We have had a user who wanted to engrave some text using the Follow Path machining plan in QuickCAM 2D.
He complained that the letters were joining together, ie the tool did not pull out of the job before moving on to the next letter
Site Admin
We found that he had not thought about the diameter of the cutter - thinking that it would not matter for the follow plan because it does not need to know the tool diameter.
However, QuickCAM looks at the size of the cutter when creating toolpaths, and determines whether it needs to lift out of the job to get to the next cut.
It does this to make broken contours machine smoothly on the machine, instead of lifting out and feeding back in all the time
To overcome this problem, the user just had to select a small diameter cutter to use on the Follow Plan
However, QuickCAM looks at the size of the cutter when creating toolpaths, and determines whether it needs to lift out of the job to get to the next cut.
It does this to make broken contours machine smoothly on the machine, instead of lifting out and feeding back in all the time
To overcome this problem, the user just had to select a small diameter cutter to use on the Follow Plan
Attachments:
- This picture highlights how the tool will not be lifted out between letters, if QuickCAM thinks the cutter is wider than the gap between the letters
- quickcam2d-paddy2.gif (39.93 KiB) Viewed 7051 times
- How the text should look - after using a small diameter cutter in the Follow Machining Plan
- quickcam2d-paddy1.gif (31.67 KiB) Viewed 7051 times