TOOLPATH

With all drag knifes there is an offset between the cutting blade and center of rotation - this requires special movements of the tool to cut sharp corners.

You will need to place the curves to be cut into the following layers in the Rhino document:

KaroroCAM/Drag Knife/Inside Curves - for curves to be cut to the inside of the curve

KaroroCAM/Drag Knife/Outside Curves - for curves to be cut to the outside of the curve

KaroroCAM/Drag Knife/Open Curves - for open ended curves to be cut along the curve

Drag Knife Toolpath

Tolerance

KaroroCAM uses polylines (collections of line segments) to create toolpaths. All curves are converted to segments using this Tolerance setting as a guide. The Number represents the maximum deviation from the input curve to the final polyline.

The green toolpath curves in these two pictures show the extreme of the 1mm vs 0.001mm settings:

TIP: Use a tolerance one decimal place better than your machines smallest movement step - ie for most CNC routers 0.01 is recommended Tolerance

NOTE: Tight tolerances can lead to large file sizes and slow machine movement while cutting

CUT OPEN CURVES FIRST

Check this box to cut open curves before inside/outside curves, when not checked, open curves will be cut last

Tool

Tool Shape

For Drag Knife toolpaths only a Drag Knife tool option is available.

NOTE: Drag Knife cutting is done without the CNC Spindle rotating. The Gcode created by KaroroCAM for use with a Drag Knife will not include any codes to activate your spindle - however please test run the code on your machine BEFORE mounting the drag knife.

Drag Knife Offset

This setting is the difference between the rotation center and the cutting blade - please refer to the information from your Drag Knife supplier for the recommended dimension.

Tool Number

Select Tool number that matches the tool spec'd in your tool path - mostly important for machines with auto tool change ability.

Cutting Depth

Cutting Depth Position

Selects the reference position for the Drag Knife cutting depth. Can be:

Selected Curves - the cutting depth will be referenced to the curves in the Drag Knife layer in the Rhino document. These can all be at different Z heights

Stock Top - Engraving depth is referenced to the top of the current stock - all cutting will be done to the same depth

Stock Bottom - Engraving depth is referenced to the bottom of the current stock - all cutting will be done to the same depth

NOTE: Drag Knife Depth Offset is a Z offset from this selection

Drag Knife Depth Offset

Offset in mm in the Z direction from the selected Drag Knife Depth Position of the final cutting depth.

Drag Knife Corner Lift

Sets the lift in mm of the cutting blade applied at the corners of the Drag Knife toolpaths.

TIP: Set this lift to 50-75% of the material thickness for best results

Multiple Depths

USE MULTIPLE DEPTHS

Check this box to enable multiple depth cutting

Max Step Down

Maximum step down in mm per pass when doing multiple depth cutting.

NOTE: If the total cutting depth (Stock top - Cutting Depth Position + Cutting Depth Offset) is not an even division by this number the deepest pass will be less than this number.

Lead In/Lead Out

USE LEAD IN AND OUT

Check this box to enable radial lead ins/lead outs for the Drag Knife toolpaths.

NOTE: Cutting curves in the KaroroCAM/Drag Knife/Inside Curves layer will get radial lead ins to the inside of the cutting line.

Cutting curves in the KaroroCAM/Drag Knife/Outside Curves layer will get radial lead ins to the outside of the cutting line.

Cutting Curves in the KaroroCAM/Drag Knife/Open Curves layer will get extended at both ends by the length of the Lead In Radius

Lead In Radius

Sets the radius of the radial lead in for Drag Knife toolpaths

NOTE: You will get a warning if the radius is too large be generated - if you get this warning please reduce this radius figure

Post Process

Post Process Drag Knife

Click this button to proceed to the Post Process Selection and Gcode File saving

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