortunately,youcantryoutthe

newtechniqueasmuchasyoulikebeforedecidingtosetitasyourdefault.

Weencourage

you

try

out

this

powerful

new

technique

and

see

for

yourself

the

smoother,

faster

results

itcandeliver.WealsoencourageyoutouseitinconcertwithMastercamsstandardLine/Arcfiltering,

asthetwotechniquesworkwelltogether.