Additive toolpaths are calculated from the surfaces of your CAD model. To calculate additive toolpaths you must prepare the surfaces of your CAD model to meet the additive manufacturing requirements in PowerMill:
- Surfaces must be organised into Levels and Sets.
- Surfaces can be included in one Level only, but can be included in multiple Sets.
- If you want to use a feature surface as a base surface of another feature, it must exist on its own Level or Set.
- Your base surface must:
- be isolated on a single Level or Set.
- be a continuous surface, or multiple contiguous surfaces, with no holes.
- be larger than the feature it supports.
Additionally where sharp junctions occur in your geometry try to replace them with fillets before calculation. This is to avoid rapid changes in the tool axis or its velocity, which can negatively affect the flow of deposition. After deposition the junctions can then be machined to their final shape.