Overview

3 Axis Surface Machining is dedicated to the machining of 3D geometry work parts with 3-axis machining techniques.

This guide is intended for users who need to become quickly familiar with the 3 Axis Surface Machining product.

3 Axis Surface Machining in a Nutshell

3 Axis Surface Machining is a new generation product that defines and manages NC programs. It is particularly adapted to the needs of mold, die and tool makers and prototype manufacturers in all branches and at all levels of industry.

3 Axis Surface Machining offers easy-to-learn and easy-to-use shopfloor-oriented tool path definition for 3-axis Machining. 3 Axis Surface Machining is based on industry-recognized, leading-edge technologies which offer the tightest integration between tool path definition, verification and instant cycle updates.

3 Axis Surface Machining covers full design-to-manufacture processes offering functions for:

  • defining the areas you want to machine,
  • rough machining either by vertical or horizontal planes,
  • roughing rework,
  • sweeping,
  • ZLevel machining,
  • pencil operations,
  • contour-driven operations,
  • profile contouring,
  • drilling,
  • detecting residual material,
  • defining areas to rework,
  • visualization of the result of the Manufacturing Program.

3 Axis Surface Machining gives you the freedom to choose the working methods that best suit your needs.

Before Reading this Guide

Before reading this guide, you should be familiar with basic Version 6 concepts such as document windows, standard and view toolbars. Therefore, we recommend that you read the Infrastructure User's Guide that describes generic capabilities common to all Version 6 products. It also describes the general layout of Version 6 and the interoperability between workbenches.

Getting the Most Out of this Guide

3 Axis Surface Machining is a versatile application, fully adapted to your needs and your working methods whether they are machining area-oriented or operation-oriented. You can either define the machining areas on your part and then assign an operation to each of them or you can define your machining process as a series of operations with an area to machine for each operation. A machining area can be:

  • the whole part (for example, in roughing),
  • a subset of the faces on the part,
  • a subset of faces on the part with a limiting contour.

Here is a suggested order for operations in a Manufacturing Program:

  • rough machining operations,
  • (semi-)finishing operations,
  • detection of unmachined areas,
  • reworking of unmachined areas,
  • generation and output of documentation.

Area-oriented methodology is useful when you have a complex part to machine and you know in advance what kind of operation you are going to apply to each separate area.

This approach is of great use when, for example, you are going to machine a "family" of similar parts and when you have dedicated machines for mass production.

You define the areas on one part, you assign an operation to each area, and then you machine. At the end you have a program that you can apply to all of the "members" of the "family" at least working cost because:

  • the machining strategy has already been defined (chosen operations),
  • the tool has already been defined,
  • only the area need be redefined,
  • you know exactly what kind of output you require,
  • and as a result the computation can be run in batch to further reduce time loss.

The only mandatory data for a operation is the area to machine (with the exception of roughing which requires a rough stock too) and all of the other parameters have default values.

We recommend that you use the default parameters first unless you are sure of the values you wish to enter.

Use operation-oriented machining when you want to progressively define your Manufacturing Program operation-by-operation sequentially. Each operation has the area it deals with defined as part of its data.

This approach is useful for single or limited part production because it allows you to define your requirements step-by-step. The only mandatory data for a operation is the area to machine (with the exception of roughing which requires a rough stock too) and all of the other parameters have default values.

We recommend that you use the default parameters first unless you are sure of the values you wish to enter.

To get the most out of this guide, we suggest that you start reading and performing the step-by-step user tasks, which cover all product functionalities.

The Interface Description section, which describes the commands that are specific to 3 Axis Surface Machining, and the Customizing section, which explains how to customize settings, will also certainly prove useful.