Helical Plunge with UltiPockets

The Helical Plunge option is used with the UltiPockets option to define the plunging location when inward pocketing. Islands created using inward pocketing can influence plunge locations. A plunge location is determined that will not interfere with pocket islands.

The plunging location in outward pocketing is the same as a straight plunge. Outward pocketing is used only for mill frame, mill circle, and ellipse pocket boundaries that do not have pocket islands. Since islands are not present with outward pocketing, the plunging location is in the middle of the mill frame, mill circle and ellipse.

When the Helical Plunge option is installed, two additional pocketing-related fields appear on the Milling 2 tab on the Program Parameters screen. These fields are Operator Specify Pocket Start and Pocket Plunge Near Center.

The Operator Specify Pocket Start field takes precedence over the Pocket Plunge Near Center field. If the Operator Specify Pocket Start field is set to Yes, the value of the Inward Pocket Plunge Near Center field is ignored.

When the Operator Specify Pocket Start field is set to No, the value of the Inward Pocket Plunge Near Center field is checked. If the Inward Pocket Plunge Near Center field is set to Yes, a starting location will be determined near the center of the pocket. If both fields are set to No, the default starting position will be used for the pocket.

Helical Plunge Using Operator Specify Pocket Start

To use the Operator Specify Pocket Start function:

  1. Set the Type field to Pocket Boundary on the Mill Contour, Mill Frame or Mill Circle screen.

  2. Set the Pocket Type field to Inward on the Mill Contour, Mill Frame or Mill Circle screen.

  3. Set the Operator Specify Pocket Start field to Yes on the Milling Parameters screen.

  4. The Pocket X Start and Pocket Y Start fields appear on the Mill Contour, Mill Frame, or Mill Circle screen. The operator identifies the pocket plunge location with the Pocket X Start and Pocket Y Start fields.

The Pocket X Start and Pocket Y Start fields define the centerline of the plunge path. This is the location where the helix will be centered. If a straight plunge is selected, the straight plunge will occur at the location.

See Helical Plunge (Ramp) for an example using Pocket Start X and Pocket Start Y fields.

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For non-rotary blocks, Pocket X Start and Pocket Y Start define the XY starting location. For rotary blocks, these fields define the XA starting location.

An error message will display if the values for Pocket X Start or Pocket Y Start interfere with the pocket island or pocket boundary.