Surface planing a project

[david5 (David Mattice)]

When surface planing what cutting category should you use, contour or pocket

[Julien]

pocket
(20 characters)

[Tod1d (Tod (with 1 'd'))]

I just draw the path I want, and use contour / no offset.

I use “Pocket” for clearing out pockets. But for surfacing I don’t like the plunge, which leaves a witness mark on the part, and the fact that it only conventional cuts. I like to to start & end the tool off the part, and climb cut. I also draw my own path & align it with the grain of the wood (on a wood part) so it’s not cutting across the grain.

[david5 (David Mattice)]

I am new to Cad/CAM design. How did you create your own tool path?

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

One way would be to draw the parts, edit as necessary, then stitch together:

First a circle, so one can get a semi-circle:

(it will help to have the grid set up so that things line up/snap nicely)

Node Edit:

right-click:

Cut Vector:

d to delete the current selection (or use the right-click menu):

select the remaining node:

d

Done

Draw in geometry as desired using the Polyline tool:

Done

Select:

copy-paste or Duplicate:

mirror along the vertical axis:

Drag into position:

Select all and copy-paste:

Drag into position:

repeat as desired, then select all:

and Join Vectors to get a single object: