Hi everyone,

I am new here and kinda new to the whole CNC router business. I kind of got the hang of artcam and most of its features but need help in fine tuning the processes in order to reduce time and load on the machines.

My first question is: I import an object created in 3ds Max with a big hole inside it. The first step is Z level roughing to take parts of it away and then machine relief to make it smooth and round. The problem is it goes from the outside up and then back down to the inside where the hole is already cut from the z level roughing. So that way i am loosing precious time in it drilling in the air. here is a pic of it. I want to delete the toolpaths circled in green:



next thing i want to ask is how to make the text in this rounded object smooth and quick. The way i did it was again Z level rough to take out the unneeded material away. Then machine relief to smooth it out with a 4 mm ballnose


I then create vectors around the details i want even more smooth



and use the conical instrument(30 degrees 3 mm i believe) with relief machining

it smooths out the details a little bit, It makes them more destinguishable but still there are jagged edges and points and dots.. and it takes around 2 hours to do the whole thing...how can it be made really smooth and faster if possible? Also in the project i show you the letters are extruded outwards the object but i may also need to do them engraved inside it around 0.5 mm.

I am using ArtCAM 2008

Any help will be greatly apprecieted.