Fixing Fusion 360 CAM Toolpaths: 2D Adaptive and 3D Contour! FF56

[@AtManUnlimitedMachining]

John, that is the best explanation of how 2D and 3D tool paths differ from each other I have heard yet. Also great examples on use cases for each. This was a really good FF, thank you. Good luck and enjoy the Haas!

[@TC-lv2ne]

Thanks for the information. Your explanation of the difference between the 2d and 3d tool paths has made a HUGE difference in my approach to using the software!

[@bcbloc02]

Great to know about that contact feature, it seems so useful it makes me wonder why that wouldn't just be the default for generating tool paths.

[@Dakakeisalie]

John, the only part of CNC machining I am not aware of you covering thus far is the entire process of putting a new endmill into your collet holder, measuring it and dialing it into your Tormach with tool lengths set etc. I would love to see a video on that. Thanks!

[@seeigecannon]

I second this. I am a pro with doing this on a Tormach now, but when I first got started (before this channel really got started) I was having all sorts of problems. I was getting frustrated because I just could not find where in HSMXpress to put the tool offsets. I had no idea about the offsets tab in Mach3.

[@zodak9999b]

Yay! That's what I wanted to see, also. Thanks, John. You utterly rock!!

[@jonboy5yo]

Great way of explaining the thinking between 2D and 3D cycles! Loved it. It helped a bunch!

[@Fromeco]

John Huge win on this one. Great Video. The Lockwood tip (all hail Rob) is really powerful everyone should watch Robs video. But I think the most powerful tip you posted in this video regards the selecting the 3D op and just hitting save or OK. Meaning select your 3D op, and instantly go down and hit "OK". See if it gives you a tool path, heck you don't even have to have the tool right. It is only in the recent few months that I myself figured this out. There is nothing worse than spending 10 minutes dialing in (or you think you are anyway) an operation only to get a warning triangle* duhikee that tells you nothing, but means that it isn't going to work. At which point you spend another 10 minutes back tracking deselecting options till you get a tool path if you get one at all. If you are new to fusion and starting to work on more complex operations, go back and watch this video again and pay close attention to what John does on the 3D op, it will save you hours. *Fusion 360 team can we get an intern or someone to actually populate the Yellow Triangle of Death with a viable message? "YTD" which I hence forth name it. Even if it said, (You are a Moron, that won't work, try again!) would be improvement to what it says now. Too many innocents are being YTD'ed with no explanation as to why.

[@HughesEarthworks]

Another great video John. Great explanation of the differences between the 2d and 3d. I was using them correctly sometimes but not for the reasons I thought. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

[@repalmore]

On the last part where you were editing the radius a good machinist could pay their salary for months on a large production run by just making that one change. Of course on such a run it would be even better to get the exact tool but that is also part of running a business. Really liking the information John. Thank you.

[@vegandiver]

thank you so much for these tutorials. I always avoided 3D before because I didn't understand them. this makes a lot of sense approaching it as you did!

[@randywetzler5976]

Great information, thanks for all the hard work in making these videos. Your passion for machining and CNC clearly shines!

[@alexmoon4859]

The inspect tool actually gave you the radius when you selected the cylindrical face at 5:19. It couldn't give you the radius when you selected the edge because an edge that cuts a cylindrical face at an angle creates an elliptical arc rather than a circular arc. Usually I find selecting faces works better for measuring fillets than selecting edges.

[@AdamHammel]

Alex Moon It's a 5mm fillet. 4.97 exact, but I think the decimal place limit or resolution function (forgot what it's called) kept it from reaching 5mm. 0.1968503" to be exact. "The good thing about standards is that there's so many to choose from." -Andrew S. Tanenbaum

[@mattpiehl7122]

Love it John that was amazing!!! Really looking forward to how you would Cam up that part !!

[@thedudeofoud2282]

Thanks very much for the vid. I didn't quite understand what the contact surfaces option did and this was a big help : ) Also looking forward to see your new Haas in action, must feel like x-mas day times a million.

[@coastalintegrated]

Awesome John. I was battling this last week. Love the channel man. Great work.

[@makestuffwithkids989]

VERY VERY good explanation between 2D and 3D!

[@pakman422]

Awesome Fusion Friday! I'd definitely like to see that whole part programmed.

[@rlockwood2]

I can always tell when you mention my channel in a video, it's about the only time I pick up followers :) Thanks for the mention, great video.

[@pakman422]

I think alot of us (including John) are hoping for more CAM videos from you, that would be awesome!

[@rlockwood2]

Jacob S. no doubt, more will follow soon. just bought a swiss lathe and am spending too much time getting it up and going. :)

[@haworthluke]

very simple and informative. i'm so new to cnc machining i havent bought one yet lol but I am just getting used to the software. you answered a few questions i had here so ive liked and subscribed. keep it up

[@49cfr]

Very helpful video, thanks very much for these videos. Amen to 7:46 - for a beginner like me its a game changer.

[@bretsiemons2692]

Thanks John, this will save me tons of time.

