Roughing with the Surface Cycle

As any other cycle, the Surface cycle can also be used for roughing, generating three axis tool movements following the surface S-curves. You can assign a certain Z Step that let's the tool stepping down from the specified Z Surface level to the underlying surface. The resulting cutting planes are parallel to the current MCS coordinate systems XY plane. If necessary, the tool moves can be restricted to a certain area by assigning Check Curves. An optional Finishing Allowance can be set in the Work Step Surface section on the 3D Cycle Data dialog.

However, keep in mind that this cycle machines each surface, one after the other, as specified in the Work Step Surfaces table. It does not care about gouging any surfaces that are adjacent to the one that is currently machined. For this case, the Pocketing or Zig-Zag cycle maybe better suited.

The Surface cycle offers two significant advantages:

It often requires much less time to calculate the tool path necessary to cut a particular surface than any other machining cycle.
The finish control is more accurate than in other cycles. Because the tool path is calculated at the machining level, the control over the surface finish is not affected by having to project the tool path, as in the other machining cycles (Pocketing, Zig-Zag).

However, the Surface cycle has the following disadvantages

Not suited to create continuos toolpath over multiple surfaces, each surface is machined individually.