Waiting on my shipment I started getting some projects ready to be cut but I am not sure if the Pocket operation is what I am looking to do.
Question - Are the gaps between rectangles not going to be cut?
The top rectangle is a profile inside cut at 3/4
The center rectangle is a pocket cut at 5/8
The bottom rectangle is a pocket cut at 7/16
What I want it to look like:
You could try setting each pocket cut up as its own G code so cut them separately. Just don’t move any of your settings and leave the piece in place, and run each code to cut out it’s own pocket.
I think what you are seeing is that the lines in Ground Control represent the center of the bit and not the how the final cut will look.
It can be a little tough to properly visualize how that will look in the final part, but there are some good gcode simulators out there you can find by googling “Gcode simulator”…does anyone have any favorates?
My guess is that, yes, the gaps will be (mostly) cut. You might end up with a thin sliver of wood between the pockets, especially if the tool diameter is slightly smaller than it’s nominal diameter. This is very often the case.
Did you draw the original geometry yourself? To be safe, I would extend the pockets into each other a little so that they overlap, that should give you a cleaner final product. Personally, I would make sure that they overlap by a least 1/8" (~3mm).
Based on your required depths, you will need to extend the shallower pocket into the deeper one. Going the other way will result in having a little extra depth where they overlap. So I would extend the center pocket 1/8" (~3mm) into the top pocket, and the bottom into the middle.
Ah that makes sense, thank you.
I did draw it so, it will be easy to extend the shallow pockets into the deeper pockets.
Nice! The simulator definitely helps visualizing the project and cuts.
The gabs look to be in the simulator as well.
Remember, those white lines are likely the tool paths of the center of the bit. So if the “gap” is less than the diameter of the bit, then it will be completely cut out.
If you use a simulator like this one (full disclosure, I have never used that one) then you will be able to see what it will look like cut out of the material rather than just seeing the tool paths. The video on the home page should give you the idea of what the simulator does.
Would be neat if they had a Maslow in the simulator 