Tabs Problem

[4DThinker]

How would you suggest the tab option work?

Add an option to "Auto-align tabs on adjacent parts".

JMHO.
4D

[sharkcutup]

If it was me doing that many parts to a sheet I would not use tabs. I would secure the material board to my spoilboard using painters tape and glue. Sure it is a lot of preparation work but on the other hand I don't have to remove all those tabs after they are cut.

Check this link out:


or



Just a Thought!!!

Sharkcutup

[highpockets]

How would you suggest the tab option work?

Add an option to "Auto-align tabs on adjacent parts".

JMHO.
4D

Works for me....

[Adrian]

Generally people cutting 8x4 sheets of material with lots of small parts don't use tabs in my experience. They have vacuum hold down or other methods as removing that many tabs is massively time consuming. I nest hundreds of sheets a week and I never use tabs for just that reason.

[tomgardiner]

Try a test piece with an onion skin. I would cut these parts leaving a .005" onion skin and clean up with knife or a quick swipe with sandpaper. I'm not sure if you have vacuum though.

[mtylerfl]

Getting a 4' x 8' sheet of ply to rest flat on the spoilboard might be tough without vacuum. The middle of the sheet especially.

Not sure an onion skin approach will work, as it requires the sheet is perfectly flat throughout.

[Luke@WWC]

Yes we have good vacuum for holding down parts, however, I think they will still want to move on me considering that the individual part size is about 3.5''x4.5''. I agree that tabs will be very time consuming to clean up with this many parts...

[mtylerfl]

Ok. Onion skin might be a viable option for you then. Even with the through-holes, I think the vac will still hold the parts in position.

Do you have a Pressure Foot accessory? That might help hold the material flat too, as you cut out the parts.

http://www.widgetworksunlimited.com/CNC ... _mount.htm

[Luke@WWC]

Thanks for that onion skin idea. I think that might be a good option if I keep it really thin!

[tomgardiner]

.005" is really quite thick for some of the jobs I do. I am always surprised by how tough 2 or 3 thousandths is even in softwood and melamine. If you are working with plastic a deburring tool is a time saver during clean-up. If you have a tool changer you can run a finish toolpath with a smaller diameter bit to cut through the onion skin.

[adze_cnc]

Luke,

How about 410 items for that 96x48 sheet?

The problem with nesting is that what is efficient for a 4x8 foot sheet is not for a 1x1 foot sheet.

For this I started with the two pieces in the lower left corner. I added tabs in positions I knew would match up with arrayed copies of the pieces. I then used a linear array to array the two sub-pieces.

I also changed the toolpath order to cut the holes first while the board has integrity. And, in the job setup, I removed the 12x12 offset---any reason it was there?

Steven

[mtylerfl]

Gold Star for Steven!

[adze_cnc]

I was using the OP's two tabs so you get all those triangular free-floating cut-off pieces. Fortunately I have dust extraction with great draw so they'd get sucked out of the way easily were I to cut this.

Each piece is attached to another piece and each diagonal strip is attached to what little waste remains as a frame around the pieces. I wouldn't want to cut these pieces out with a 1/4" compression bit in one pass at full 3/8" material thickness but that was not part of the brief...

[LittleGreyMan]

Gold Star for Steven!

+1

[Luke@WWC]

Yes great job, Steven! Thanks! The only reason I had the 12'' offset was that I get slightly better vacuum away from the edge of the router bed...