Hi all, this is likely a simple one for you more experienced folk, but I’m still learning the ropes. When I have a shape to cut where the diameter of the cut is exactly equal to the diameter of the cutting tool then I get an ‘Empty Toolpath’ error. Imagine cutting the slots necessary to seat louver blades into a frame. The slots may be 1/4" wide and at first I thought using the 1/4" cutter would be simple. But that didn’t work. I’ve experimented and found that adjusting the slot width to .26" works fine in either a contour or pocket cut and am curious what the rule is for cutter diameter tolerance when setting up a toolpath? Is it just any value greater than the cutter diameter, or is there a specific value that I need to use?
This is an old problem. If you are going to cut a slot with a .25" bit then make the slot .26". The older versions of CC were never able to cut a .25" slot with a .25" bit but I thought they fixed it. So just make your slot .26" and it should cut.
As long as your slot is not too deep things should go good. However if you are cutting a deep slot that is where things can go sideways. The drag of the sides of the bit can cause you to loose steps. I personally cut deep slots with a longer bit and have not had problems. I use the recommended F&S from the C3D database for my SO3 machine it it works. However if you get aggressive with depth of cut you can get into trouble. When cutting slots it is advisable to use an up cut bit. You can use a down cut but remember the chips are being pushed down in the slot and that can cause recutting of chips and can cause problems in deep slots.
The only point I would add to what Guy has said is to try smaller increments of increased diameter to keep within your slot fit parameters. You might not can allow 0.010” for a tight fit for example.
