Manufacturing > Milling > Conventional Milling > About Conventional Milling
About Conventional Milling
Conventional milling NC sequence generates a tool path where:
The tool completely machines the selected surfaces. If a surface is not bounded by walls on the outside, the tool straddles, that is, overruns the surface boundary by a half diameter.
Any inner protrusions, as well as the outer walls extending up from the surface, are avoided, automatically. The stock allowance, if any, applies to the side walls as well.
If a surface is selected from model, any slots or holes on the surface are patched, that is, the tool path is generated as if they were not there.
If you want to eliminate negative Z moves of the tool (for example, when machining hard materials), use the ALLOW_NEG_Z_MOVES parameter. It is applicable for 3 Axis NC sequences only.
If you want to remove material in depth increments, use the ROUGH_STEP_DEPTH parameter. It is applicable for 3 Axis NC sequences only.
The following illustration shows handling inner loops and outer walls for Conventional milling:
1. Select this surface
2. Outer walls are avoided
3. Inner protrusion is avoided
4. Inner slot is ignored
5. Free outer edges are straddled
* 
If an inner protrusion is surrounded by a slot, it will not be avoided automatically. Use Check Surfs to generate the correct tool path.
For 3-Axis Conventional milling, you can control the start point and direction of machining the surface by using a combination of CUT_TYPE, SPINDLE_SENSE, and CUT_DIRECTION parameters (see the following table ). The LACE_OPTION parameter must be set to NO.
Parameter Settings
Tool Path
CUT_TYPE CLIMB
SPINDLE_SENSE CW
CUT_DIRECTION STANDARD
CUT_TYPE UPCUT
SPINDLE_SENSE CCW
CUT_DIRECTION STANDARD
CUT_TYPE UPCUT
SPINDLE_SENSE CW
CUT_DIRECTION STANDARD
CUT_TYPE CLIMB
SPINDLE_SENSE CCW
CUT_DIRECTION STANDARD
CUT_TYPE CLIMB
SPINDLE_SENSE CW
CUT_DIRECTION REVERSE
CUT_TYPE UPCUT
SPINDLE_SENSE CCW
CUT_DIRECTION REVERSE
CUT_TYPE UPCUT
SPINDLE_SENSE CW
CUT_DIRECTION REVERSE
CUT_TYPE CLIMB
SPINDLE_SENSE CCW
CUT_DIRECTION REVERSE
You can select any type of end mill, including flat and radius end mills, for Conventional milling of convex surfaces. The gouge avoidance will be calculated automatically.
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