Ever wondered what the "Smoothing Radius" parameter in VoluMill is for? Well, VoluMill is designed to run at high feedrates and spindle speeds, and therefore the cutting tool makes no sharp turns when VoluMill is cutting material. The smoothing radius is simply a value that determines how far the tool is allowed to go into sharp corners or narrow areas. A smaller value lets the tool go farther.
The smoothing radius can range from 5% of tool diameter up to 45% of tool diameter. If you enter a number outside this range, don't worry; the user interface will change it to the nearest allowable value. And no matter what smoothing radius you use, rest assured that VoluMill will adjust the feedrate so that there are no undesirable spikes in the material removal rate or tool load.
So how should you set this parameter? Essentially, it's a trade-off between cutting further into corners and faster cycle time. If you will be coming back with another, smaller tool in a rest-milling operation, we recommend setting your smoothing radius to a high value. Even if you are only using one tool to rough out your part, you may actually get better results by using a smaller tool and a high smoothing radius instead of a larger tool with a smaller smoothing radius.
Here's what a smoothing radius equal to 45% of tool diameter would generate:
And here's the same part, with a 5% smoothing radius:
