Start Depth cant be negative?

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bushwacked32
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Start Depth cant be negative?

Post by bushwacked32 »

I am trying to figure out best way to cut off a male part of an inlay ... but Cut Depth is not working like I thought it would.

I am trying to just pocket out the male piece, I have tried -.53 and .53 and it still gives me this error.

The male part sits .5 above the main piece so I figured start depth would let me raise it up to its level and go from there... obviously not? Is this now how to use this section?
Screenshot 2023-03-13 203359.png

... yes I realize I could always create a random square in a new drawing and XY Daytum off the center of that piece, but I was trying to just keep it in the same drawing. Maybe thats not an option with this and I am over thinking it?

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Adrian
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Re: Start Depth cant be negative?

Post by Adrian »

Start depth cannot be negative. That's not what it's for. It's for telling the toolpath where to start cutting when material has been removed by another toolpath. Cutting a pocket and then engraving a design on the bottom of that for example.

If you want the cut to start above the material then you change the z-zero point on your machine with your control software rather than in VCarve.

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Re: Start Depth cant be negative?

Post by sharkcutup »

Adrian wrote:
Tue Mar 14, 2023 10:03 am
If you want the cut to start above the material then you change the z-zero point on your machine with your control software rather than in VCarve.
There are also RAMPS, Different RAMP Angles and RAMP Distance Settings that can be used at the cut starts too!!! Just have to experiment with all the various options/features to find which is better for the type of carving the user is wanting the cnc machine to carve.

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Re: Start Depth cant be negative?

Post by Leo »

Yeah, I can see what you want to do. No you cannot do that with start depth.

Like Adrian said, start depth works this way

Cut a pocket .5 deep

Then after that you want a smaller pocket inside and deeper than the first pocket a 1/4 inch deep inside the botton of the first pocket
If .5 material is already removed it would be a waste of time to sart at the top because that material is already gone.
SO - you can start the smaller pocket .5 deep and go another .250
Start .5
Cut depth .25

ON the process you want to do
You will need to set your material Z zero on top of the material you want to cut, which, I assume is .53 above your current Z zero
THEN - start depth will be zero
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IslaWW
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Re: Start Depth cant be negative?

Post by IslaWW »

Depth is always a positive number. Imagine: "That pond is only negative 3 feet deep"
Depth.JPG
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Re: Start Depth cant be negative?

Post by adze_cnc »

So, your new material (original material plus inlay) is 0.50" thicker than your original material's thickness ("omt") but you want to treat it as being 0.53" thicker? There's no need to have a negative start depth.

If you are using a suitably new version of VCarve that allows creating multiple sheets of different thickness then create a new sheet that is omt + 0.53" thick. Now, create your pocket toolpath with the 0.50" depth of cut on that sheet with a starting depth of 0.

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