Run time for Moulding Toolpaths

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jfederer
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Run time for Moulding Toolpaths

Post by jfederer »

I found something interesting today. I'm using Aspire 11, but I have no doubt this holds true in VCarve as well. The job I'm currently running has a Moulding Toolpath for a perimeter wall for the Lunar South Pole area. The drive rail is pretty straightforward (attached). Note that it has no flat sections. Not knowing any better, I selected "Machine flat regions" for the Clearance tool. The projected machining time was 1:26. Watching the cut, I saw that the tool was taking an enormous time doing a very slow spiral on the outside of the perimeter cut (bottom of the Rail). Unchecking the "Machine flat regions" removed that spiral and reduced the cut time to 0:20. The Finish pass was completely unaffected.
WallDriveRail.png

Has anyone else encountered this? Is there a reasonable explanation, or just a side-effect of something else in the algorithm?
Joe Federer

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mszalay
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Re: Run time for Moulding Toolpaths

Post by mszalay »

I experienced this today. I have not looked any further into it but it would appear it is sloping the final cuts and using the plunge speed for this. Sorry, I'm not much help but you are not the only one experiencing this. For now I am not using the Machine Flat Regions feature (Again like you didn't have any flat regions that cutter would have been used for).

Edit: It seems to be on the multiple passes because of the max pass depth for the tool. When I uncheck Machine Flat Regions the cutter does not cut as deep and doesn't require multiple passes. It's the multiple passes that run slow, they seem to be ramped the full length of the cut.



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adze_cnc
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Re: Run time for Moulding Toolpaths

Post by adze_cnc »

As far as I am aware the moulding toolpath doesn't "spiral" cut anything (1st post). Also, for ramps, it only ramps in a zig-zag fashion only over the length specified in the moulding toolpath not full length (unless that distance is the ramp distance).

As for ramp speed: yes it does use the plunge speed no matter what the length of the ramp. So, if your cutting speed is 180 inches per minute and plunge is 30 inches per minute and your ramp is 24 inches going 1/8" deep it is going to be soooo slooooow.

One way to get around this is: if your machine has a fixed plunge speed (as mine does) lie to the software. I set up my bits with a plunge rate about equal to lateral cut speed (unless it needs to slower than the machine's maximum). That way if I plunge straight vertically the machine only goes as fast as it is able. For long ramps (such as the 24 inch one above) that have a large lateral component the machine can run nearly as fast as the cut speed.

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