00:02:35:10 – 00:02:46:19
Speaker 1
Hey, hey, welcome back to another Sikhism Pro training video. This is once again going to be a basic tutorial video for the tool path vector turning flutes.
00:02:46:19 – 00:03:01:18
Speaker 1
just like all the other basic tool path videos, we’re going to answer two questions. That is what does this tool path do and how do we control it. Let’s go help visualize this using the vector software as well as showing the cutting results at the end of this video.
00:03:01:22 – 00:03:08:15
Speaker 1
So let’s jump on over here to our metric software. Here so we can show what this tool path is actually to do.
00:03:08:15 – 00:03:25:08
Speaker 1
the name of the tool path vector turning flutes is kind of giving it away according to what this is trying to do. Just like the tool path vector turning, we’re able to take a profile tool path from our CAD cam software and then generate a toolpath file.
00:03:25:08 – 00:03:25:12
Speaker 1
And
00:03:25:12 – 00:03:50:28
Speaker 1
that was done in our vector turning video where we created this tool path. And it followed using an eight inch ball cutter to turn that contour shape. We then imported that G-code into C Cam Pro and it converted this three axis tool path, cutting from the side to then be cutting along the top face of the spindle while constantly rotating the blank.
00:03:50:28 – 00:04:11:03
Speaker 1
During that vector turning procedure. And so this concept is going to be almost identical. But instead of actually turning the vector, what we’re doing is we’re going to be applying flutes to the vector face that we want to lay out okay. So if we uncheck that and come back over here,
00:04:11:03 – 00:04:13:11
Speaker 1
Let’s look at what cutters are being used so far.
00:04:13:17 – 00:04:35:21
Speaker 1
Okay. So this blank again square section. Square section. We’ve already turned around using a surfacing cutter to 2.5in cylinder in the center. And again that started here at the beginning and turned it all the way around here to the end as a single cylinder. Then we use this classic spiral two inch. And this did a profile cut one.
00:04:35:24 – 00:04:57:08
Speaker 1
And it did a second one over here and it did a third one here. So we did three tool paths in that past video. And then to finish things off we didn’t use this half inch core box. We used a tapered ball nose to turn this contour effect using the vector turning tool. Okay. So so far all of this has already been done and it’s in the machine.
00:04:57:08 – 00:05:14:24
Speaker 1
And all we want to do is simply add some flutes to the face of this contour. And this is going to be the method we’re going to focus on today. So the flutes I’m going to be using is going to be requiring this half inch ball cutter for box cutters. The type of cutter we’re going to be using.
00:05:14:26 – 00:05:38:02
Speaker 1
And let me turn on some additional drawing so you can help visualize what we’re going to be doing for the flutes. Now it’s always helpful when you’re laying out flutes. When we did we did the same thing during the indexing flute toolpath video is we drew a cross-section of the diameter, and then we laid out, okay, based on this cut depth in this many flutes evenly spaced around, this is the result that we’re going to have.
00:05:38:02 – 00:06:00:14
Speaker 1
applying flutes along a contour face, you’re going to have a maximum diameter and a minimum diameter that is going to take place using the same cut depth and the same number of flutes being evenly spaced. So the cutter here is only cutting 0.1in deep to give us this detail. Same here on the smaller diameter as it follows that contour face.
00:06:00:14 – 00:06:10:01
Speaker 1
So you have to balance what you like and don’t like according to the extremes of the maximum diameter and minimum diameter of what’s taking place.
00:06:10:03 – 00:06:33:29
Speaker 1
Now, technically there are ways to change the flute cut depth throughout the contour face, but we’re not going to get into those more advanced techniques. We’re going to be sticking with a basic technique of having a single cut depth that follows this surface consistently from point A to point B, down the x axis. Okay. So that’s the result that we’re going to get.
00:06:34:02 – 00:06:54:25
Speaker 1
So let’s actually, find out what we need to do in order to one generate a coding file here from our software to bring in to our Secant Pro software, just like we did with the vector turning. This time we’re doing it with vector turning flutes. Okay. Now, previously we had turned let me, turn on some vectors here so you can see
00:06:54:25 – 00:07:21:19
Speaker 1
Now, previously we turned this, vector turning toolpath with this line. Right. However, if I, show here where, where I want the flute to start and to end. Okay, that’s just, arbitrary. I just place them there. Those locations. That’s where I want the flute to start and end. Because the flute is going to start behind that original line again.
00:07:21:19 – 00:07:41:22
Speaker 1
This line stopped here at the edge of this cutter profile. Right. And that’s originally where the line stopped. But because I want my flute to be a part of that entire curve as well, what I had to do is I had to separate this line segment up here. Okay. This is what happened up here is I separated this line segment from the rest of my cutter.
00:07:41:25 – 00:07:59:24
Speaker 1
Just cut it. Cut it away. And then I combined this line segment with this line okay. And that’s what you have here. So you can see that this just goes all the way now from left to right as one full contour entity. Because that is the actual shape of the material that I want to place the flutes on.
