I’ll use a 1/2″ depth of cut at full ramp. If we need to go deeper to get down to full cut depth, the ramp will zig zag back and forth. Let’s also set the depth of cut to be the maximum depth of the ramp in one pass. Set up for a full slot cut, because the ramp will be descending into bare metal. Let’s say we’ll be cutting our pocket at a 1/2″ depth. What should my feeds and speeds be on that ramp? You should adjust your feeds and speeds slightly when ramping because its harder than making a level cut. I’ll show how to use the Ramp Mini-Calc to solve a couple of interesting problems.įirst, let’s say I just plan to ramp down at some “standard” rate, say a 3 degree angle. I want to set up my CAM program to cut a pocket on a part, and I’ve decided my entry to the pocket will be via ramp. I’ve got a 1/2″ 3-flute TiAlN Endmill selected and it’s a serrated “corncob” rougher to boot. From the screen shot above you can see I’ve set up an aggressive machining scenario in 6061 aluminum.
The three Mini-Calc buttons are right under where you specify Tool Diameter and Flutes… The Mini-Calcs are accessed directly under the Tool Definition (where you specify tool diameter, flutes, and so on): There are a lot of trade-offs around making holes with interpolation, but more on those in a moment. Both are common CNC operations that may be used to get a cutter down into a pocket or in the case of interpolation, this is an effective way to use an endmill to create a hole of a particular size. I’ve just added two more–one is all about interpolated holes and the other is about ramping. We already had one popup for calculating ballnose cutter stepover to achieve a particular surface finish. Mini-Calcs are little popup feeds and speeds calculators for special situations. I’ve just finished adding a new feature to the G-Wizard Calculator that I call “Mini-Calcs” for release 1.040.