Too much wood in my diet!

[Barefooter]

Hey all,
I'm wasting alot of time cutting where I don't need to be cutting. Notice the black area that surrounds the graphic in the pic I attached.... it's cutting that area also. How can I define the cutting area limit with Artcam? I've had this same problem no matter if it's an imported graphic or a fully designed vector drawing.


Thanks much,
Gregg

[alarants]

There is an example of engraving Aston Martin in Artcam manual. Isn't it the answer?

[Barefooter]

Hmmm,
I didn't look at that one. I was doing a 3d toolpath selecting all with the letters raised. That was taking about 3 hours using 3 different bits with 3d rest machining. Makes more sense to do an area clearance instead and NOT selecting everything. Cuts the time by half. It also helped to do a 2d profiling pass on everything with a 1/16 bit having "inside" selected to clean up the edges.

Thanks Alarants

[MonoNeuron]

Hi,
I think I saw a video on the Artcam site where the instructor sets the colour to zero Z height so the cutter would not cut it. Pay to go there and check it out but I may be wrong as I don't have ArtCAM but I still have all my arms and legs and my first born.

[designhawk]

U can choose machine (area under selected vector). So u will no need waste time to cut area in black colour area. If u want more detail,i will show u with artcam file. Email me if u need my help: design.hawk@gmail.com

[diecutter]

This posting from the Artcam forum should solve your problem. To stop the toolpath from machining the whole model: Create a vector or vectors which contain only the area you would like to cut. Select the vectors and then when you create the toolpath select the 'Area to Machine" - "Selected Vector" option at the top of the toolpath page. A tip of the hat to JamesB, Artcam Guru for this information.

[Barefooter]

Thanks guys, I'll take another look at it.
I haven't been very active in cnc'ing lately but I'm hopefully going to be making some chips fly soon.