Hi folks. I am making a number of pockets 10mm deep of various sizes using a 6.5mm bit at 40% stepover to clear out the bulk of the pocket.
When finished I would then like to clear out a further 1.5mm from each pocket but using a 10% stepover and a slower feed to hopefully giving a smooth surface finish reducing the need to sand.
Is there a way I can do this without the machine needing to redo that top 10mm again. Hope this makes sense.
Cheers Ian
To make this easy, I would create two files. One for the roughing and one for the finish cut. This would allow you to set the stepover on the second, as well as tell the machine where to start the second cut and how deep for it to go. That way you aren’t cutting air on the second file. You could merge the two files in a text editor and stick a pause in the middle if you wanted. Setting your Z location in the second file and changing the depth would be the keys. Stepover is changed in the Settings.
Thanks Marty. I had the same thoughts about two files but I can’t seem to get my head around how to set the Z for the 2nd file
I think for the second file, if you zero the z at the lowest depth you cut in the first file and then changed the safety height to whatever it is now plus that depth you cut, it would work. You would have to make the cut depth just the little bit that you want to take off. So let’s say you want a cavity1/2 deep. You make your first file go down to 7/16 deep.The second file only goes down 1/16 deep with the smaller stepover, but safety height is.25 plus the 7/16.
I’d try it on scrap or even just cut air and see what happens. In some cam programs, like meshcam, you can tell the software that the bottom of the work is zero.You can add commands to the file as well,like telling the z to go 1" up where you may have a concern.
It would be advisable to learn to read and write the Gcode ( if you don’t know how) , so you can manipulate it. Sorry my examples are not metric..
MeshCAM - CNC Software - CAD/CAM SoftwareII
Origin Safety Height vs Safety Height – Easel Support Center
Thanks for the concise info Martin. I appreciate the time you spent with this. I’ll give this a try with some shallow cuts and keep the clamps out of the way.
Cheers Ian