Machine a blower wheel with TopSolid - Step 5 Use 5 axis sweeping with a guide curve

At this point, you have turned down the part as far as possible. You then applied some stored knowledge to use 4 axis radial roughing to rough and semi finish the blower wheel. What’s next? 5 Axis tool paths…that’s what’s next! In this next step you will create your first 5 axis sweeping tool path. Let’s get to it!
In Step 5, you will learn how to apply a sweeping tool path. Sweeping is a common enough strategy of machining that typically follows the iso curves of the surface. (Incidentally…an iso curve is the mathematic spine of the surface that defines its curvature.) Now if this is not your first 5 axis rodeo, you know that this type of machining can have challenges to overcome…especially when the iso curves are not oriented the way you want them to be. Thank fully TopSolid knows how to handle that too! In this sample, you will learn how to use two curves to morph the tool path so that it follows the natural flow of cut you are after. Lastly you will learn how to control the shank of the cutter so that it is always centered between each blade of the blower wheel. Check out this video to see these steps in action. And check out blog.topsolid.com for more videos on this topic.