Parallel Finish

The goal of 3D finishing tool paths is to remove material left by roughing paths and produce a part that
meets design requirements for dimensional accuracy and surface finish.
A commonly used finish path is Parallel, shown in Figure 9.6. Parallel gets its name because, when viewed
from above, tool paths appear parallel to each other.

Figure 9.6: 3D Parallel Tool Path
Parallel tool paths calculate quickly and are reliable. However, they usually require additional finish passes to
clean up heavy scallops (cusps).
Scallops can be seen Figure 9.7 and are most prominent on the closest wall. Small tool path step over values
produce smaller scallops. Notice how scallop height changes depending on the topography of the part.
Parallel tool paths tend to produce large scallops on steep walls roughly parallel to the path direction. As the
tool steps to the next pass, the path drops down farther in Z on these walls compared with flat areas of the
part. One approach to machining away these scallops is to create an additional parallel finish path rotated 90
degrees to the first. Of course this increases total program run time substantially.

Figure 9.7: Scallop Height


3D Scallop
Scallop tool paths, when viewed from the top, appear similar to 2D spiral pocket tool paths. Scallop paths
continually change the stepover distance to maintain a constant scallop height over the entire part.
Scallop tool paths are calculation intensive and may not work on all shapes, and produce very large CNC
programs with many short moves.
Yet, when applied properly, they work very well and produce a superior surface finish.

Figure 9.8: Scallop Tool Path