New User-Slicing and Two Sided Cutting

[Lady Yukon Cornelius]

Hello!

I've just begun to learn cnc and VCarve Pro and I've started working on my project ideas. One project will require me to slice an STL file and mill each side of the slice.

I only have a small cutting space on a small cnc so I am looking to cut each slice individually as it's own file.

I've tried a few ideas unsuccessfully, but could someone point out how to save slices separately so that I can create a tool path for each one as their own separate files?

Thank you in advance!

[gkas]

I think that slicing is only available in Aspire, but I'm not positive. I known some other 3rd party software has that option available.

[Lady Yukon Cornelius]

Thanks for your quick response.

I have the option available in Vcarve Pro. I just don't know how I can delete all but one slice and move forward creating the tool path. When I delete the other slices I can't see the other side of the remaining slice when I turn it over, if that makes sense.

Maybe it is a matter of the thickness of my board where I'm cutting but I haven't made any progress tampering with that aspect.

[Todd D]

If you follow the Vectric tutorial on slicing they will show how to put the slices and associated profiles on different layers so you can tool path them.

The one with Todd slicing the Gorilla bust from an online tutorial

[Lady Yukon Cornelius]

Thank you! I'll check that one out!

[mohamed]

Not sure if I'm understanding correctly, but it sounds like relief slicing here in their won't work because as you've noticed they will get rid of undercut areas.

You may need it in order to reduce the thickness of the model in each side, but more likely you'll need to look into how to import the STL into a two-sided project. Something like in this guide.

This will set you up on how to separate your model in 2 segments to be machined from both sides of a material block. If this is too thick to fit on a single material, then you can set it to so that each segment is placed side-by-side and then slices as required to fit the required thickness.

[Lady Yukon Cornelius]

Thank you for the direction but I am afraid that I am still not making progress. I have watched the marlin training video and now the gorilla video. Both offer great information but I am still stuck in the same place:

When I slice my horse and manually nest those slices, I switch to see the reverse of a slice, and there is nothing to see on the bottom side despite being setup for a double sided job type. I am attaching a photo of my STL file for better understanding in case it helps. I've modeled a horse from clay and had a 3D scan made of it.

My goal is to slice the horse into four slices to be cut on both sides and save each slice as a separate file because my cnc cutting space is small enough such that I will only be able to cut one prepared slice at a time.

Please advise.

[mtylerfl]

Hi,

Your Zero Plane position needs to be adjusted during import so that the software can actually create both a front and back side.

As it is shown in your screenshot, the entire model is above the plane, so there is nothing left to place on the backside. Play with the slider to get a visual of how you want the model split between the two sides. You can click “Ok” once you are satisfied with the split.

[Lady Yukon Cornelius]

Thanks for the reply,

I've pulled my STL file over the zero plane to take the screenshot. But in general, I've tampered a bit with the zero plane positioning. Do you have any idea on how to do it for four slices?

[mtylerfl]

Hi,

You can create additional slices for each side after importing the split model. You may need to experiment with different slice thicknesses to get a feasible result.

[Lady Yukon Cornelius]

Ok, So I decided to try to try it out by planning my section views (slices) across the horse and setting the zero plane appropriately at import based on which section view I would be making and creating the toolpath for. I imported the model and set the zero plane at the measured increment starting with one outermost side. Then I created my slices on the remainder side (side with the most of the horse left on it) and I removed the check from each additional slice that was not relevant to cutting the first outermost piece.

Big issue is that I am not able to see the inside leg of the horse when I removed the other slices. It seems that the remaining profile of the horse shadows over the opposite section view (slice) and I confirmed this issue when I went to preview a toolpath.

This outermost section view is cut to a dimension such that it should only be cutting the legs, inside and outside.

See picture attached.