NX Reversing the Arc Engage Direction in a Floor Facing Without Wall Operation

A Zig pass is used to face off the top of a part. Is there a way to reverse the arc direction in the engage move before each pass? Some tooling vendors suggest this type of engage to help reduce the stress that is placed on the cutter.

Solution

1. A Floor Facing Without Wall operation is added to a program to cut the top face of a part. A Chamfer Mill is selected to use with this operation.

2. The Cut Pattern is set to Zig and an Arc Engage is added.

3. At the start of each pass the cutter engages the part on a sharp corner adding additional stresses to the cutter. Note that the arc engage motion is in a counterclockwise direction.

4. To remedy this the Arc Angle is changed from a positive to a negative value.

5. Now when the tool engages the part the cutter arc engage direction is changed from a counterclockwise to a clockwise direction. This prevents the tool from hitting the sharp corner as it first engages the part and, thereby, improves this move.

6. Compare this new tool path with the original path seen in the picture at the beginning of this article.

Hardware/Software Configuration

Platform: all
OS: n/a
OS Version: n/a
Product: NX
Application: CAM
Version: V1919
Function: FLOOR_WALL_MILL

Ref: 002-8508293