Roughing toolpath Newbie Question

[shawnn82]

Hey guys,
I am trying to create a 3d carving of a horse on a 10" x 12" x 1.5" sheet of pine. The carving sits 0.69" deep. I need to create a roughing toolpath so it wont break my 1/8 tapered ball nose bit as it has twice now. When i create a roughing tp in partworks 3d, it creates the path covering the entire area of the design but it also machines it outside the actual dimensions of the horse with an offset of atleast an inch. Is there any way i can keep it from going outside the boundaries of the actual 3d design? If you know what i mean?

[erik_f]

Draw a 2d vector around your 3d shape. You can do with with create vectors from bitmap sometimes or just do it by hand...highlight it when you go to do your 3d design.

[shawnn82]

Im not sure i understand. The 3d image is an stl file. When i import it into Partworks 3D it doesnt let me draw a vector around it. In partworks, I can highlight the image and draw a vector around it, but im not sure how to use that vector to prevent the tool from machining outside the vector when i cant really edit the roughing toolpath created by PW3D that is now imported into partworks.

[erik_f]

Sorry you can't do what I said to do in PW3D. I was thinking of Aspire. I'm not very familiar with PW3D. You could try changing your bottom plane so you don't machine your roughing tool path all the way to the bottom, but also maybe changing the material size to just slightly bigger than your model. There is a function which you can use the profile of the model as the outline instead of a rectangle or square. Besides that you may want to go to Vectric's website and see what info is there on the Cut3D (i think that's what it's called) I believe it is the same program as PW3D. Sorry to confuse you further.

[jporter]

I am reluctant to respond here, I am new to CNC myself, but if you have PartWorks, use that instead of the 3D and then do the create vectors from bitmap (I think it is in PartWorks). If so, and you are able to make a vector outlining the shape, go to the "off set vectors" and off set by at least 50% of the tool diameter. Then use that vector for figuring your tool path. Hope this helps, joe