MC2024 Dynamic Milling, Maximum Engagement

[gcode]

They've added an option to Dynamic Milling and the Facing toolpath in MC2024
It makes a really efficient and easy to create toolpath.
I tried it last week and it's pretty sweet.  Now they just need to add an arc on/off option
to smoothly retract from a finished surface

[neurosis]

This may be a game changer for high feed milling.  I always fall back on Area Clear when I use high feed mills because I *usually* get more efficient paths. 

I'll have to try this out when I have some time to play around.

[neurosis]

I just ran a time study on a part that we're running right now. I was using a combination of Opti-rest for part, and surface fin contour for the rest.  I tried to use opti for the entire thing but it was very inefficient. 

Running opti only, using Maximum Engagement, it knocked 5 minutes off of the roughing. 

On this particular part it works pretty well I think.

[JakeL]

Running opti only, using Maximum Engagement, it knocked 5 minutes off of the roughing. 

We don't update to 24 until the first of the year unfortunately. But there are some features I'm looking forward to, this may now be at the top of that list.

Out of curiosity, what was the total time of the roughing? 5 minutes off a 10 minute cycle is a lot different than 5 off a 5 hour cycle.

[neurosis]

Out of curiosity, what was the total time of the roughing? 5 minutes off a 10 minute cycle is a lot different than 5 off a 5 hour cycle.

First off, I realize I lied. 

The original time (in mastercam) was 24 minutes using the combination of opti and sfc

The new time was 15 minutes using just opti with Maximum Engagement. So it saved closer to 9 minutes.

This was using a 9flt button mill in 13-8

[gcode]

The original time (in mastercam) was 24 minutes using the combination of opti and sfc

The new time was 15 minutes using just opti with Maximum Engagement. So it saved closer to 9 minutes.

I tried a simple facing toolpath using the new Maximize Engagement option
The operation faces 4 feet on a large compressor housing
The original toolpath was an old school chain driven operation with a cycle time of 15 minutes

The new toolpath was a dynamic facing toolpath
The default path ran 14 minutes
With Maximize Engagement enabled it runs in 9 min 30 seconds

[Jeff]

So far on basic shapes I am seeing zero improvement in cycle times. In fact 2 out of 3 times the cycle has increased by 1 second.

[Dylan Gondyke]

The changes with Maximum engagement turned on are highly dependent on the shape it's being fed, how the path echoes inwards, and also the initial stepover. Smaller stepovers and certain shape and corner transitions won't see major changes with Maximum Engagement turned on, simply because the scenario in which it has an effect doesn't exist.