Trouble with toolpath previews

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sparky957
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Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by sparky957 »

I am getting different toolpath previews between the 2d view and the 3d view. Simple vcarve toolpath with a flat depth of 1". 60 deg vbit and 1/8" endmill for clearance tool. In 2d view the clearance tool shows the expected path. In the 3d view it shows a lot more toolpaths. Im not sure why there is a difference between the views and not sure which path it is going to take. I have tried copying and pasting the vectors to a new file but i get the same result. I have used vector validator and checked for open and or duplicate vectors.Very strange.

Art
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LittleGreyMan
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by LittleGreyMan »

Hello,

Using Aspire trial V9.507, I do not see any difference.

Remember 2D view is a top view, and you won't distinguish the different passes following the same path at different depth. The number of these passes depend on the depth of cut of the tool.

In the 3D view, even in top view, you see all these passes, as the 3D view is a perspective view.

Run only the V-Carve 2 [Pocket] in the Preview Toolpath mode (toolpath simulation) and you'll recognize your 2D toolpath pattern. But the tool followed several times the same path at different depths.

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martin54
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by martin54 »

What do you mean by a lot more toolpaths ? It is only one toolpath in the 3D view unless you have muptiple toolpaths selected with a tick box :lol:
If you are refering to the red likes then that shows the path of the toolbit so will show where the tool lifts & moves to a different area when cutting.

sparky957
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by sparky957 »

martin54 wrote:What do you mean by a lot more toolpaths ? It is only one toolpath in the 3D view unless you have muptiple toolpaths selected with a tick box :lol:
If you are refering to the red likes then that shows the path of the toolbit so will show where the tool lifts & moves to a different area when cutting.
If you preview the pocket toolpath in the 3d view the blue lines indicate where the tool will travel. In my preview the clearance tool is traveling up the left side, across the top, and down the right side several times. There should be no need for this. This travel is not visible in the 2d view. The 2d view shows what i would expect to see for the clearance toolpath.

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martin54
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by martin54 »

Just looked at your file which I hadn't done before, you have a flat depth of 1 inch & are using a bit with a 0.3 inch depth of cut, it can't do that in one pass so has to do multipe passes, as LGM says the 2D view doesn't show all the passes :lol:

LittleGreyMan
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by LittleGreyMan »

sparky957 wrote: and down the right side several times. There should be no need for this. This travel is not visible in the 2d view. The 2d view shows what i would expect to see for the clearance toolpath.
Sorry if I was not clear. That's exactly what I explained. All these passes at different depth are not visible in the 2D view as they are overlapping. Your depth cut is 1" and your tool path depth is 0.125 so your tool requires cutting 8 times along the same path to cut at 1".

sparky957
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by sparky957 »

I understand what you are saying but my point is there should be no need for the clearance tool to follow that path. The vbit I am using should be taking all that material out in that area. There is nothing for the clearance tool to remove. Maybe I am missing something. I have been using this software for a long time and never seen this before.

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Adrian
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by Adrian »

I've never seen that either. I think it would be one for Vectric support as I can't think of any reason why the two previews would be that different.

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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by LittleGreyMan »

I see now. I just looked at this sentence: "In the 3d view it shows a lot more toolpaths." and dit not look at the unexpected part of the toolpath.

The 3D view doesn't indeed match the 2D view. The 3D pocket toolpath acts as a roughing toolpath, which is not bad but is not what's it's supposed to do, as the opposite of the 2D view toolpath which is correct.

As Adrian said, report this file to Vectric support.

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adze_cnc
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by adze_cnc »

The 2D view is only showing those portions of the pocketing half of the v-carve toolpath that reaches the 1" depth and in a way I would be OK with that.

I'm more impressed that the pocketing toolpath behaves like a roughing toolpath for the the v-bit. I've never v-carved something that deep for it to show up.

Steven

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Adrian
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by Adrian »

Yes it's displaying the parts that reach the flat depth as it should but why does the 3D show a different toolpath? I've never seen those views show anything different at that level.
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sparky957
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by sparky957 »

Adrian wrote:I've never seen that either. I think it would be one for Vectric support as I can't think of any reason why the two previews would be that different.
Thanks Adrian.
Email sent to support.

Art

tomgardiner
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by tomgardiner »

The algorithm of the clearance pass is probably fine here. It is unusual (in the sense that I haven't seen a cut that deep before) for a V-carve path to be that deep combined with a relatively small clearance tool. With the raked walls the clearance path will be different for each depth as it works it's way down.

sparky957
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Re: Trouble with toolpath previews

Post by sparky957 »

i heard back from support today.Charlie Pullen (Vectric Ltd.)
Mar 11, 09:03 WET

Hello Art.

The 2D View is showing the toolpath for the Pocket where it is cutting to full depth and where you should see cut results on the material.
The 3D Toolpath is showing the full toolpath, including the steps down process to remove more material to reduce the strain on the VBit as it cuts.

We would expect the user to run the clearance toolpath first, and then the VBit toolpath so that the VBit does not have to hog out so much material on its own.

This looks normal and as I would expect, and as long as the 3D Toolpath preview looks correct and gives the desired cut result, then it would be expected to work on your machine.

I hope this helps

Best Regards
Charlotte

Vectric Support

So typically I use the clearance tool to provide a smooth bottom at the flat depth to avoid sanding out the ridges left by the tip of the vbit. I use a small diameter end mill to get into as many of the little nooks and crannies as possible. The large vbit will have no trouble cutting its path. I usually run the clearance tool second and will continue to in this case. I may create the the toolpath for the vbit with no clearance tool and then run the clearance path second just to cleanup the bottom.Just gonna be cutting more air than normal.Lol.
Regardless the toolpath is working properly so I learned something new again today. I will just use this to my advantage.
Thank you to everyone for your input.

Art

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