Milling on Mutiple surfaces

[fr1670]

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone knew how to mill across multiple surfaces just using grasshopper programing and not using CAM software. Like in the picture below going across from the chamfer to the fillet in one smooth  mill path.

Regards

[Johannes @ Robots in Architecture]

Hello,

What exactly should be the result?
Do you want to do surface finishing, or roughening?
Even with a dedicated CAM software there are countless ways to mill such a piece, and with GH you have even more freedom.
If you just want to cut from above with a fillet, you e.g, need a very long tool. The alternative would be to cut with a multi-axis process, which then needs more complex movement strategies.

As a simple example I've expanded the surface milling file that I sent you to work with multiple surfaces. See the attached files. Reachability is then of course a problem, in particular if you do not have a turntable.

Grasshopper is very powerful, but decades of expertise have gone into CAM software, so unless you want to fabricate 20 parametric, filleted boxes, a CAM software may be the easier solution for your problem.
In the member version of KUKA|prc you can take G-code from the free/cheap Autodesk Fusion and turn it into robot code, which we often use with students.

Bet,
Johannes

[fr1670]

Hello,

Thank you for the updated milling files. The goal I am trying to reach is to have a single mill path go around the chamfer and fillet for all sides in one smooth continuous path. The tool I am using is a laser that is just needs to go long the normal of the surface of the chamfer and fillet one time. Just to give you a better idea of what I am trying to do with the KUKA.

Regards,
Nick

[Johannes @ Robots in Architecture]

Hello Nick,

Ah, ok! Polysurfaces can be tricky, one simple trick would be to mesh them in high quality, join the meshes, project your toolpath on the mesh and then get the normal of the closest point on the mesh!
Take a look at the Drilling example in the tutorials section for an initial pointer!

Best,
Johannes