00:07:59:26 – 00:08:16:12
Speaker 1
Okay. So that’s what that’s what took place in this in this process. So now that we have a single flute, sorry, a single vector that represents the actual surface of the material that we’re going to be applying the flutes to, we can produce a toolpath. So let’s go ahead and do that
00:08:16:19 – 00:08:36:02
Speaker 1
Now, in all honesty, I could just simply recalculate this toolpath for that same procedure, but I’m just simply going to right click and duplicate it, okay. Because this was for the first contour that we did originally. Again, to start from this point to that point, this one is going to be going from a different vector again, starting further back in this contour face.
00:08:36:04 – 00:08:54:14
Speaker 1
And so if I come in here and I’m going to modify really just the title, but I’m going to keep the same cutter. Not to represent the cutter I’m gonna use for the flutes, but the cutter that we use to turn the actual, vector turning toolpath originally. Okay. So that was using that eighth inch tapered ball cutter, right.
00:08:54:16 – 00:09:12:03
Speaker 1
So we had a two inch cut depth is with one eighth inch, taper, an eighth inch ball nose cutters. What we have selected here. And we’re making sure it’s being done in one pass. Okay. That’s the critical thing. It’s cutting on the left side of the line. And I’m going to give this adjustment in here. Right.
00:09:12:03 – 00:09:37:07
Speaker 1
So instead of doing an import a contour vector turning to turn a contour I’m going to put contour flutes just so I know what this toolpath is used for. And we’re going to select that vector here again. So that will be calculated correctly okay. And there’s our toolpath. If we look here in our 2D view you can see that is on the correct side of the line going from left to right.
00:09:37:09 – 00:09:50:18
Speaker 1
That’s beautiful okay. Now again the G-code is going to be generating to follow the cutter on the outside edge of this line. That doesn’t actually represent where the flutes are going to be cutting yet, but in C Cam Pro
00:09:50:18 – 00:10:02:02
Speaker 1
We have the ability to select a different cutter shape for our fluting procedure, as well as the cut depth that we want to apply to that surface that we’ve imported as a G-code file into Secant Pro.
00:10:02:09 – 00:10:16:04
Speaker 1
Okay, so let’s say that this G-code here save toolpath, and this will be the same toolpath that we used earlier, the legacy delta vector turning toolpath. And see that.
00:10:16:08 – 00:10:40:24
Speaker 1
I’m going to put that in my turning tool pass under vector turning flutes demonstration files. So again import contour flutes. And that’s just this profile cut that we created as the G-code file. Okay. Now let’s go to C Cam Pro and show how one we can import this file and then modify, modify and control the fluting procedures. From that surface.
00:10:40:27 – 00:11:05:25
Speaker 1
So in C Cam Pro we’re going to go and open up our projects. We have our training samples. And in the training center we can go to our turning round sample. And again these procedures have already taken place. Let’s go manage our toolpath so you can see them. So we’ve already turned the stock around. In the center we have the three tool profiles cutting along the positions in that, in that drawing as well as the vector turning that we did in the previous video.
00:11:06:01 – 00:11:23:14
Speaker 1
Okay. So what we’re going to be adding now is we’re going to go to the import and we got vector turning flutes okay. And that’s the process we’re going to be controlling today. So we’ll add that to our list. And now let’s go here to our query. Click on here and fill in all this information.
00:11:23:16 – 00:11:32:29
Speaker 1
So the first thing we’re going to do is we get to go import our G-code file. So let’s click here in the top field. And we’re going to go locate.
00:11:33:01 – 00:11:57:02
Speaker 1
That G-code file here okay. So there’s the again the importing G-code that we created from bedrock will open that up and import that directly here in a C cam Pro. Now let’s go select the tool that we want to use for the flutes okay. And so we’ll click on here and in my drawing file again if I go back here to aspire this is a half inch ball cutter is what we’re using.
00:11:57:02 – 00:12:06:19
Speaker 1
Core box ball cutter all the same thing. So I’m going to use a core box cutter that has a half inch in diameter. And that’s what we’re going to be using today. We’ll select that tool.
00:12:06:25 – 00:12:13:04
Speaker 1
And this is going to be tool number four. Because three cutters were used before this process already for the spindle.
00:12:13:04 – 00:12:28:22
Speaker 1
Okay. Now we’re going to keep as many things default as possible. But we’re going to come in and fill out what we need to do. So we’re going to keep the y axis on zero which is exactly what we want here on a turned contoured face, the flute and ending and start position.
00:12:28:24 – 00:12:48:14
Speaker 1
Okay. So those we need to find out these are all measured from the x axis point from x0 to where we want the flute to start and end. And so we just come back here to our drawing. And so you can remember that I had these cutters drawn here because that’s where I want the flute to start. And this is where I want the flute to end along the length of that contour face.
00:12:48:17 – 00:12:54:18
Speaker 1
Okay. And so if we just simply use our measurement tool.
00:12:54:20 – 00:13:06:11
Speaker 1
And go from zero to the center of this cutter okay, 5.5 and from zero to the center of this cutter.
