new tool questions

[bobmoore]

I am trying to route oval recesses in 2" maple. I bought a Freud Dish Carving bit to cut it because the 7/8 ball nose took too many laps for an acceptable finish. When I applied the parameters in new tools everything seemed fine but when tried to save I got an error message "incompatible tool". Thanks in advance for any help.

[Gary Campbell]

Bob...
When you entered the new tool, did you enter and define it as a "form tool"? If your bowl bit has a flat bottom and radiused corners, that is the way it must be entered. There are some tutorials on the Vectric site that will help you do this.

[bobmoore]

Thanks for the quick response Gary. I entered it as a radius end mill because I thought that was accurate and I didn't see how to enter a drawing of a new tool into the form tool area.

[Brady Watson]

Bob,
The help file on all Vectric products is very good. Click on help & scroll to the bottom. There is a section explaining step by step how to draw & setup a form tool.

-B

[Brian Moran]

Thanks for the quick response Gary. I entered it as a radius end mill because I thought that was accurate and I didn't see how to enter a drawing of a new tool into the form tool area.

Hi Bob,

You should be able to enter the bowl cutter as a radiused end mill, I've just tried it with the parameters for one off Amazon and it seems fine. Can you post a screen shot of the parameters you were trying to enter when you got the warning?

I assume you are pocketing the oval in PartWorks?

Brian

[Gary Campbell]

Bob...

Like Brian says, radiused end mill will work and setup is easy. Make sure accurate parameters are entered.

Brian...
Nice catch, my bowl bit has tapered sides and needs to be entered as form tool. Most dont

[bleeth]

If you enter a bowl bit as a radiused end mill make sure you make the right decision on step-over. It can be larger than a normal ball end mill.

[adrianm]

I didn't see how to enter a drawing of a new tool into the form tool area.

As Brian says you should be able to set it up as a radiused end mill but for future reference this tutorial explains how to create a custom form tool.

http://www.vectric.com/WebSite/Vectric/support/ht_form_cutters.htm