I'll start with a lot of detail about the first operation, and just add specifics for later operations.įirst, select an appropriate tool for your first operation - for me this will be the reference for my part flip, and I'll use a medium sized tool so the radius doesn't obliterate the flat faces I need to measure against later. Note: if your stock isn't perfectly square, use the machine to cut a parallel notch that you can use to align your work with the direction of travel when it is repositioned! I didn't do this because I was using squared stock in a well-aligned vice. This also requires that you align perfectly straight stock well to the bed of the machine - a vise is a great way to do this.

By using the machine to actually create the new position, you can be sure that you're registering the other side of your part perfectly to the coordinates the machine was using for the first operations - errors aren't carried forward. If your part (line mine) is going to require a flip or repositioning, make sure you make a reference mark on your piece that you can use to create a new UCS for the second side.

Popular choices are corners or centers of edges and faces. This will allow you to tell the machine exactly where your part sits in physical space inside the machine, relative to its home position. You can see the spherical extrusion is reintroduced to the stock material.Īdd a UCS - a user- or work-coordinate system in a logical position that you can reference in the machine. The stock can just be extruded over the entire model, and then features to be machined can be pulled over them in the project tree. The square bottom shape allows for the vise to grab securely, and the flanges on the top face will make it easy to hold the material down with strap clamps (photos in later steps). So I made stock material that encloses my part entirely with at least 0.1' to spare on all sides. I will use a vise to start on the first side of my stock, before flipping it over and using strap clamps to hold it down to scrap board to machine the opposite face. Additionally, you have to make sure you have somewhere to hold your material while leaving enough room for the cutter to machine your part without damaging the vise or clamps! This means you'll have to choose what stock material you need to start with in order to contain your part all inside the material you choose.

Once you have your model created, you have to prepare it for HSM, or CAM software.

Autodesk inventor 2015 hsm