Creating a 4-Axis Pocketing Operation

You can use 4-axis Pocketing command to create the 4-Axis Pocketing operation.

1. Activate the Manufacturing Program and click 4-axis Pocketing in the Prismatic Machining Operations toolbar.

   A 4-axis Pocketing entity is added to the Manufacturing Program.

   The 4-axis Pocketing dialog box appears directly at the Geometry tab .

   The bottom and flanks of the icon are colored red indicating that this geometry is required for defining the pocket. All other pocket geometry is optional.

   
   
   

2. Still in the Geometry tab:

   See Selecting Geometry

   1. Make sure that the Pocketing style is set to OpenPocket.

      Note: If you change from Open Pocket to Closed Pocket mode, the Soft boundary automatically changes to a Hard boundary. It is then no longer possible to go back to a Soft boundary (no Undo available). A possible bypass is to redesign the geometry in Open Pocket mode.

   2. Right-click the red Bottom in the icon and select Contour Detection.
   3. Click red Bottom then select the desired pocket bottom in the authoring window.

      Note: The bottom for 4-axis Pocketing operation must be a convex surface.

      The pocket boundary is automatically deduced thanks to the Contour Detection setting. This is indicated by the highlighted Drive elements.

      
      
      The bottom and flanks of the icon are now colored green indicating that this geometry is now defined.

   4. Click the Top element in the icon then select the desired top element in the authoring window.
   5. Set the following offsets: 1.5mm on hard boundary, 5mm on soft boundary, 0.25mm on bottom.

3. Select the Strategy tab :

   1. Choose a Tool Path Style.
   2. Set the parameters for machining, radial and axial strategy, finishing, HSM, and user parameters.

   
   
   

4. Go to the Tool tab to select a tool.

   See Specifying a Tool Element in a Machining Operation

5. Select the Feeds and Speeds tab and specify the feedrates and spindle speeds for the operation.

6. Select theMacro tab and add approach and retract motions to the operation.

   See Defining Macros on Milling Operations

   1. In the Macro Management frame, right-click the Approach line and select the Activate contextual command.
   2. In the Current Macro Toolbox frame, select the Axial mode.

      A sensitive icon representing this approach motion is displayed.

   3. Double click the distance parameter in the sensitive icon and enter the desired value in the pop-up dialog box.
   4. Repeat this procedure to specify the Retract motion.

   
   
   

7. Click Tool Path Replay to check the validity of the operation.

   See Replaying the Tool Path

   
   

   • The tool path is computed.
   • A progress indicator is displayed.
   • You can cancel the tool path computation at any moment before 100% completion.
   
   
   

8. Click OK to create the operation.

You can specify the pocket boundary in different ways. The pocket boundary must be closed.