On Tue, 4 Jan 2011 18:21:32 +0000, andy pugh wrote: > On 4 January 2011 15:11, Mark <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Creating *accurate* solids is a real challenge - if the tool is >> moving in z >> as well as x or y, the shape removed from the stock can be quite >> complex. > > For a cylindrical milling cutter moving in Z I think you can reduce > it > to two boolean ops per complete G-code movement. > You need to sweep the vertical cross section along the path into one > solid, then subtract it, then sweep the base circle along the path > and > subtract that solid. > > I am having some difficulty visualising if a ball-end cutter is > easier > or harder.
I think that depends on the algorithm you use to do the sweeps. If you take a 3D model of the tool, and then sweep the tool path between the tangent of the tool at its start and stop location, you would end up with something that works for any circularly swept tools (ie ones that spin). The algorithm would look like -- for each point on tool, find its path tangent and translate the original tool path to this point, didto on next point, and then model that as the boundaries of a swept surface -- where the tool contour makes up the vertical boundaries and the tool path makes up the horizontal ones. Does this make sense? Anyway, it would not necessarily work for tools which do not spin (like machineing with EDM's), but would be a good first take. EBo -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Learn how Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) One Node allows customers to consolidate database storage, standardize their database environment, and, should the need arise, upgrade to a full multi-node Oracle RAC database without downtime or disruption http://p.sf.net/sfu/oracle-sfdevnl _______________________________________________ Emc-developers mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers
