Taper on Profiles - Wire EDM and Milling

Presentation

Definition of tapers on the elements of a profile, they can be constant or evolutive, we can add corners on the sharp angles. This function is available both in EDM and in Milling.

Notes :

the tapers are not geometry, they are information assigned to a profile.
once these information are completed, you need to use the EDM taper cutting cycle or the taper milling cycle to define the toolpath
or you can also create the geometry from a taper with the function 4 Axes Geometry to machine in 4 axes mode (or use shape cycles on the solid created).

▶️ You can watch a video at the bottom of page: click here

To create a Taper

1. Definition of a profile:

Click on the geometry.
Check the direction of the profile with the arrow, if it is not correct do a right-click and choose Invert direction.
Click on the first element of the profile
Choose Middle
Click on the last element of the profile (the same element in our case)
choose Middle

The starting point is white, the first element is dark red.

2. Dialog Bar:

Type in the thickness of the part : Thickness = 10.00 mm[1]
Choose the direction of the taper : below the geometry or above [2]
You can cut some elements with [5]: you have first to select the element to cut with a click or with [3] and [4] .
Type in the value of the taper on the first element.
A constant taper is defined all along the profile, with conical corners in the angles.

If needed, you can now change the taper value element by element : click on the element to be modified, or use the buttons [3] and [4] to select the previous or the next element.

Note about the taper value:

You can also click on a tapered face of a solid to recover directly the value of the taper.

First click the 'pipette' icon, then click the face of the solid: the value is automatically read and the taper is built.

3. Evolutive Taper:

On only one element :

Click on the element, choose [1] and type in the starting value and the ending value of the evolutive taper.

On various elements :

Click on the first element, choose [1] and type in the starting value and the ending value of the evolutive taper. Then click on End elt [2] and click on the last element.

The example on the right-hand side shows an evolutive taper on 2 elements from 5° to 10°, GO2cam calculates and displays the taper element by element, here the first element runs from 5° to 7.929° and the next one from 7.929° to 10°.

4. Conical Corners:

By default, once the first taper is defined, GO2cam generates automatically conical corners on the sharp angles. You can of course change it :
Select a corner clicking on it or with [1] :

If you want to cancel the corner, uncheck the box [2] , there is no more conical corner on the angle chosen.
To cancel all the corners, uncheck the box and click on the button All.

Note about corners : you can also define automatic corners in the strategy page of the taper cutting cycle. In this case they are defined on the whole profile. This is not linked to the corners you can define here in the taper function.

If you want NO corner : define No corner on the taper function and NO corner in the strategy of the cycle.
If you want corners at each angle : either you define them here in the taper function, or you can define them in the strategy.
If you want some corners : define them exactly in the taper function and define NO corner in the strategy.

5. Confirm:

To choose another profile to define a taper on, or to exit the function, click on the Taper on Profile function again .

You can also exit the function with the Esc key or choosing another menu or function in GO2cam.

The taper is not displayed until you do the selection in the machining editor.
Read also : Taper Cutting Selection

The display of the taper is greatly modified.

The visualization is in 3D and with a color convention:

blue: no taper
green: taper (in die mode)
red: undercut (in die mode)

In punch mode, green and red are logically inverted.

The choice of Die/Punch mode is done in the dialogue zone with a button.

You also have the ability to display the colored faces in transparency or not with the icon:

▶️ You can watch a video of an example of the process :

Taper on Profiles Radii and End Element Parameters-20240814-111643.png