V Carve

Hi Everyone:

I have seen that many of you are using Vcarve. I downloaded the Demo and have been playing with it.

I'm confused about the need to use "Stepover" when programming a "Profile" tool path. In my current CAM program it's called "Contour" and all I do is plunge 50% of my Cutter Diameter until I'm through the material. Like 4 cuts of .125 for a .5 piece of "Baltic Birch". All the tool does is descend .125 for 4 consecutive passes. With VCarve I have to enter a "Stepover" value for the same operation. Now if I were to do a "Pocket" I would need "Stepover".

I think that this means that the 2nd pass moves in the "XY" plane by the "Stepover" amount as well as plunging the programmed "Z", and so on. Since I can program this "Stepover" to .0001, I suppose it's Academic, but the question is "Why" is this necessary??

Any imput on this subject is appreciated,

Thanks very much,

John

Profile toolpaths don't have "stepover"? Unless your talking about in the tool files. But it's not used for profile toolpaths. At least not in Version 4 that I have.

I believe you set the stepover in the bit definition. Vcarve decides if it is needed on a given cut.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tangocc35

Hi Everyone:

I'm confused about the need to use "Stepover" when programming a "Profile" tool path. In my current CAM program it's called "Contour" and all I do is plunge 50% of my Cutter Diameter until I'm through the material. Like 4 cuts of .125 for a .5 piece of "Baltic Birch". All the tool does is descend .125 for 4 consecutive passes. With VCarve I have to enter a "Stepover" value for the same operation. Now if I were to do a "Pocket" I would need "Stepover".
John

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Hi John,

The Stepover is not used (thanks Gerry and Dave) when cutting with any of the Profile Machining options - the toolpaths are simply offset for the tool radius / shape.

You need to Edit the Pass Depth to create multiple Z level passes - using your example of cutting through 1/2" material with a Pass Depth = 0.125 " will result in 4 passes.

The Stepover parameter is visible in the Tool Database because any of the cutters may be used for Profile, Pocketing, Engraving etc.

I hope this makes sense and helps,

Tony

Thanks Tony:

That answers the question. I tried to find that information somewhere in the Tutorials, but was unable.

It didn't make sense to use "Stepover" in Profiling mode, but I was confused because it demands that you enter one, when selecting a tool.

Thanks again

John