Mastercams3DAdvancedToolpathRefinementAQuickQ&A

MastercamX4s3DAdvancedToolpathRefinementgivesyouasinglecontrolpanelfortwopowerful
methodsoftoolpathimprovement.ThefirstmethodLine/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. Reducedmachiningtime.Smoothedtoolpathseliminatemanyofthesmallmovescommonto
3Dtoolpaths,lettingyouruntheprogramatmuchhigherfeedrates.
3. Reducedtoolwear.

HowdoIaccesstheRefineToolpathoptions?
Choosea3DsurfacetoolpathorasurfacehighspeedtoolpathfromtheMastercamToolpathmenuor
toolbar.
Thenchooseoneofthefollowingactionsbasedonyourtoolpathselection:
Fortreestyletoolpaths:

ChoosetheArcFilter/Tolerancepage.
EnteraTotalTolerancevalue.
ThenclicktheRefineToolpathbutton.

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Fortabstyletoolpaths:

Choosethetoolpath'sparameterstab(forexample,RoughradialparametersorFinishproject
parameters).
EnteraTotalTolerancevalue.
ThenclicktheTotalTolerancebutton.

Whyisthisnewfeaturenotincludedasthedefaultmethod?
Sincegreaterbenefitsareseenwithsomepartsversusothers,youhavetheoptiontochoosewhich
techniqueisbestforyourpartsthestandardmethodorthisnewtechnique.Also,toolpathsthatuse
thenewtechniquetakeslightlylongertocalculate(approximately10%).Fortunately,youcantryoutthe
newtechniqueasmuchasyoulikebeforedecidingtosetitasyourdefault.
Weencourageyoutryoutthispowerfulnewtechniqueandseeforyourselfthesmoother,fasterresults
itcandeliver.WealsoencourageyoutouseitinconcertwithMastercamsstandardLine/Arcfiltering,
asthetwotechniquesworkwelltogether.

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