Surface tool path

Not sure if this is going to need to be an education point for me or a legitimate request.

It has been 28 years since Machine shop class & 1 year tool and die apprenticeship, so forgive me if I am wrong here. I have forgotten almost all of the little bit I learned.

I remember cutting on the milling machine and we always went in 1 direction to eliminate the tool climbing . We also tied to avoid plunging into a workpiece in the middle if we could avoid it.

Is it possible to have a surface tool path that will start on the outside boundaries and spiral in to the middle? I feel that would be easier on our cutters, spindles and work pieces.

Carbide Create does not have a feature for that in the bundled license.

There is support for “Ramping” in in the Pro license:

It would be possible to draw a Curve which does as you describe — some drawing programs have direct support for spirals which could be so used:

another option (in pro) is the engrave toolpath which allows the parallel paths you describe

1 Like

This works fantastic. The engrave toolpath is a lifesaver on surfacing passes.

What makes using the engrave path better.

Given appropriate geometry (larger than the stock by endmill diamter in all directions):

It is possible to set up a toolpath:

which plunges to cut depth at the side of the stock, then moves in to make the cut horizontally:

so that there is no plunge cutting (endmills are ~4 times better at cutting to the side than they are cutting downward).

3 Likes

if you set it up right (some overshoot) there are no places where you plunge and all cut paths are perfectly parallel
so a pocket looks like this (see the vertical cuts)


while engrave will do this (notice only horizontal cuts)

5 Likes

I just used the engrave org to surface a 5.5x26.25 board. I set the outer frame as 6x27 and used the McFly. It worked but did weird things. It did a full perimeter pass and then went back and did 2 passes above the top and then did a pass in the middle and 2 above that before doing the rest of the lower portion of the board.

I used the linear path. They just didn’t seem logical.

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.