Cut Along Toolpath

Watch tutorial: How to use the Cut Along Toolpath

The Cut-Along toolpath is used to machine directly along selected vectors, following the path of the line itself.

Basic Usage

Select the vectors you wish to machine along.
Choose a Start Depth. This is the depth at which you wish the cut to begin. A start depth of 0 means the cut will start at the material surface. Anything greater means the cut will start within the material, and so that material should already have been removed.
Choose a Cut Depth. This is the depth, measured from the start depth, that the tool will cut down to.
Select your Tool.
Press Calculate to calculate the toolpath.

Object Selection

Vectors can be selected for machining in one of two ways:

Manually using the selection tool.
Automatically by choosing a layer from the dropdown menu

If you choose to use the automatic selection then all of the vectors on the chosen layer are machined at the point of toolpath calculation.

Note

The automatic selection works at the point of calculation. If you add or remove vectors from a layer you need to recalculate the toolpaths.

Machine Vectors

This option determines where the tool will machine relative to the selected vectors, controlled by the radio buttons. Choose Outside/Right to machine around the outside of the selection, Inside/Left to machine within it, or On to machine directly along the vector with the centre of the tool following the line itself.

Cut Direction

This option sets the direction the tool travels relative to the material as it cuts. There are two choices: climb or conventional.

With climb cutting, the tool rotates in the same direction as it is fed along the vector. Each cutting edge enters the material at the thickest part of the chip and exits at the thinnest. This generally produces a cleaner surface finish and reduces tool wear, and is usually the preferred choice on modern, rigid machines.

With conventional cutting, the tool rotates against the direction of feed. Each cutting edge enters the material at the thinnest part of the chip and builds to the thickest. This can produce more rubbing and heat, but tends to be more forgiving on less rigid machines or where there is backlash in the machine's drive.

Tip

If you are unsure which to use, climb cutting is the most common choice for CNC routing and typically gives the best finish.

Toolpath Name

A toolpath can be given a descriptive name using the Toolpath Name input.