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This video shows the use of Stock Recognition in the Lathe environment for Mastercam.
The use of Stock Recognition in Mastercam can be extremely valuable in the lathe environment. Stock Recognition can be used to ensure all roughing passes are the same depth and also automatically update toolpaths if the stock sized is changed.
Often overlooked, Stock Recognition is one of the most powerful features in the Lathe environment in Mastercam. A common issue, when the piece of material you are going to cut is larger in diameter than your chained geometry. If you do not enable Stock Recognition on that roughing operation, the toolpath does not know where to start the toolpath from in regards to the diameter. Mastercam will start its roughing for that toolpath from the highest point in X of the chained geometry. So, lets say you have a 2" diameter bar. The chained geometry has a highest point on it's largest diameter, which is 1.50". The first cut that would happen would occur below the chained geometry by the cut amount of the operation. Needless to say, no matter what that depth cut is set at, you will be cutting more than 0.5" in diameter....a very aggressive cut. It's not Mastercam fault though, it's just working with the info you're giving it.
If you enable Stock Recognition, and have defined the Stock correctly in the machine setup, Mastercam can automatically start roughing from the current state of the stock. This will save you from accidentally cutting too much material on that first roughing pass.
Stock Recognition can be used in several different ways...
- Remaining stock: uses only stock remaining from previous operations.
- Use stock for outer boundary: uses a section of the stock boundary as the outer boundary.
- Extend contour to stock only: linearly extends the ends of the chained contour to the stock.
- Disable stock recognition: provides no stock recognition.
You also have the option to Adjust Stock. The Adjust Stock dialog box lets you adjust the area of the stock to be removed by the roughing operation. This option is available only if:
- You define stock boundaries in the machine group properties.
- The chained contour lies entirely within the stock boundary.
- You select either the Use Stock for Outer Boundary or Extend Contour to Stock Only options.
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