Tool path collision wrecked my spindle - was it my programming or the CAM software?

Yesterday morning I ran a 3D contour on some 6061 aluminum and the tool plunged straight into a clamp, sheared the endmill and probably knocked the spindle out of tram, so now I'm trying to figure out if I missed a clearance move in the setup or if Fusion 360 just decided not to show that interference on the simulation - anyone else have this kind of screw-up and how did you narrow down the cause?

3 comments

3 Comments

alex8208d ago

Ugh, yeah I've been there - check if Fusion was actually seeing the clamp as a fixture body.

troyc1714d ago

Did your sim show the clamp as a body or just the stock? A buddy of mine had nearly the same crash on a 3D contour in Fusion because he'd modeled the fixture as a separate component but forgot to turn on "stock to keep" for it in the setup. He spent a whole weekend re-running his code by hand before realizing the sim was showing the toolpath clean because the software just wasn't seeing the obstruction at all.

juliaa6514d ago

that "stock to keep" thing is such a sneaky trap. i did something similar on a 2d contour once but it was a soft jaw i'd modeled as a separate body and just assumed the sim would see it. nope. watched the toolpath fly right through it in the animation but the real machine? bang. spent a whole saturday redoing the g-code by hand too. hate that feeling when you realize the software was just lying to you the whole time.