z-rough question

[dcrblazer]

i am cutting a bunch of wood blocks, and i am need the spiral of the z-rough to cut from the outside in and not from the inside out(it breaks the wood along the grain) does anyone know how to do this?

by the way i am using surcam velocity-2

blocks are 10.25X11.5X40 and i have about 30 blocks to cut all have different programs

[chmillman]

In pocket options, under material cut mode, choose "Contour cut" --ch

[dcrblazer]

"Contour cut" would work but it creates to many rapid moves. thanks for the help it was worth a shot

thanks
John

[chmillman]

Yes, that's the nature of the beast, I think. If you have a block rough shape and an irregular part shape, contour cut will start at the points furthest away from the part and spiral inward, this usually means that starts by cutting off the corners one pass at a time, rapiding back to the beginning after each cut. One of the advantages of contour cut is that you can program nearly 100% cutter engagement, (as opposed to max 50% with spiral before you start leaving islands), so depending on what you're cutting, contur cut may be more efficient even with the rapid moves.

I've never been very impressed with Surfcam's roughing routines though (one of the worst parts of the program IMO), but since I work mostly in plastics and aluminum and do (did) prototype parts, I've managed to live with them... I have not worked with Truemill or SRM roughing though - I wonder if they are better, or who has better roughing strategies out there... --ch