Gouge and Stock Collision Detection

Failsafe Programming:  Solving The Problems That Keep Shop Owners Awake At Night

Under no circumstances will Prospector allow a program be sent to a machine without first checking the program for part gouges and collisions of the tool assembly with stock.

Prospector rigorously enforces strict verification of all cutter paths created in Prospector, edited in Prospector or imported from another CAM system.  Each program is checked against the 3D part data to determine if the path is free of gouges.  Next the program is checks the tool assembly (holder, adapter, spindle...) for any possible collisions with stock.  Until these verifications steps are performed, the operator can not run the program on the machine tool because the post processing function is disabled until the program is verified.

The Program / Inspect feature presents a dialog to help you understand what is wrong with the program:

Each entry in the dialog presents the type of problem (a collision of the tool assembly with stock or a part gouge).  The coordinates of where the problem occurred and the severity of the problem (how deep was the gouge into the part or stock).  Clicking on any entry in the dialog graphically places the tool at the point in the cutter path where the next motion gouges:

In many cases, the Select Points feature can be used to mark the offending locations in the cutter path.  Once selected, the points can be moved to correct the problem. 

In the case of a stock collision, changing your tool assembly to use a longer extension can be tried to correct the problem.  The verification feature lets you experiment with different assemblies to find the optimal choice for any program.

For shop owners and operators alike, the full-time gouge and stock collision feature of Prospector provides peace of mind that costly accidents just can't happen.

Checking Files from Other CAM Systems

Prospector has the unique ability to import NC programs from other CAM systems.  Once imported, the same verification process can be performed against these programs to check for problems.  Once a file is imported, it can be verified, edited, assigned a tool assembly and post processed just as if the program had been generated by Prospector.  If you're current CAM system has you unnerved, Prospector can be the solution to finding and fixing problem programs before they start costing you big money.