CM Toolpath Issue

[NewToThis (Peter)]

I’m a bit puzzled by this.

I’ve designed a simple bracket using one bit to cut the inside (1/8" Inventibles end mill) and a second bit (Carbide 3D #201) to cut it out of the stock.

CM went through it’s process and prompted for the #201 bit. Hmm, I thought, it must be cutting it out of the stock first, so I installed the #201, but it cut the inside out with it.

I’ve attached both the *.c2d and *.nc files, but it definitely shows a different bit for each toolpath.

Hose Clamp - Stepper 6mm.c2d (302.0 KB) Hose Clamp - Stepper 6mm.nc (338.0 KB)

Now, two things I’ve learnt before anyone points them out:

1. I’m aware the ‘Maltese cross’ hole is too big for mounting on the stepper motor. I clearly didn’t measure twice to cut once. My bad.

2. I’m also aware I used the wrong toolpath to cut out the middle. It should have been a contour - and would have saved me 10 minutes of cutting time!

Lessons learned

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

You don’t seem to have a tool # defined for the Inventables endmill:

What happens if you assign a unique tool # to it? (or at least one other than #201)

For the inner contour (and for the outer profile) note that cutting a slot as narrow as the endmill is wide results in near constant 100% tooling engagement — you should add geometry so as to cut as a pocket down to at least tab depth:

Adding geometry to cut as a pocket with a finishing pass

One technique which is often suggested to avoid slotting is to add geometry around a part which one wishes to cut out and cut as a pocket down to tab depth — here’s one technique for that. In this case, the project is a bevel gauge which will be cut out of 0.0625" (~1.5mm) thick aluminum: [bevelgauge] Due to the narrowness of the angles, an 0.03125" endmill has to be used, so after importing and scaling the file (we will be cutting out one which is 3") we select the perimeter and offset it tw…

[NewToThis (Peter)]

@WillAdams

You don’t seem to have a tool # defined for the Inventables endmill:

This is how it’s shown in the Tool Database:

Is that what you mean?

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

What shows up in the Tool Number field if you edit the tool?

[NewToThis (Peter)]

This:

Also, the end mill diameter is 3.175mm and the gap is 8mm. Would that be a problem?

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

Could you please post the .nc file?

Also the CSV from your Carbide Create Tools directory revealed when you do “Open Data Directory”?

[NewToThis (Peter)]

I posted the *.nc file above, but could you remind me where this darned file is on my Mac, please?

Thank you

[downrazor11 (Stephen)]

On the mac you can find the file by typing the filename (or even just “.nc”) in the finder’s search box, then right click on it and open the folder it is contained in (it’s one of the options of the right click menu that appears)…

[NewToThis (Peter)]

Thanks, @downrazor11, but it’s the folder with the tool library I was looking for.

Sorry

[NewToThis (Peter)]

Here it is, @WillAdams

Pete’s Bits Shapeoko Softwood.csv.zip (656 Bytes)