Code to plunge Z gradually and then retract along length of a profile path.

[Wal]

Vectric's Cut 2D does an admirable job of generating 2D tool-paths, but I'm wondering if there's a bit of G-code that's available to add in which will plunge the cutter to a specified Z depth as it travels to it's halfway point along the 2D path and then retracts the cutter as it travels along the second half of the path. I imagine many of the programs that carve letter-forms into wood use this technique, but is the Z-depth explicitly specified in each line as the G-Code is generated, or is it controlled by a clever bit of programming at machine level?



Wal.

[Boyan Silyavski]

Fluting Toolpaths
Vcarve Pro and Aspire have it.

[Wal]

>Vcarve Pro and Aspire have it.

Indeed they do, but I'm not using either of 'em... I was after a manual tweak that I could make to my standard profile code. Any chance you could output me some G-code for a fluted straight and a fluted curved line to see how it's being done? (If you could do examples of a linear and a smooth ramp that would be cool!)

Cheers!

Wal.

[Neale]

Quick answer is that the gcode instruction to cut a straight line (G1) generally has up to three coordinates included. If you are cutting in 2D, then these are the X and Y coordinates to which the tool should move; no Z coordinate so the tool stays at same height. If you want height/depth of cut to vary along the path, then you add a Z coordinate and the motion control software will calculate the tool path so X, Y and Z all vary at the right rate to get to the end point in a straight line. So the answer to your question is that yes, the Z move is part of the generated gcode. Aspire, vCarve, etc, all do this when generating 3D cutting gcode. If you were really keen, I suppose that you could find all straight cutting moves, and edit them to include an intermediate point with lower Z point plus original Z value in the original point. Doesn't sound like an easy job to me! Probably why Cut3D costs rather more than Cut2D...

[Boyan Silyavski]

flute toolpaths.txt 100 mm OD circle, 100mm line and 100mm/10mm arc

Hope that will help

[Wal]

Cheers Boyan. Much appreciated! As Neale said - new z value on each line, which is what I suspected.

Thanks again!

Wal.

[Rufe0]

Just out of interest why would you want to arc in and out with the Z?

[Wal]

Cheers Neale.

Yeah, I have Cut3D - another excellent piece of software from Vectric - but the way that it generates its cut files isn't exactly practical (and very long-winded) for simply adding a couple of fluted lines to a face.

Heh - I don't fancy scrolling down through thousands of lines of code and manually adjusting z-depths...

Perhaps a G19/G18 arc might be worth exploring?

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/g-code...rc-g-code.html

Hmm, but thinking about it they're in X/Z or Y/Z so anything other than a straight vertical or horizontal line isn't possible...