Fusion 360 - 3D Surfacing Contact Point Boundary

This video will show how to quickly and easily get a clean 3D surfacing toolpath that covers the specified surface without having to use any workarounds.
Want to learn more about Fusion 360 CAD and CAM? Visit www.nyccnc.com where you can sign up for hands on training classes or subscribe to online learning content.

[@grommet2003]

This is one of the clearest and most professionally done tutorials I've watched. thank you !

[@martinsmith2948]

this man consistently putting out literally the best content on this webiste... how does he do it?

[@jonosborne1516]

Master communicator! Kevin's masterful approach to clearly articulating what to do and WHY makes a complex subject a lot more understandable. I wish I had had him for a Calculus professor. Thank you, Kevin!

[@aaronfrye1195]

And six years later, you video is helping folks. Thank you.

[@necropact9621]

Your 3 year old video was able to allow me to fix something I couldn't figure out over 3 days. Thank you!!!!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Good! I run into this with customers all the time. I think there could be a future where this little trick isn’t need any longer, but until then is now, it’s a helpful one to know how to use.

[@klaus-the-german3541]

Fantastic video. Helped me lot with one of my most annoying problem! Thx

[@leeverageintegrationinc.6007]

Excellent Video Kevin!!!! Very clear, concise, straight to the point and very much professional! Keep up your great work!

[@alicantino59]

What a fabulous and enormously helpful video. I did a job the other week and ended up having to buy the manufacturing addition to trim toolpaths to get rid of all these extraneous toolpaths dipping down over the sides. You just showed me the correct way to deal with it via the tolerance. Thanks heaps.

[@MarcPilon]

Thanks again for your very precise, simple, well organised and presented explanations. You are the best !

[@tornadokat]

Your channel has the best helpful videos I have seen on KZbin... digging into what happens, why it happens, and how to fix it. Even pointing out that parameter names are case sensitive is super helpful.

[@AmericanMakerCNC]

GOLD! I hope this encourages you ... What you teach matters. It's makes a difference. You're helping me prepare for career and lifestyle change. Thanks Kevin!

[@donovanrichards5681]

Liked and subscribed! Thank you for this professionally put together video! This solved the problem I was having.

[@janinejohnson8450]

Wonderful delivery, clear demonstration and explanations at just the right pace, love how you get to the point quickly. Thank you!!!!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Sorry for the delayed reply. Things are a little crazy in the world right now. Glad you liked it. It is pretty amazing how often -tolerance will improve a toolpath. Thanks for the comment.

[@johnswilley6764]

Excellent depiction/explanation. Thank you.

[@JohnGrimsmo]

Sweet info, thanks! I'm juuuuust starting to learn about expressions so this helps a lot, I've been stuck on these issues before.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

I've always been good about using them on the CAD side, but now I'm focused on bringing them to the CAM side too. I'm looking to add some intelligence to tool paths instead of just keying in static numbers.

[@martinsmith2948]

this video is literally amazing, thank you so much!

[@tdg911]

badass. clear and concise instructions. Thank you.

[@rwinter14]

This video was super helpful as a beginner. Thank you!

[@michelrigaud9552]

This one is excellent !! clear and very well explained

[@trentburnett9939]

This was amazing! Thank you so much for your contribution.

[@gracjanlada4622]

Awesome... Just what I was looking for.. Thank you Kev.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

This one is a big one. So many times I show this to people who have been struggling and it is fun to see the lightbulb come on for them.

[@msu19911]

This video is a really go on how too for many of the explanations. Great help Thank You

[@NickMcEntee]

Very useful! Also great explanation and easy to follow. Saved for future reference. Thanks

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks for the comment.

[@jmh1425]

That information is Gold. Definitely subscribed. @bluehandsvideo recommended this video. Thank you both.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Awesome! And thanks for subscribing. I appreciate it!

[@stonecraft745]

Really great video, perfect speed for me!

[@samwalker4442]

Really great tutorial!! 👍🏼

[@RideworksMTB]

Thanks for posting, very useful indeed, I've had this issue many times!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

I know what you mean. When I found out how to fix this it changed my life.

