I am trying to cut a curve on each end of a 2" thick wall nut board I am designing for a counter top. The arcs are in top 2 corners. I designed this as an arc so that I dont have to cut the entire board, just cut off the arcs so that I have curved corners.
I am using a 1/2" shank Spiral compression cutter. It cuts the curves well, but leaves a lip at the end of the arc. I like to smooth out the ends. I tried rotating the curve to make it shallower at the end, but it still leaves the lip - which appears to be 1/2 diameter of the endmill. I used contour path with outside on the left corner and inside on the right corner. Is there a way to simplify this and any tricks? Attached is the CC file and a couple of pictures of the actual cuts. The lip seems prominent at the end of the cut and thus the right corner shows up more on the top. attachments.zip (364.1 KB)
then you will need to setup/position the geometry so that it describes the tool movement, not the edge which you wish to cut — inside/outside work for open geometry:
Will, Thank you.
It seems lilke a very complicated process to cut a simplae cirular arc at the top. I created the arc using the cut vector option from a circle that matches the curve I wanted. I used outside right for the left corner and inside left for the right corner to get the correct offset. The no offset was just to see what happens. But did not use to cut it. I do like the way its put together - so that the cuts will be more precise. I did also try to move the curve up, change angle etc - but did not get the desired output. I will give this a shot.
That said, if you’re willing top accept a No Offset Contour cut, then the necessary geometry is pretty easily made — add the diameter of the tool to the Width and Height or a rounded rectangle:
Will,
Thank you so much for such a comprehensive response. All brilliant ideas. I am learning these in CC. I have been meaning to get to use Fusion 360 which I believe has lot more features especially when it comes to 3D tool paths. Learning curve is steep I understand. All in good time. CC is for now my go to.
Following your earlier response, I made the 2 corner curves using 2 concentric circles and a small circle between them as in your response and edited out 2 pockets to cut. Then I used the node editeor to make it better fit the cut I wanted as I was fixing the cut I already made to rid of the lips. I get it that the pockets are better way to go about this but it does take longer in thicker boards.
Thanks again. The community board especilly you have been a tremendous help in my journey. Good thing about making mistakes such as this is then you try different things to fix them. Makes you get more experience with the machine. While I complain about certain querks with my S05, it is a tremendous machine. I plan to make use of this more in the next couple of months. Certain upgrades like raising the height of the Gantry like Peter (Studio Z) is in the plan and moving the gantry forward to cut vertical. All you need is time…
By the way, another issue I face is dust extraction. once the boards get thicker, the boots hitsurface or very close to it. I have the Sweepy pro and Sweepy 2, both dont work with taller boards. I have a third party 4" boot which looks like might have the same issue - but I have not tried it yet. For example, I cut the curves on my 2" board with a 3" CL cutter without dust extraction which made a holy mess everywhere ( I did use shop vac to remove debris to keep it a bit more managable). Any ideas for this ?
I would switch back and forth between the Sweepy Pro and the v2 when working with thicker stock — usually I would start w/ the Sweepy Pro, then as pockets/recesses got deeper, remove the base and retract the plate and switch to the standard Sweepy v2, adjusting its position as things got lower — for some really deep pockets with limited access I would remove it and just pause the cut and vacuum at need.
If you have an intractable project which you need to work out a better solution for, please post photos of the stock and setup and upload the file in a new post as well as any in-process/attempt photos.
The best thing to do is to try out new techniques in their simplest implementation on inexpensive/scrap stock — if it works, iterate to a more complex effort, if it doesn’t then adjust and try something else, learning from the failure, or building on the success.
