HSM Performance Pack contains the following machining strategies:
Constant Cut is a roughing strategy which allows for much faster machining times than traditional roughing without tool breakage. The intelligent algorithm of this strategy ensures that the tool engagement is constantly kept at the optimal engagement of the tool throughout the entire toolpath. Through this, a much bigger part of the cutting flute can be used, which in turn shortens the machining time enormously and assures a uniform tool wear. Ideally you can use the entire cutting length of the tool for optimal efficiency.
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Pocket is HSM Performance Pack’s 3D roughing strategy for effectively clearing large enclosed areas. Pocket milling clears away the material layer by layer. At each layer it typically machines starting at the inside of the geometry and then works its way towards the walls where each cutting pass further away from the start resembles the contouring wall as closely as possible. You can select a range in which the horizontal stepover can vary.
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The Contour strategy is designed to give you an optimal finish for steep regions in your geometry. It is typically applied to areas where the slope exceeds an angle of 30 degrees. The Contour algorithm virtually slices the geometry into horizontal layers. At every layer, the toolpath then machines along the edge of the two-dimensional geometry thus created. You can control the vertical distance between the toolpath layers with the stepdown parameter.
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The Horizontal strategy is ideal for machining horizontal flat areas. It automatically detects the flat regions in the selected geometry, which means you do not need to manually select the flat regions. Horizontal typically machines starting at the inside of the flat region and then working its way towards the edge where each cutting pass further away from the start resembles the contour as closely as possible. If the bounding surfaces of the flat area drop from the surface, the cut will be extended over the edge to ensure a clean corner.
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The Scallop strategy is a finishing strategy which can be used for numerous high-quality finishing applications. Scallop generates a toolpath where the true offset between the passes along the surface of the geometry is kept constant. This ensures that the scallop height is kept constant across the entire surface, even in steep regions of the geometry.
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The Pencil strategy is a dedicated corner finishing strategy. It reliably finds all inner fillet areas, and machines them in a hybrid pencil fashion: Shallow areas are machined using a traditional offset in a similar way as in scallop, whereas steep areas are machined using contour-like horizontal passes. This is beneficial since plunging into rest material in steep areas is avoided (preventing tool breakage), and smoother surface finishes are produced, when compared to traditional pencil strategies.
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Parallel is a versatile finishing strategy which is usually applied for shallow or relatively flat regions in your geometry. As the name implies, the Parallel strategy rasters along the surface in parallel lines, either back and forth (zig-zag) or in one direction only. This means that when looking at the part from straight above, the toolpath will look like a set of parallel lines in a plane but the tool of course always follows the height of the geometry.
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The Radial strategy is a finishing strategy well-suited for high-quality surfaces in shallow curved geometries. The toolpath follows radial lines with a defined center point. For spherical shapes, the center point is usually chosen to be the top of the sphere or sphere segment. It is reasonable to restrict the Radial operation to shallow regions and subsequently machine steep regions with more suitable finishing strategies such as Contour.
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The Spiral strategy is a finishing strategy well suited for high-quality surfaces in shallow curved geometries. The toolpath follows a spiral with a defined center point and spacing between the spiral passes.
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The Swarf finishing strategy provides a quality that is near perfect. Unlike other strategies, the Swarf strategy utilizes the side of the tool for machining and leaves a surface finish without any stepover or stepdown marks.
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