Help with contouring

[gsnorcal]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to SprutCAM. I have a model I made in Solidworks. Two part question:

Part A:
I'm having trouble contouring a part's overall outline when the outline is formed by many different levels in the part. See attachment. I want to profile at full part depth (Z) around the green line. The problem is, I can't connect the green line at the two red arrows. At the blue arrow, there doesn't seem to be the same problem, because even though the lines don't connect, they do terminate at the same X/Y coordinates, just different Z. But I need a way to get from X,Y of red arrow A to X,Y of red arrow B. Any ideas?

Part B:
I can't seem to figure out the right geometry to select to be able to create a pocket down to the face marked "shelf". What's the right operation for removing that material after I contour the part?

Thanks,
Dave

[gsnorcal]

Aha!

I figured out the beauty of the "2d geometry" tab. It lets one arbitrarily add geometry to the model. That enabled me to solve both of my problems.

For the first, I just created a line segment that connected the green line between the arrows. I turned snapping on to snap to the intersections of the model's geometry. Easy.

For the second, a simple rectangle became the pocket. Easy again.

If anyone has better suggestions, I'm all ears, but this seems to be a powerful tool. I learned on an old 2D version of MasterCAM, where I only used the CAM to draw my geometry. This takes me back to that.

Cheers,
Dave

[beanbag]

1)Model tab, create a section that slices thru the middle of your part
2) Roughing waterline, select the shelf as "bottom level", use the option in the parameters menu that says something like "don't cut if there is less than 0.00x amount of material"

[gsnorcal]

Originally Posted by beanbag 1)Model tab, create a section that slices thru the middle of your part 2) Roughing waterline, select the shelf as "bottom level", use the option in the parameters menu that says something like "don't cut if there is less than 0.00x amount of material"

OK, roughing waterline is what I wanted. Thanks for that.

As for creating a section, I understand the concept, but can't find any buttons, menus, or information in the help file for that operations. Any more tips on that?

EDIT: I found the section. It's called "Intersect" and I get it. Thanks again! Good tips!

Thanks,
Dave

[davidperry3]

Go to the model tab and select the 2D geometry folder. Select your curves or even the whole part and click on project to plane. after that when you are in the machining tab on the job assingment select curves and chose the folder for the curves you just made.