[@hippie-io7225]

Your explanations are superb!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks for the comment. I'm glad you found the information useful.

[@DarinMolnar]

Very helpful, thank you.

[@DieselRamcharger]

Excellent Channel my man!

[@moto52000]

Thank you! This was very helpfull.

[@user-vz8nn4re6j]

Thanks. Very useful video. ❤

[@daviecrawford3849]

great video, thanks

[@winkworks]

As always, great info, Kevin!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks. You already had this tip in your hat though.

[@winkworks]

Mechanical Advantage what can I say, I know a good instructor!

[@momo79nono]

you are a great man .thank you for your effort

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks for the comment. I hope you found it useful.

[@lukejones4762]

A great explanation

[@jcjimenez5327]

You are the man 🙌🙌🙌 Kevin thanks 😊

[@bluehandsvideo]

Great info Kevin!! I've had that issue with the tool path dipping down over the side on several projects.....on a couple of them, I just let it go because I couldn't figure out how to get rid of it. I had no clue about it dealing with the surface as an STL. Thanks!!!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks Mike. And thanks for sharing the video!

[@bluehandsvideo]

You're welcome. :) Thanks for the great info!

[@petera1033]

Very useful tutorial - thanks.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Peter. Thanks for the comment and I'm glad you found it helpful.

[@Hirudin]

Great tip about using -tolerance!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks. This was a huge timesaver for me after I started using this.

[@seimela]

THIS IS BEAUTIFUL

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hi Shand. I'm glad you found it helpful. Thanks for the comment!

[@chrisr1241]

This is gold!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Please see contact info at www.mechanicaladvantage.com to find out where you should send any gold payments :D

[@swamihuman9395]

AWESOME! Thx.

[@aristosuratman4783]

good video tutorial ... can you make video about trimming toolpath on sloping area

[@storyboarddave5860]

Thanks great video.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Glad you found it useful. Thanks for the comment.

[@dennistolbert4469]

thank you

[@samboles8796]

Dude, thank you!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Dude, you're welcome! :-)

[@willysnowman]

THANK YOU!!!!!

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

No, thank you for watching. I learned this trick from Rob Lockwood, who is really really good with this stuff. But I find so many users are helped by this method.

[@TheDaumen]

A video explaining what the extensions package in Fusion is about would be really helpful.

[@ViceChief]

Can't thumbs up this video enough. Three crucial tips - the insight into tessellation, the -tolerance hack, and the shift+hover to expose a parameter name. Thank you. Any chance you would do a deep dive on getting good toolpaths out of the Scallop strategy?

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Glad you found some value. Rob Lockwood did a video on the scallop toolpath that I think will be well worth your time to watch. The video uses HSMWorks but the same concepts apply in Fusion. Rob has probably forgotten more than I know when it comes to surfacing toolpaths. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bae2aapnbsSpa6M

[@ViceChief]

@@MechanicalAdvantage Thank you. I'll check it out.

[@emslvmoddslv4568]

Thumbs up kevin ! Subbed.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hey emslv. Awesome, thank you so much.

[@tc1890]

Thank you Kevin

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thanks Tony

[@tomhutchins1046]

great info i was having the same issue

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Hopefully this helps. Thanks for stopping by.

[@jimburnsjr.]

Excellent video, Thank you; would like to buy a coffee cup from you.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Now if only I made coffee. haha Can you clarify what you mean here?

[@CapeCodCNC]

Cool thanks

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Thank you.

[@folkeroRGC]

Thz a lot :)

[@davyboy1379]

I use ONE CNC. I have the same problelm with operations like this. I still haven't worked out a qiuck method for this. I have to extend the boundary for this to work. And when you have a sloping surface with a radius all around at different heights it can become very annoying.

[@automan1223]

Kevin, this fixes the tool path issue for the bottom of the feature and does a very nice job, but also common is the upper perimeter which while CPB is supposed to stay within the line, if that was a filet / radius over the top face the tool path may ignore it, as I am now experiencing...

