PW3D code question

[phealey]

Okay, so I am cutting into wooden blocks that are approximately 5 x 35 inches long. They each get the same cut (a simple half circle groove, like something resembling a wine bottle holder slot) so using PartWorks 3D I designed a cut that would cut 20 pieces at once by making the X distance of the cut about 105 inches. I successfully performed this cut twice using 5x26 inch pieces, but when I went to increase the y distance something strange happened.

I have been going into SBEdit to remove some unneccessary steps (shaving down the top of the flat sections of wood) and noticed that my cut lines were different than the previous times I did this.

For instance, in the first program I did, the bit would go from x=0 to x=106 at a certain z value, then drop down and go back from x=106 to x=0 at a slightly lower value. This worked very well. Now, however, I am seeing the coding change. Now the bot is trying to go from x=0 to x=45 (just an example, the 45 number changes in each line) at one z value, then drop down very slightly (about .001 inch) and continue to x=106 at that new z value. I thought it was strange and could not figure out why the program was cutting this way. If anyone knows anything about this issue, I would really appreciate any help you can give me. I am using a 0.75in ball-nose bit.

Thanks

Pat

[Brady Watson]

Try fooling with your stepover value in PW3D for the ball end tool. Some toolpaths will do that. Either see if you can view it using the simulator in PW3D or read the code. Optionally, if the code is doing everything else you want it to do, make no qualms about editing the SBP by removing that first line, and in it's place, put a jog command in there to go where you want the tool to enter the work. Test it by air cutting first to make sure you got it.

-B