No More Duplicate Offsets
March 3, 2007 · Filed Under MeshCAM Development
As I was going through all of the code to make the new roughing algorithm work I figured now was a good time to remove the problem of redundant offsets if two passes, like a parallel finish and a pencil pass, use the same tool. It was a deeper change than I anticipated so everyone will need to keep an eye out in the next release for quirks.
Roughing and finishing will probably require separates offsets since the new roughing code mandates a specific ZMap spacing that is usually different from the finishing pass. Nonetheless, it should result in a significant reduction in the time spent calculating a toolpath.
Comments
4 Responses to “No More Duplicate Offsets”
Robert, sounding better and better all the time. Will this also trim time from the parallel plus waterline finishing, which now have separate offsets? And will this have any bearing on the “castellation” at the interface between parallel and waterline finishing regions? Best regards, Randy
Parallel plus waterline will absolutely benefit from this change as long as the tool is the same. Not sure what “castellation” is though.
-Robert
What I call castellation (due to the shape of the toolpath) is when the tool lifts off the waterline contour and immediately comes back down (or maybe moves a couple thou and then comes back down) and resumes the contour. I guess you could also call it dithering. It happens a lot at the interface between parallel and waterline regions.
Ahhh– that’s actually a different problem. I think I’ll probably address that when I modify the whole ZMap infrastructure. Right now, the edges between parallel and waterline are not filtered as well as they could be.