WaveGroove

Custom Oscillating Toolpath for grooving applications in GibbsCAM

WaveGroove generates geometry with oscillating chipbreaker for roughing out large grooves.

Turning with large rounded inserts gives the advantage of durability plus fast material removal, but in some materials it can be difficult to maintain a good chip break due to the rounded tip and high feedrates.
By applying an oscillating motion to the toolpath, we can get controlled chip breaking in groove turning applications.

As this toolpath is not part of GibbCAM turning processes, WaveGroove enables to generate these oscillating movements as a custom grooving cycle.

WaveGroove features :

Generate custom geometry with oscillating movements for interrupted cuts on internal, external and face grooving.

Parametric inputs for diameter and width of the grooving toolpath. Compensates geometry for tool width.

Full control over sinewave parameters, set wave pitch, height, segments and optional overlap.

Overlap makes the toolpath outward motion extend beyond the previous cut diameter for better chipbreak. Overlap is set as percent of wave height and ensures the tool to fully exit the material.

Toolpath moves in a zigzag pattern and distribute wear on both sides of the insert. Similar to a Voluturn toolpath, but with oscillating movement.

Interface supports ALT+Click to interrogate diameters and coordinates from geometry and place it in WaveGroove input fields.

WaveGroove can also automatically detect any internal,external or face groove with selecting 3 seperate lines, X and Z values from these lines will be detected and automatically set in the interface.

Geometry are spesifically designed to always move in two directions and suited for rounded inserts and grooving inserts with a rounded tip.

Not really recommended for grooving inserts with smaller corner radiuses. For inserts with sharp radius, adjusting cutting parameters might be necessary for to handle these sideways movements.

A WaveGroove toolpath consists of multiple G32(fanuc/mazak) or G34(Okuma) lines that controls the oscillation. In GibbsCAM this is achived with a threading operation that follows this geometry from WaveGroove.

Your GibbsCAM post processor should output correct g-code for your machine if it supports longhand. It will not work with canned cycles.

WaveGroove installs and runs as a macro in GibbsCAM.

Short video of WaveGroove toolpath on a Mazak Integrex.

*** Using conservative cutting parameters for filming purposes

newnew

31.03.2025 - WaveGroove v1.00 - Initial version, for testing.

02.04.2025 - WaveGroove v1.10 - First version.

04.04.2025 - WaveGroove v1.20 - Fix groove detection for any selection order.