Reclangular Pocket positioning question

[Shuey]

Hey Crew,

Finally finished off my mill conversion and was cutting a reclangular pocket on the weekend to try out the wizards.

Question I have for you is am I meant to  allow for the dimension of the radius of the cutter I am using for the X & Y coordinates when locating the pocket?

I entered tooling information in the table in Mach 3 and it appeared in the tool page.

For the record, I was cutting a pocket 35(l) x 32(w) x 26(d) mm in a billet 60 x 40 x 150 mm using a 10mm 2 flute carbide end mill. I wanted a 4 mm perimeter around three sides so I originally set the X & Y to 4mm and nominated the "Set Position" to the corner I wanted. But when it cut the first pass it was clearly 5mm out. I adjusted the X&Y to 9mm from the same "Set Position" and it came out fine.

Am I doing something wrong here? Have I got the tool set up incorrect? The pocket came out to the exact dimensions and therefore must be allowing for the cutter diameter...so hmm any hints or is it a case of allowing for the radius of the cutter in the X&Y positions?

Any clues would be a great help and cure my curiousity.

Cheers,

Marcus

[Brian Barker]

Is this in the newfangled solutions wizard set? You need to enter the tool dia in the wizard not into the tool table.

Hope that helps
Brian

[Shuey]

Thanks for your reply Brian.

Yes, it is in the newfangled solutions wizard set.
I did enter it in the Wizard. I'll go back and have another go... I'll re-enter the detail again and see how I go. I'll report back.

Thanks,

Marcus

[Brian Barker]

be sure to press enter after you type in the data... you would not be the first one to have that get you