LockDowel routing toolpath

[Darvin]

I am interested in doing the following 2-step rout operation for LockDowel fasteners. I've been using VCarvePro for years and have no problem of course toolpathing this as two separate toolpaths, but I would really like to make it a single toolpath so that the bit does part-A and part-B one after another rather than doing all the part-A routs on the sheet and going back to do all the part-B routs... lots of wasted time in that scenario. Is there an easy way to toolpath it as one step??

[Adrian]

Yes. Assuming you have V9 use the Merge Toolpath feature to merge the two toolpaths into one making sure the Merge by Part option is checked.

There may be other ways with the toolpath itself but if you have two working toolpaths the merge will work with no changes needed.

[FixitMike]

If you have not already done so, you can save some of the time spent plunging to the material surface by entering a small value for Z2 in your material setup. The result will be that instead of moving at the tool plunge rate from the safe Z to the top of the material, it will rapid move from the safe Z to Z2 above the material surface.