Controlling End Mill Cut Depth?

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johnelle
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Controlling End Mill Cut Depth?

Post by johnelle »

I just had a disaster trying to do a 3D carving on Oak. Bad chatter and eventually it broke away from the bed the vibrations were so bad. Going to slow the feed to 20 but I also want to cut down the depth per pass. For the 1/4 inch end mill it looks like it is taking almost 1/4 inch per pass. I don't see any way to control this on either the tool or path settings(?) Most other software lets you set it directly. Where is this in Vcarve?

1/4" straight end mill. Cutting 3/4 red oak.

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Rcnewcomb
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Re: Controlling End Mill Cut Depth?

Post by Rcnewcomb »

When setting up the toolpath you can select the Edit button for the tool.
In the dialog box change the Pass Depth to the desired value.
PassDepth.PNG
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MRH91
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Re: Controlling End Mill Cut Depth?

Post by MRH91 »

Exactly as Rcnewcomb suggests, within the Tooling setup for your particular end mill (where you edit the feeds/speeds) it allows you to control the depth per pass also. I wouldn't go much beyond 1mm, but thats completely up to you, I would rather it take longer to carve and have a smoother, chatter free carve.

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Rcnewcomb
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Re: Controlling End Mill Cut Depth?

Post by Rcnewcomb »

You can also change the setting in the Tool Database and it will use that value by default each time you select that bit. You can still override it on a particular job using the method mentioned above.

To change in the Tool Database

Toolpaths/ToolDatabase
ToolpathDatabase.png

Change the values and click Apply or OK to save them.
ToolpathDatabaseEdit.png
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Leo
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Re: Controlling End Mill Cut Depth?

Post by Leo »

If you are doing a 3D finish toolpath the cutter is going to go to the full depth.

If you want a controlled depth per pass as mentioned by the other guys you need to use the 3D roughing toolpath first.
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