I’m using CC build 842 (though this was also happening on the beta build 853) and as I created a roughing toolpath, I found an odd issue with how it was being calculated. It appears that how detailed the roughing toolpath will be is being determined by the depth per pass setting that I set for the bit. I don’t know if this is a bug or just an unexpected way for this to be calculated.
For my design, I set up a 1/4" roughing endmill to do the rough pass. I’m using the IDC Woodcraft “beast” for this and I had added in their library so I selected the bit and the default depth per pass is set to 3/4". I’m only trying to take about 1/4" off but I figured that the program would just have the bit go as deep as needed based on my design. To my surprise, after I finished the settings, it registered that it was an empty toolpath. I tried an 1/8" endmill from C3D to see if maybe it was the library, and that showed toolpaths as expected. So I tried a different bit from IDC and that also showed toolpaths.
After trying some more, I found that if I changed the depth per pass to something smaller, like 0.1", it would show toolpaths. Then I realized that if I changed the depth per pass even smaller, like 0.01", it would actually give a closer level of detail to the final design.
Here are some screenshots to show what I’m saying:
First is the 3/4" depth setting that shows it calculates no path
Then I change it to 0.5" depth which shows a path now
Changing to 0.1" shows a more detailed path compared to the 0.5"
Then changing to 0.01" shows an even more detailed path
These are all using the same bit, the same model, everything else is the same except the depth per pass.
My assumption based on how the finish 3d path is done is that the roughing pass would operate much the same, following the contour of the 3d elements and so the depth per pass would be irrelevant. Instead, this is operating more in the way that a 2d path would go with it calculating what it can cut based on how far down to step each time.
So let me know if this is a bug or expected so I can start taking this into account in future projects. Thanks!