[BillNumber1]

Just curious to know if anybody knows of a CAM program that can do diagonal finish instead of only a parallel in the X or Y, it would be XY with a Z component to control height...
I'm interested in do some checkering on gun and knife grips, and a diagonal finish routine would be ideal for that... all that would be needed is a V bit and using the appropriate spacing.

[routalot]

Freecad can,believe it or not,the default setting is 45 degrees and it has to be altered if you want to cut parallel to the X or Y axis.Many other programs will allow you to specify the angle at which passes are made but not all will make it easy to incorporate a Z element as that put you in 3D machining territory.

[mactec54]

Just curious to know if anybody knows of a CAM program that can do diagonal finish instead of only a parallel in the X or Y, it would be XY with a Z component to control height...
I'm interested in do some checkering on gun and knife grips, and a diagonal finish routine would be ideal for that... all that would be needed is a V bit and using the appropriate spacing.

You can do this in any Cam program its no more than doing a drawing of the part you want to crosshatch

[joeavaerage]

Hi,
Fusion 360 will produce angled toolpaths, curved toolpaths and many more.

It free to hobbyists and startups but has some limitations applied. An annual subscription is about $500/year. That gets you ALL the 2D toolpaths and some of the more basic 3D toolpaths, and they have just recently added
coordinated four axis and indexing five axis still on the entry level ($500PA) license. Full five axis, collision avoidance etc are another step over the basic subscription.

Craig

[Dan B]

The MecSoft products can do this too.