Trochoidal toolpaths afford an option to cut a slot only a little wider than the tool which lowers tooling engagement using a series of curves/semi-circles.
As I understand it, it’s the same sort of concept behind adaptive clearing.
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So the cutting depth is gradually increased during the initial (slotting) part of the pocketing operation and the rest of the pocketing operation can be conducted at the “final” slotting depth?
@Julien
Lucky you! I imagine you had high humidity too! 
No, gradually increasing the cutting depth is “ramping in” trochoidal is a series of circles/arcs:
Once you’ve achieved the desired DOC with an initial slotting trochoidal toolpath, why not just use the achieved depth of cut with a reasonable stepover (WOC) to complete the pocketing operation in the usual manner with climb cutting?
I think that’s a viable option, but usually the trochoidal is just used for narrow slots — that’s what I’ve been using it for.
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Thanks - I kind of missed that - sorry!
Not entirely just slots. Troichoidal milling is excellent in metals as it keeps a constant feed-load to the router/spindle so no sudden engagements in corners like in pocketing. I find I can run more aggressive with it and it’s much safer than pocketing. I know the load values will never exceed a certain set amount so I can run near the max my machine can handle.
It also allows one to use more of the endmill flutes on our machines rather than the bottom section. This is just common in high speed machining (HSM) in general. John Saunders talks about it in a few videos and he likes how tool last longer as well.
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So once the desired depth of cut is achieved, trochoidal toolpaths continue to be used to complete the pocketing operation at that DOC? What materials are you cutting like that and what cutting parameters do you use?
So once the desired depth of cut is achieved, trochoidal toolpaths continue to be used to complete the pocketing operation at that DOC? Generally correct, although almost every time I do have multiple depths selected because I can’t just go 10mm depth right away
What materials are you cutting like that and what cutting parameters do you use? Aluminum is my favorite to cut on my Shapeoko with this method. It is only for roughing. I have done it with softer materials like maple with good success since it just makes everything more consistent. You may sacrifice speed for consistency and endmill/router longevity.
I will get back to you with parameters. I don’t have them all entered into my Onenote like they should be and I’m at work currently.
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@The_real_janderson
How do you generate you trochoidal toolpaths? Is this a feature in F360 or some other CAD/CAM software? It looks like very few people here use them.
A lot of people use it, it’s “adaptive clearing” in F360 
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Ah! different terminology, I wish we would all call things the same. I thought it was similar but another variant.
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Climb or conventional?
Since adaptive is mostly for roughing, I would (now) vote for climb always, given the outcome of this thread.
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Depending on part geometry you might find an efficiency gain going both ways adaptive (climb then conventional toolpath).
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Clever chip-catcher…
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Is this “adaptive”? - it looks more like what @Julien described as " deep & narrow cuts: theoretically you could use CarbideCreate to “simulate” e.g. helical ramping, by first cutting the center part of a pocket using conservative DOC (<1D), and then creating a second toolpath that would clear the rest of the pocket at high DOC / small WOC" than “trochoidal”.
These are the Constant Tool Engagement Angle Toolpaths which go by many brand names such as Volumill, Dynamic Milling, or Adaptive Clearing. They all create elaborate looping toolpaths where the cutter veers away from over engagement just in the nick of time
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Thanks - Apparently BW likes climb too.
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