Tech Tips

There are some great tools in Mastercam for repairing geometry. Spline Re-fit cleans up spline data resulting in smoother surfaces, Un-trim Spline returns a spline back to its untrimmed state, and a new Blend option adds more control to corner smoothing. If you analyze the properties of some splines you will notice the large number of controls points shown in the analysis box. These will translate directly into the topography of a lofted surface. However, [...]

As part of our Foundations of Cutting Metal series, we are going to discuss Chip Load and Feed Per Tooth or Inch Per Tooth in relation to milling. Chip Load or Feed Per Tooth is the theoretical length of material that is fed into each cutting edge as it moves through the work material.Chip Load given by tool manufacturers is the distance the material is moved into the cutter at the centerline of the tool as each cutting [...]

Mastercam 2017 includes a great enhancement to the dynamic point and line normal functions. In previous versions, both tools were part of the same command and switching between them could be confusing. In Mastercam 2017 these functions have been separated into separate functions, which makes both Point Dynamic and Line Normal much easier to use. The dynamic point tool in Mastercam X9 is straightforward, but adjusting the controls for line normal involves several clicks and [...]