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Setting up a ramp in ArtCAM 2018
Basic ramp setting in ArtCAM 2018 PRO when preparing a NC program for a milling machine running Mach3 (or another program, it's not particularly important here).
Let's take a quick look at what an oblique plunge is, why it is needed and how to set it up.
Inclined plunging is a special setting that is used in ArtCAM when generating a NC program for milling through a milling machine control program.
Since the ArtCAM program is universal, it independently calculates the trajectories of the cutter and outputs the finished file for different configurations of programs that directly control the milling machine. In this article I will not focus on them, since the output and formation of the UE does not depend on the program that will further control the milling. Let's take a look at the basic ramp setting in ArtCAM.
Inclined infeed itself is necessary when the depth of the processed relief is much greater than the technical capabilities of the cutter itself. Suppose if you “drive” a conical cutter with a radius of 0.5 mm into the material along the Z axis by 15 mm (consider the material - wood), and then move it along the X or H axis, then, as a rule, the tip of the cutter is broken, f to more strong wood can break the cutter at the base. This is especially true with pobedite cutters (tungsten carbide), with very high hardness, they also have high brittleness. Broke the cutter - a pain in the heart, run again to the Chinese or our "online stores" with 3-5 times overpriced prices...
Despite the fact that further during milling, the cutter itself will produce displacements of only 10-15%, and carry small loads, the initial plunge has the highest rates in the load (up to 400% of the working load). To prevent this, you need to enable the ramp function.
Setting up a ramp in ArtCAM
To enable the function of inclined infeed, it is necessary to select “Infeeds” when forming the NC and check the box “Add oblique infeed”. Below is a picture and a little more about the function.
The visualization of the ramp is indicated in blue. The plunge angle (in the example, 1 degree is written) does not depend on the size of the workpiece. The infeed height is formed from the height of the relief + the model offset must be taken into account (it is used if part of the top of the product must be ignored, that is, cut off), if it was specified:
13.079+1.0=14.079 (directly in the example)
It should also be noted that the choice of processing strategy also affects the execution, that is, directly cutting.
When choosing the “Classic raster” processing strategy, we see the following picture (the processing angle indicated 90 degrees, since in the example the product is placed for cutting across the wood fibers)
The start of processing comes from the Start of the product (we count along the X axis) and the height of processing starts at these same 14.079 mm ... Despite the fact that the final goal was achieved, the machine drove an extra 4 cycles.
If you select the "Raster" processing strategy (i.e., optimized raster in ArtCAM 2018), the cutter path is more optimized, and the cutter starts the lead-in directly from the surface (i.e., from 0 on the Z axis). But with this strategy, the movement of the cutter in the program starts from the End point along the X axis, from there is from the end of the model.
In fact, at the first setting (Classic raster), the cutter is “pushing”, and at the second setting (“Raster”), the cutter is “pulling”. Well, these are all conventions, for a simple understanding of the movement of the machine itself.
To start processing from the minimum point along the X axis, it is necessary to “unroll” the beginning of processing with a simple movement ... specify the processing angle of 270 degrees. Although, purely for the machine, there is no difference how to start processing the model, from the beginning or from the end. But I personally like it more when the machine moves from the beginning, and it’s convenient to look and clean the chips. That is, by changing the processing angle, you can in fact adjust the location of the starting point for processing the model.
In fact, the first setting of the program was made on one product for one reason - the fact is that "Raster" stubbornly refused to work on one of the models, giving an error (something about duplicating parameters). I could not find the cause of the error, Google did not help either. After spending a couple of hours on endless tests and changing the indicators of the angle of cut, the angle of processing, processing strategies, I nevertheless found out that when choosing the “Classic raster” strategy, the UE was successfully calculated and the product was milled.
You can specify a plunge angle of at least 1 degree. By increasing the angle, we reduce the “smoothness of penetration” of the cutter into the product.
If the model is "narrow" and you need to reduce the amount of movement of the cutter "back and forth" - you can increase the angle to 2-5 degrees. But this is selected experimentally and depends on the thickness of the cutter, the material being processed, and the processing speed.
At the beginning of the program execution directly on the machine, it is recommended to reduce the speed of the machine to 20-30 from the base one (how to do this is described in this article). As soon as the cutter is deepened to the working depth and has passed 3-4 cycles (at the minimum depth along the Z axis), the working speed of the machine can be increased to "cruising". As the saying goes, it's better to be underbaked than overbaked...
Using oblique plunging reduces the load on the cutter, and you save on expensive cutters (especially important for imported cutters costing 2-3 thousand rubles, although they differ little from Chinese ones for 500-800 rubles)
By the way, to figure it out on my own, I had to spend about 4 days with parallel reading of a dozen forums and testing several models directly on the machine (half of them went to waste). And I started looking for an oblique plunge for a reason ... I broke my “favorite ... expensive” cutter, but it’s so banal that I don’t even want to tell ... I think this article will help not to make and repeat my own mistakes.