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

automan1223 You will need to include the whole boundary of the fillet in your selection. Look back at a video I did about CAM selection techniques. Or you can send the file to [e-mail]

[@COscott13]

Literal god tier like/dislike ratio. Well done.

[@scoty7392]

Is there a way to use negative tolerance to clean up an adaptive toolpath? I tried but had to enable rest machining and it wasn’t happy with a negative tolerance in the offset field.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

No. There are some things you can try. In preferences you may see a “reduce whisper cuts” in preview preferences. If it isn’t there for you, just ignore what I said. You saw nothing haha The other thing you can try is to right click on the toolpath and then choose compare and edit from that menu. In the search box type tri which should find the surface triangulation field for you. There will be a value in the expression field. Click the value and you will see an expression. Leave the beginning part of the equation as is, but change the .5 value to .1 and see if that doesn’t clean things up a bit for you.

[@olanordmann7836]

When initiating a job in Universal Gcode Sender (UGS) after loading Gcode generated by Fusion 360, the CNC router moves far away from the intended starting position, so far it triggers my limit switches. Do you know whats causing this?

[@weyers17]

So just using a negative tolerance value will keep the toolpath from rounding the edges? I am using avoid surfaces but one face of the model I have won’t let me select it.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Generally yes. That along with checking the box for contact point boundary. You then shouldn't need to use avoid surfaces.

[@mamoshimiloni9559]

I can see that this video is a bet old, but I am So frustrated with Fusion right now and I just dont know what to do!! I just can not get the z acces to point the right direction and then when I get it to work with so many problems as soon as I go to adaptiv clearing or some other operation it changes its direction again!!!? anyone knows why? Thank you

[@gbancroft245]

Thanks, i have a miter surface like this and the bit starts at the lower end of the miter. I want it to start at the high end of the miter or near the top of the part. Any suggestions? Can't seem to change the start point.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

G Bancroft What toolpath strategy are you using for this?

[@gbancroft245]

I'm using a parallel toolpath with a 90 deg pass direction. But today I figured out how to change the starting point. I just changed the pass direction to -90. Thanks for replying.

[@Bigwingrider1800]

What about the slop feature??

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

I’m not sure what the slop feature is?

[@JayVon_Ro]

Bro thank you. You have a patreon?

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

No Patreon. I just like to help. These things are a small snippet that customers can pick up one of the training classes I provide. So I like to drop some info to common issues I see and maybe if people find them useful they will sign up for a training class where they get this in the matter of 4 days instead of picking nuggets of info here and there over a long period of time. Glad it was helpful.

[@JayVon_Ro]

@@MechanicalAdvantage you offer a training class? Im interested

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

@@JayVon_Ro Yes. That is how I make my living. Sometimes I do them directly and sometimes others contract me to provide classes. For instance, I did all the classes at NYC CNC from about 2016 until Covid brought that to an end. I'll be doing more direct classes in 2022. The new schedule will drop in the next week or two. You can see what classes I offer here and soon dates will be listed for these classes. www.mechanicaladvantage.com/training

[@JayVon_Ro]

@@MechanicalAdvantage definitely let me know when that drops. Seems the schedule training url isnt updated. I'll for sure be signing up for fusion 360 mill training. Your videos here have helped tremendously, I cant imagine what a curated paid for session would bring. Very exciting.

[@wyatt5391]

rotate 90 degree and not plunge on top of your part.

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Really wasn’t the point of the video. That could be changed by changing the pass direction to 180.

[@Bishop0178]

The good thing about cncs is, that they do exactly what you tell them to do. The bad thing is they do exactly what you tell them to do

[@stephenmarkovic878]

Why not just offset your boundary by 40% of the diameter of the cutter much quickerAnd put a -.003 limit on your Z if your Z0 is at the top so it doesn’t ride over

[@MechanicalAdvantage]

Why 40%? Why not 43% or 38%? What if the top of the feature isn't planar or easily selectable? Why not set the additional offset to -tolerance and set it as a default? The video tries to explain what Fusion is doing behind the scenes and why you get the results you do sometimes and how to fix it.

[@valentinvalentino5339]

Very helpful, thank you.