[@TylerBeckofTECHESPRESSO]

Great video John! Thanks for explaining the face gotcha on 2D.

[@AbearDesign]

awesome information! I have been using Rhinocam and the more I have looked at fusion these past couple of days, I think I'm going to take the plunge and learn it.

[@designomomento]

Thanks for the video. I had a strange experience about post processing. Fusion 360 adds a Z0 command line along with the 28 and 90 before spindle motor starts and the bit dives like hell into the part. I fixed the issue by deleting that line then spindle motor stands still where I zeroed then starts spindle motor and starts carving as it should be.

[@IronForestKnives]

Very Helpful, thank you! I'm excited to see some new videos with that fancy new VM-3!

[@23paige23]

very helpful! I am transitioning from humble carbide create to fusion for more 3d friendly CAD/CAM. It's a steep learning curve!

[@vipervette03]

love to see the rest of the CAM for this part.

[@kentvandervelden]

Any idea why the Contact Point Boundary simply isn't enabled by default? Thanks for the video. I learned several tricks.

[@trued2010]

Hey John, do you think there is a reason why that contact only box is not ticked by default(done by fusion or turned off by the customer perhaps) ; or if it is on by default, why have you turned it off? Thanks.

[@dgoddard]

This video saved my sanity! Thanks!

[@mecp1]

I know others have said just get a 5mm endmill and you want to teach people the software too. You have to remember real world scenarios too. Most of every shop/company would use a 5mm ball endmill for quicker programming and also quicker setup and cycle times. Programming with a 3/16 ball mill can cause problems with blending the 2 programmed paths.

[@mecp1]

NYC CNC it's all good. If that's all you got, that's all you got.

[@dav1dh0ff]

This is great. Should save a lot of cutting time compared to doing it the wrong way. Thank you!

[@fastmurder]

hi nice video.. I have a question.. I try to make a pocket and I have this error, how can I fix this because I don't know what to do "Error: Unsupported geometry for 2D Open Pocket detection!"

[@lmccleary411]

Some times when using the (i) key ,clicking on what you are trying to get information on twice will give you different measurements. For instance clicking on a circle will give you a diameter and radius but clicking it again will give you surface area and other things... try that john not sure if it will work for that arc line.

[@ScottMoyse]

Logan McCleary holding down shift while selecting cylindrical faces for measuring helps massively.

[@RjaznR]

It won't do it on this part. You can get a center to edge measurement, but the angle is 37.5°, so you don't get a radius.

[@ScottMoyse]

RjaznR I just put a 18mm fillet on a 5mm boss, so it wasn't a 90 degree fillet rad, and it measured perfectly.

[@DonDegidio]

John, Really like the FF. Couldn't much of that tool path adjustment be avoided by just getting a 5mm ball end mill?

[@tsw199756]

Donald D'Egidio Very true but what if by chance it was a 50mm radius he was trying to cut hard to find a ball end mill that size let alone pay for it. This lesson applies to all radii.

[@paulwilliamson5985]

That toolpath is doing a lot of cutting near the tip of the ball end mill, where the SFM approaches zero. Is that OK? Would you get better finish if you used a bullnose end mill with a similar radius?

[@HunterNugent1]

I am hoping to get my company to cover the cost of your Jan classes. Looking forward to learning past some of the learning curve of the CAM portion especially. This one was sooo useful with the tool containment part...thank you. P.S. so if you take that step down from .005 to.002 you'd kill that scallop in the radius cut, right?

[@HunterNugent1]

at around 12mins...you changed the step down from .040 to .005...I was thinking if that was .002, you'd have less scallop and one more path...right?

[@DdeadPsy]

Nice tutorials mate :)

[@rickytvaldezable]

Would love to see the whole cam for the part. Looks pretty extensive. Thank you :)

[@VLAHECO]

Mr. John, are you working on Thanks giving ?

[@trued2010]

I bet hes not working, but he probably was at the shop playing with the HAAS if setup was finished.

[@RBravo82]

Is there a way you can force the 3d contours lead to be off the part and straight, with no vertical or horizontal rads?

[@aivarasabromaitis3870]

I had a similar problem, very helpful.

[@vladconut]

Hi John, can you explain (or point me to a video) why is a bad idea to select faces for 2D Adaptive ? thanks

[@TinkeringNerd]

Hi, thanks for making these videos. I’m new to f360 and vids like this are very helpful on my learning curve. I’m having problems with creating a tool path for my part: it’s an open deep pocket of irregular shape with sloped bottom and a fillet. I’ve spent hours and hours trying, watching and reading, can’t get it to machine the fillet at the bottom. Please help.

[@sonofsun4]

Does the software have a setting for surface cutting quality...i..e. scallop height? (I am just evaluating the software, did not download it yet Dec.12,2019)

[@joelinkletters6928]

Once again.. very helpful

[@romeond]

Give a tip plz. How to use a dots to move a tool to the some point in toolpath, I could't do the same on my computer.

