rotary cutting depth levels

Topics related to wrapped rotary machining in Aspire or VCarve Pro
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esschubert
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rotary cutting depth levels

Post by esschubert »

Hello to all of you Rotary millers!

I have a question that I am hoping someone can help me with. Is there a tutorial that shows how to use slices or zero plane to control pass depth on large rotary cuts? I am milling a 24"x72" foam blank, and the full depth of cut will be around 11"... My tool is only 10 inches, and I would prefer to only cut 6 inches deep at a time... But I can't figure out a way to cut the first 6" on one pass, and then cut the second 6" on a second pass.

Any help would be awesome! A pic of the type of things I am cutting is attached.
Spencer

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Rcnewcomb
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Re: rotary cutting depth levels

Post by Rcnewcomb »

It is unclear if you are using a 2D or 3D toolpath.

For 2D toolpaths there is a Pass Depth under the cutting parameters for the tool. You can also edit passes manually.
PassDepthV2.PNG
For 3D toolpaths only the Roughing toolpath uses the pass depth.You can either use the 3D roughing to remove the bulk of the material and then follow with a 3D Finish toolpath, OR, as Ted pointed out in another thread (An Alternative 3D Finish Cut Strategy?), you can set the rouging settings close enough that you don't need to run a finish toolpath.

Refer to this FAQ article: How can I control how many passes (depths of cut) my toolpath will take?
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TReischl
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Re: rotary cutting depth levels

Post by TReischl »

That is quite the machine, WOW!

Rotary cutting with Aspire is actually 3 axis cutting which is then "wrapped" around an axis to produce rotary motion.

So, an easy thing that you can do to control cutting depth is to define a rectangle that covers the entire job and give it depth. The depth (or height depending on how you look at it) will keep the tool from plunging all the way down if that block is visible in the models list. When you turn it off the tool will be able to go to full depth.

The issue with this method is that on the second cut you will get a lot of air cutting unless you define a controlling boundary.
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