00:13:06:14 – 00:13:32:16
Speaker 1
So we have a starting position of 5.5 and an ending position of 10.8. Okay. Just again, arbitrary. It doesn’t have to be exact. I just kind of picked some generic locations and rounded it off to the nearest point. One decibel. And that works great. So 5.5 and 10.8 as our starting in position. So start 5.5 and position 10.8.
00:13:32:19 – 00:13:44:06
Speaker 1
Now we get to choose the number of flutes that we want to apply to this contour face. Coming back here I’ve already drawn that detail. We have 12345678 flutes evenly spaced
00:13:44:08 – 00:14:02:29
Speaker 1
Around those diameters. So if we come back here and put in eight and now we’re going to give this, what is the cut depth of the flute that we want to apply along that entire contour face. And if we measure that over here I can do a vertical dimension that should be 0.1in. But I’m just going to verify it.
00:14:03:01 – 00:14:30:14
Speaker 1
Yep. 0.1 is the full cut depth again from the surface of the round section down to the tip of the cutter is what we’ve drawn here. So we’re going to put that same parameter of 0.1 here to get that same result. Now we’re not going to change the exposition. We’re not going to change the diameter amount. But there is one specific field that is critical and that is this one which is the create vector bit diameter.
00:14:30:16 – 00:14:53:11
Speaker 1
Okay. Now what this is asking is what is the diameter of the router bit that was used to create that vector G-code. So if we come back here when we created this, this tool path right here. Right that did and check and it did that toolpath right there. What’s the diameter of the cutter that we use to create that vector that we brought in to see Pro.
00:14:53:13 – 00:15:17:20
Speaker 1
Well if you just hover your mouse over here, that is an eight inch diameter ball nose cutter. And so if we come back over here I’m going to put the create vector bit diameter is 0.125 an eighth of an inch. That way it knows how much to offset from the original G-code file, versus the actual cutter that we’re going to be using for these flutes.
00:15:17:26 – 00:15:37:05
Speaker 1
Okay, does all those calculations really cool stuff. This is all now filled out. We have default parameters from here on out. So let’s push finish and save. It’s going to tell us where the flute is going to start. And and those numbers look really spot on. And the minimum and maximum diameter travel of the flute itself
00:15:39:01 – 00:16:01:13
Speaker 1
Okay. So now we have all four tool bars to create the entire spindle. However, we’ve already produced the first three tool paths for the spindle on the machine. We’ve turned around. We’ve done the three tool, tool profiles. And we’ve done the vector turning already. We’re just now applying the flutes to that vector turning surface. So let’s uncheck these just the last ones what we’re going to see about today.
00:16:01:19 – 00:16:17:27
Speaker 1
And then we’ll generate our gcode. And so that is tool number four for the half inch core box cutter. And it’s going to do its thing okay. It breaks up eight different paragraphs because there’s eight different flutes going all the way to the base. And let’s see about our gcode file.
00:16:18:00 – 00:16:23:12
Speaker 1
Again we’ll put this in our turning tool pass under vector turning flutes.
00:16:23:16 – 00:16:34:26
Speaker 1
I’m going to call this the import vector turning flutes G-code. Just to focus on this toolpath today and save. And now let’s go out to the machine and watch this take place.
00:16:35:04 – 00:16:46:14
Speaker 1
So just like we program, the cutter follows a consistent cut depth of 0.1in for that flute from beginning to end lifts up and indexes. And it’s going to repeat that eight different times.
00:16:46:14 – 00:16:58:08
Speaker 1
The interesting thing about this process is that as the flute is holding a consistent cut depth, the spacing between the flute is varying based on the different diameters along that section.
00:16:59:15 – 00:17:01:13
Speaker 1
This vector turning toolpath,
00:17:01:13 – 00:17:04:02
Speaker 1
Along with all of its cutting advantages shown here,
00:17:04:02 – 00:17:06:18
Speaker 1
Are included in Conversational Cam Pro.
00:17:06:18 – 00:17:11:22
Speaker 1
You should now have a basic understanding of how to use this toolpath. Go out and give it a try yourself.
00:17:15:02 – 00:17:18:21
Speaker 1
Now, these types of videos generate a lot of different questions
00:17:18:24 – 00:17:45:11
Speaker 1
I recommend you take advantage of two resources to answer your questions. First is head on over to our website at Legacy woodworking.com. There you’ll find all the different product information, additional cutting demonstrations, and much more. The second resource I recommend doing is actually getting in contact with one of our CNC experts. You can call them at (801) 491-0010. They will be happy to answer any of your questions.
00:17:45:11 – 00:17:55:24
Speaker 1
Put on software or cutting demonstrations with the machines and point you to additional resources again to, fulfill your needs. Now, if you’d like to just simply watch more videos,
00:17:55:24 – 00:18:06:25
Speaker 1
I don’t blame you. Just click right over there. I think we all know what to do if you want to be notified of a future videos. Just click that button down below and don’t hesitate to give us a like if you liked what you saw.
00:18:06:27 – 00:18:19:06
Speaker 1
As always, thanks for watching. And remember, legacy solves more woodworking problems and allows you to say yes to more opportunities than any other CNC manufacturer in the industry.