[@joeshmoe5935]

Bro I am having trouble trying to minimize my retracts between operations that are utilizing the same tool. My machine needs manual tool changes and hence I prefer to be light on the roughing operations so I can use the same tool to rough and finish so no sense in retracting after every tool move. I tried adjusting the retract height and clicking keep tool down and no luck.

[@benshke]

Hey nyc cnc, i have a small cnc machine and i was wondering what you need to do to make the g-cade stop so i can manually change the tool. I don't have a toolchanger so i do it by hand. Is a it a function in fusion to pause for tool change so it makes a extra line in the g-code? thx greetz Bensh from Belgium

[@Fromeco]

IN the post processor set up screen (the screen that pops up and shows where you will be saving your g-code) go to "optional stop" in the properties (lower right hand corner) and change from "No" to "Yes". I think that will give you your break for a tool change out.

[@Fromeco]

Haha ooops, What SCS says! I guess I should have updated my screen. Sorry about that.

[@benshke]

thx supercoma sports inc.

[@benshke]

thx battery whisperer

[@Lucas..23]

Whenever I trying to cut out an area the tool al ays drills from the wrong axis and I don't know how to fix it. Also when I do the contours, it selects everything on the y axis instead of the x axis

[@Rimorox]

Check your default axis, you can change it from z down to z up, which is better for machining

[@farshadtube8]

It was amazing . thanks

[@MrDaniell1234]

the 3D toolpath the best way to just restrict where it generates a toolpath is to use the bottom height plane, then go back and set the restricted cut. for changing to wire frame the is a addin in the App store that puts the visual style on the bottom task bar

[@MrDaniell1234]

Yep it works well

[@ScottMoyse]

daniel lyall or the 3Dconnexion CadMouse gesture menu. that's Epic.

[@MrDaniell1234]

I don't have one of them you wont to send me one

[@ScottMoyse]

daniel lyall sure. jump on CADPRO.co.nz and Jam in your credit card details and you'll have one next week. are the ferries running yet?

[@MrDaniell1234]

Yer they were running on wednesday after the quake, I will get one next year I have a 5 button mouse now they are realy good.

[@kimron92]

14:06..I don't think there is anything left.. It took the rest of it in the first pass

[@shansultan1995]

thanks you so much sir

[@scotthall3700]

Hey NYC CNC, I'm having trouble with 2d. I'm new to fusion and I'm on a robotics team for High school. So for default I'm just putting in a 1/4 in bit foe the tool just because we are going to cut aluminum. But when I go to do 2d adaptive clearing I get "tool not used for 2d" message of something like that. I have 2 months to learn before I have to start cutting. What am I doing wrong for this message to pop up? Also when I pick 2d contour for holes that are 1/4 in diameter is says the chain is not connected. I have no idea what I'm doing. Thx, Scott Hall.

[@gredangeo]

Depending on the tolerance allowed on that radius. You could just one shot it with that tool and still be good even if it's not actually correct for the model. I know that if I'm given a drawing. The customer should know what they want. Otherwise, I'm using every tolerance to my advantage. Which is good, because it would be cheaper for them really. Reminds me of a story a former boss of mine said. Given the circumstances of the tolerances (one spec was disagreeing too much with another spec) he just faced the part off. After revising, they came back with - well we kinda actually want that angle there. Ballnose it is. Part now takes twice as long to cut. $_$ I think he absorbed some of the price because he was anticipating the change, and also they were a big customer. Lots of work from them. Taking a hit is good business, now and then. If the order quantity became too much, facing on the 5ax was the next step.

[@connectmedia8317]

Hi In my fusion 360 i can only do the postprocess for the siemens sinumerik 804d. When i use an other then there is an error code, that it can only reads UTF8 files. How can you fix this?

[@ScottMoyse]

Connect Media it's best if you go onto the HSM post forum and share some more detail about your issue there.... or engage with a HSM CAM reseller for help wth the post. Where are you from?

[@connectmedia8317]

Scott Moyse i'm from switzerland

[@ScottMoyse]

Connect Media the list of CAM resellers that can do post development is in a sticky post at the top of the post processor forum.

[@weblogmovie]

Thank You.

[@longrangehunter6393]

I would be far more interested in seeing how to do the CAD of that model than the cam. I struggle with CAD

[@longrangehunter6393]

Fantastic! Looking forward to it!

[@snajper007]

I have a problem with 2D/3D Adaptive Clearing. When I making Generate Toolpath then showing a message: Error: Internal CAM kernel error. Please report through your support channel. Please, help.

[@JamesMooreSeattle]

That's what professional software developers call a "bug" - you really do need to contact Fusion support about this.

[@RjaznR]

Could you back up in the simulation to allow it to "machine" to that area? Because it seems to leave a little edge at the bottom of the radius. Aw, heck...you might as well go ahead and CAM the whole thing. You know, for science...!

[@Bigwingrider1800]

MY SOFTWARE WILL SEE THE SOLID AND WILL NOT VIOLATE. SO I DO A RECTANGLE FOR CONTAINMENT AND IT WILL CUT ALL.

[@ianscott5609]

ok