Newbie software surprises and questions

[Ross Leidy]

Even mistakes with my new SB Desktop are not distressing because I can see that I'm going to have a grand time with my new machine. With the salve of a new acquisition, I can instead refer to mistakes as surprises. Here are a few.

* I made the assumption that when calculating toolpaths in Partworks that lead-ins would have been optimized to avoid cutting into adjacent profile cuts. This doesn't seem to be the case. All my toolpaths were calculated together, but I found that I ended up with a little divot that was cut into one of the profiles by a lead-in for another. Is this something I need to watch for manually in the 3D tab simulation?

* Is there a prescribed way to cut a right-angle x/y guide that's been mounted to the spoil board? I'm thinking I must have done it the hard way. I created a new PW design with an "L" for x/y guides, a circle over the vertex, welded the vectors, and then trimmed the hypotenuse that was added by the weld (can I prevent that?). I mounted an appropriately sized piece of ply into the corner of the spoil board, and in SB3, I ran TS to set the C2 offset to 2,2, and then cut the guides. It turned out fine, but it seemed like a lot of steps for what is probably a very common thing to do. Is there a better way to do this?

* While cutting through the guide material, I found that my cut depth was too shallow. I had Z-zeroed and mic-ed the material, but still it was too shallow. I had to go adjust the thickness 2 times in Partworks, recalc the toolpaths, and re-run the sbp file twice to finally cut through. Is there a way to run the job but offset Z just a bit to achieve the same result? I looked at the dialog that opens with FP, but it wasn't clear to me that I could alter any of those settings to make that happen.

Thanks for any advice,
Ross

[steve_g]

Ross

As I understand your questions...
Lead-ins are usually carefully calculated to avoid nicking other parts... it's not unusual to get a message that a lead-in has been modified or eliminated to avoid conflict. Is it possible that the divot is caused by dwell at the end of a path without a lead-out?

If I understand your question... you should use the fillet tool with the dogbone option to create the inside corner clearance you're trying to achieve...

I would re-zero slightly lower and run the same tool path again... is it possible your Z-zero plate thickness is wrong?

Hope I've answered your questions... if not ask again!

SG

[myxpykalix]

Is this something I need to watch for manually in the 3D tab simulation?

you have to space your parts out far enough apart to allow for the diameter of your bit plus some material to keep the blank together.

I created a new PW design with an "L" for x/y guides, a circle over the vertex, welded the vectors, and then trimmed the hypotenuse that was added by the weld
Whaaaat? I think i understand what you said...did you just say you made a 90 degree corner for material?

I found that my cut depth was too shallow.
Do you mean that you, for example are cutting 3/4 plywood, you set your depth of cut to .75 only to find that you have not cut thru your material?

When this happens to me, what i do is i just guess how much more i need to cut to go thru the material by going back to x,y 0,

then lowering my bit by doing MZ0 lowering the bit to the material surface 0
(while router NOT running)

then clicking the Z down maybe .10 and RE Z'ing to that lower height
then rerun the file, it will cut down .10 deeper on the ending but if you have tabs you need to be careful.

The idea is all you are having to do is re Z, rerun file

[adrianm]

Steve's answers sound spot on to me.

Just to add a bit more info to the guide question. The way I would do that is to draw two overlapping rectangles to create the L and use the Weld tool to make them one L vector.

Now you've got the inside corner of the L that will be rounded so you need to use the Fillet tool. Set it to the radius of the bit you're using and select dog bone and then click on the inner corner. That will create the correct relief cut automatically.

It's well worth spending as much time as you can spare going through the tutorial videos for PartWorks/VCarve (same program) at http://support.vectric.com

[bob_reda]

The "L" shape got me. I'm thinking you use this to line up your material. If you do you don't need a program. You want the material to line up with your machine. The way I do it is to lower a v bit or .25 em into the spoil board and with the key pad run a line both horizontal bring it to the side you want vertical and run it that way for a foot or so. Now you have two lines that are parrell to you x and y axis.

Bob

[steve_g]

For locating "one-offs" Bobs method works fine... If you have 100's to locate something like the photo works better!

SG

[Ross Leidy]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I think a couple photos would be in order here. The first shows the nick I got in one profile. The lead-in from the profile for the oval shape is what did it. There was clearly plenty of room between the two parts to avoid the nick.

The other photo shows the guide that I cut from a pieces of birch ply. I mounted the square piece of ply to the spoil board, ran through TS to set a -2,-2 offset for C3, ran the C3, and then cut the 90-deg guide with my part file. It sounds like I could have simplfied the proces by using the fillet tool to create the relief in the vertex.

Jack - thanks for the idea for resetting z-zero without the plate. That will be just the ticket the next time.

BTW, I used a variant of Brady's vacuum film technique in the first photo. For my table tennis paddles, I wanted to use a compression bit for crisp edges, so I need to cut in one pass with no tabs. Instead of coroplast, I used a scrap of corrogated cardboard box. Instead of vacuum, I used bands of double-stick tape between blank and cardboard and between cardboard and spoil board. I cut many different shapes of paddles, so I wanted to avoid cutting into the spoil board if possible. This technique worked great.

[Brian Moran]

Hi Ross,

Could you send the PartWorks file (crv) to support@vectric.com so we can take a look at it?

Thanks

Brian

[Ross Leidy]

Hi Ross,

Could you send the PartWorks file (crv) to support@vectric.com so we can take a look at it?

Thanks

Brian

Sure thing. I can send it out this evening. Thanks.

[Joe Porter]

Ross, instead of a "Lead In" I use the "Spiral" option. This starts at the top of the material and follows a spiral path to the depth of your cut. This gives a nice clean cut and eliminates any extra gouges. joe