I have an STL object that I want to machine but I only want to machine certain pockets within the STL file, without surfacing the whole part. I created another post asking how to do that and received a great tip that said I should bound my pockets with a vector and select that vector as the 3D Finish Toolpath, which worked great (Thanks @Tod1d !)
However, that required me to import my STL and then import a vector of the pocket outline and then carefully, painstakingly arrange them relative to one another since it seems you can only move STLs by dragging them around, whereas vectors can be precisely positioned with coordinates or snapping.
Ultimately, I want to machine a large part with multiple pockets and I don’t want regions outside of those pockets to be machined (so multiple bounding-vectors would be needed, too). On the same part, I also want to do flip machining, and I need the STLs on both sides to be very accurately positioned relative to one another in order to get my part to turn out correctly.
Does anyone have a good method for positioning multiple STLs and vectors relative to one another in a single CC project? Is there another 3D file format I should be working that is easier to manipulate?
An imported STL will be centered on the geometry associated with it.
I went over a bit on this sort of thing at:
but you may want to consider a full-fledged 3D CAM tool if you need more control than that afforded by positioning and so forth — that said, have you tried v8?