An earlier thread made reference to a video on DolphinCadCamUSA that explained a simple way to add holding tabs in the CAM module. Unfortunately, that link is no longer valid, and the video doesn't seem to be one of the standard ones.
Does anyone know what this simple way of adding tabs might be?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by holding tabs, if you mean a way of not machining the whole of a contour then look at the "Options" tab under Goround and find "Partial Machining" by altering the start and end span numbers you can adjust the start and end machining positions.
You can also select the "Distance" 0 = the start of the span and 1 = the end, so 0.5 would be halfway along, 0.25 a quarter of the way along etc.
If I have the wrong end of the stick please explain further.
Yes there is a bridge command in CAD, it is really useful for joining together a number of shapes then creating a single contour.
If it's not on the Drawing Ops toolbar next to Fillet/Chamfer, it can be found under the top menu item Draw>Bridge. If you want it to be part of the toolbar then goto View>Toolbars>Customise and select if for those displayed.
Spooky - I was going to ask the same question! The holding tabs as I understand them are un-machined bits of a go-round contour left at the bottom of a milling operation to cut out a pattern from plate say, to prevent the part getting flung out of the machine when the mill has completed its pass at full depth!
If you use the partial machining command do you essentially do the major depth part of the contour then set another go-round with the partial features included to leave the connections at the bottom of the milled 'trench'? How would the command look to mill a circle but leave 3 attachment points at 120 degrees to each other?