Toolpath Drawings

[kubotaman]

I am cutting a 2 rail sweep and the drawings are good. The 2 Rail sweep is centered on the material. The material is the same size as the "Sweep". When I go to make the toolpathing and the tool comes to the edge of the material it raises which is a total waste of time. I have offset the material to be cut and no go. What am I doing wrong? I have worked on this for a number of hours and am at my wits end. Help!! I am using Aspire and have posted there but more people view here on the Bot forum.

[tmerrill]

Daryl,

If you increase the size of the material so it is slightly larger than the sweep and recalculate the toolpath the retracts will go away. The 3D finish toolpath will retract whenever it reaches the edge of the material.

Tim

[kubotaman]

Tim you have helped me out in the past and I have tried what you suggested to no avail. Is it possible to send you this simple file and you look at it?? I believe that I would have to send it by your normal e-mail address.

[tmerrill]

Yes, send it by my normal email address and I will take a look.

Tim

[kubotaman]

I finally figured it out, hopefully. Lots of wasted time in on the simple drawing, but I guess that is the way it goes! Thanks!!!

[myxpykalix]

daryl,
so tell us what was the issue? My guess was going to be that you had unconnected vectors?:confused:

[kubotaman]

Jack, nope! As it turned out Tim was correct! Who would think that if a component, Aspire program, was made to be the size of the wood stock that it would make the spindle raise every time it would come to the edge and raise up then reverse direction! This to me is a real waste of time! How would one figure it out unless by accident?

[Brady Watson]

This isn't an 'Aspire Only' issue. Other programs do this as well. Sometimes you need to make the material larger and then do an origin offset or move the material around on the table to prevent the moves you talk about.

CAD/CAM programs can only do so much, and those 'annoying moves' are there to prevent the tool from crashing because you told the software the model size was the limit. This sort of thing is one of the nuances of running a CNC...and further proof it takes more than 'pushing a button' to get the job done.

-B

[myxpykalix]

just because i want to understand this answer to store in the "memory bank" since i don't use this pgm, since i like to read these things and analyze them, correct me if i'm wrong...

lets say you have a profile 6" long then you might want to make your material size say 7" long?
My reasoning is that the tool is stopping short of the complete sweep of the material becase it assumes there is not clearance past the material, or the leading edge of the bit reaches the end of the toolpath even though that does not complete it?

My assumption is that there is no bearing on the size of the depth of the material other then to make sure it is thicker then the deepest part of a profile?:confused:

[kubotaman]

Jack what it is doing, program, is thinking there is an "imaginary wall" there that the cutter will collide with. I had forgotten this which lead me to ask the question. The material only counts towards the cutter cutting thru to the table. You are correct in your statement as far as the depth counting.

[srwtlc]

Jack,

Beyond this place there be dragons. ;)

"That’s what the old mapmakers would say when they reached the end of the known world, and could not describe what lay beyond."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_be_dragons

[myxpykalix]

Scott,
That looks like a sign i should hang at the beginning of my driveway to keep the dog owners in my neighborhood from using my yard as their dogs toilet! then design and rig up a dragonhead with a flamethrower to enforce the point of the sign! good job:eek: