Newbie needing help with setting up tool paths

Just bought a used machine and started playing around with it, I have some CNC background (own a Lamguir plasma table).

Imported a dxf file of “don’t tread on me” snake, in the design section I have black and orange lines, the different colors must mean something but cann’t find out what. My plan is 1/8" V carve into a piece of plywood. When i highlight and go to toolpath and and simulation, only the black lines show up.

Need some direction please.

The possible colors on the Default layer are:

  • black — indicates closed paths which may be used for any sort of toolpath
  • magenta — indicates open paths which may be used for contour toolpaths, but depending on orientation, may not line up
  • orange — indicates the current selection

For example:

If one selects all the open geometry:

The Join Vectors command becomes available which closes the path:

For a bit on the basics of this sort of thing see:

If you will post your file here or to support@carbide3d.com we can walk through what needs to be done (probably joining open vectors)

Thanks for the help. The join vectors command got rid of most of my problems. However the outside line is still in four pieces, when I try joining vectors it draws a line across the artwork and will not connect to where I want it. When I zoom in, i can see one vector is sticks out past the point where the should join, went back to fusion and zoomed in and nope it’s joined properly. Any ideas?

Post the file here, or send it to support@carbide3d.com — usually if Join Vectors won’t work, it is because the endpoints of the vectors are not close enough to join.

You can either draw in additional geometry to make things line up, or Node Edit to make the points close enough.

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