nest geometry or toolpath

[thereclinerman]

hi all. am a new user and using x5. are their advantages of nesting geometry over nesting toolpaths. after i nest the geometry, do i then go back and create the toolpaths? thanks for the help

[bostosh]

Both, Draw the geometry where you wish to toolpaths to be.

Then copy the motion to the geometry drawn,

Because if you need to edit the motion, you do not repeat the motion edits for each geometry repeat.

[thereclinerman]

bostosh, thanks for the answer. however am a little (or lot) lost. lol. i know i can toolpath the part and then nest it. this gives me all the toolpaths for the number of parts i select. this gives me the complete toolpath for the 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. nest, this is where i am lost as to nesting the geometry. i nest the geometry only and what do i do next. thank you i am a new user to mastercam!!!

[bostosh]

I build the geometry where it is to be nested (or just an outline and reference points to translate to). for visualization purposes only, then translate the toolpaths to the visual reference.

Model the 4 x 8 sheet outline then nest in.
repeated geometry is free, cheap and easy to do,

[snkdriver]

My preference is to almost never nest the geo. I nest the toolpaths and go with that. When I have trouble is when I need to recut a part that is still on the table and perhaps I need to make an offset in mastercam to recut the part. In nesting this is a big problem. The newly nested parts are not located exactly the same as the first time (the part is now slightly smaller due to my adjustment and that changes the nesting). If you never recut parts that are still in place, I dont see the necessity of geo nesting.