Specifications

39
Southwestern Industries, Inc.
TRAK LPM Programming, Safety, & Operating Manual
Ball end mill position with respect to program points. Tool starts so end mill is tangent to
BC. R from center of tool is perpendicular to BC.
Note how the tool at the beginning point (point B) starts below (in the Z direction) point
B so that it can actually touch this point. If this were not true, a cusp would remain to the
left of point B.
Now consider a similar example milling from A to B to C in the XZ plane.
In order to respect the lines defined by the programmed points, the ball end mill never
touches point B. Tool starts centered over A offset up by the tool radius R. It moves right
until it is tangent to both AB and BC. Then moves to point C as in the first example
Note the Tool at B does not drop below the AB line and, therefore, never touches point B.
As a result, a fillet is formed at point B equal to the tool radius.
This second example of continuous machining from one cut (AB) to another (BC) with
full cutter compensation between requires the two cuts to be made with events which are
connective (see Section 5.9 or 5.10 for a more complete discussion of this requirement).
5.9 Connective Events
Connective events occur between two milling events (either Mill or Arc) when the X, Y,
and Z ending points of the first event are in the same location as the X, Y, and Z starting
points of the next event. In addition, the tool offset and tool number of both events must
be the same. And both events must lie in the XY plane or the same vertical plane (see
Section 5.2).