[CRP]

Hi Everyone - We've posted a video that I thought I'd share here too.

It is essentially our "Toolpath Tolerance PSA" for improving the speeds (doubling in the case of our simple sample project) and cut quality from your Fusion 360 programs.

"Double the speed of your Fusion 360 CNC programs and improve the finish quality on your CNC Router Parts machines!

Make sure you get the most productivity and best cut quality by understanding and managing your CAM tolerance & smoothing settings.

Watch this video to learn how!"

https://youtu.be/kVWyh7RQcjA

Questions or see something we missed? Reply here and lets discuss.

-Nathan

[nlancaster]

Good Video, you must have done because people have been asking about Fusion 360 and your machines. Like I did during the Portland Mini Maker Faire, was fun seeing you guys running real time production with the pinewood derby cars!

[DaveCNCnewb]

Nice video and thanks ... I may need to spend more time learning fusion 360. My first real project took over 4 hours to run... I am sure a more efficient toolpath would be possible but this is all new to me...

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[bonesbr549]

is there a smoothing feature in vcarve pro?

[ger21]

is there a smoothing feature in vcarve pro?

No, because you don't need it.

This is a good example of why a 2D CAD/CAM package is often a better options for simple parts cut from sheet materials. If those were drawn with lines and arcs, and converted to g-code, you end up with the exact path in simple G1-G2-G3 moves. You have far less code, zero deviation from the part drawing, and the machine will run at full speed.

And I'm not anti Fusion 360. I'm a paying subscriber.

[CRP]

is there a smoothing feature in vcarve pro?

I'd say more or less it does - Fit-curve-to-selected-vectors is essentially Vectric's analog to Fusion's smoothing feature in this context. It is a different workflow and involves a bit more upfront effort from the user however it has some "what you see is what you get" advantages too.

Perhaps the more relevant question is - when do you need to smooth/reduce vector data? If you work exclusively in Vectric products, you really wont find need for smoothing-workflows much in my opinion - however - if you import vector art (from other programs or from the internet), trace bitmaps, etc. you may well find you could benefit from simplifying the vector data aka "manual smoothing".

There are other best practices that are also come in such as how you bring in vectors, bitmap tracing vs. manual tracing, toolpath tolerance, other vector manipulation/simplification.

We are working on a video discussing these high-speed production workflows for Vectric products such as VCarve PRO and Aspire that will cover this in more detail. Suggestions welcome!

-Nathan

[CRP]

This is a good example of why a 2D CAD/CAM package is often a better options for simple parts cut from sheet materials. If those were drawn with lines and arcs, and converted to g-code, you end up with the exact path in simple G1-G2-G3 moves. You have far less code, zero deviation from the part drawing, and the machine will run at full speed.

Great point, well put.

-Nathan

[CRP]

Good Video, you must have done because people have been asking about Fusion 360 and your machines. Like I did during the Portland Mini Maker Faire, was fun seeing you guys running real time production with the pinewood derby cars!

Thanks! Yes - we had a blast too. It was great seeing people design their own custom 3D car, watch it get machined, and build & race it all within 30minutes. CNC - the original (and still reigning) 3D creation machine .

Nice video and thanks ... I may need to spend more time learning fusion 360. My first real project took over 4 hours to run... I am sure a more efficient toolpath would be possible but this is all new to me...

Thanks! Right, tuning your program is certainly the second big step - and other than surface finish really most use if you have time-critical/production oriented vs. one-off prototyping needs.

-Nathan