Roughing, 2½ Axis
2½ Axis Roughing is an area clear operation similar to facing & pocketing that automatically considers the extents of the defined Stock as drive regions and any selected Control Geometry by the user as part boundaries.
This offers the advantage of not having to create additional curve/sketch geometry to represent the stock extents and an added advantage of being able to machine arbitrary open areas. The heights of the selected regions are honored in this method. This method can be used with 2D & 3D geometries.
 2½ Roughing on 3D Geometry, Offset Cuts, Mixed Cut Direction, 40% Stepover |
 2½ Roughing on 2D Curves, Offset Cuts, Mixed Cut Direction, 40% Stepover |
The Roughing toolpath is invoked by selecting the Program tab, clicking on the 2½ Axis button in the Machining Browser.  2½ Axis Roughing Menu Item |
The toolpath generated depends on your defined parameters. The various parameters that you can set can be seen in the dialog box that is invoked when you choose the 2½ Axis Roughing operation. This dialog box is shown below.  Dialog Box: 2½ Axis Roughing |