Remove holding tabs after cut is complete

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JinkerKing
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2016 2:52 am

Remove holding tabs after cut is complete

Post by JinkerKing »

Hi,

Is there a standard method of removing holding tabs at the end of a cut routine?

I am cutting parts for plywood boxes in 9mm that have 'box joints'. I am using a straight, 2 fluted bit at 5000 rpm, 2500mm/min. Two passes.

My current process is to draw the parts in TurboCAD Delux and save them individually as DXF files to be imported into SheetCAM. In SheetCAM I create the various operations, insert the holding tabs (3mm long, 2.5mm thick) and then duplicate/nest the parts to fill up the sheet of ply.

When the job is finished I vac up the sawdust (dust management coming soon) and then cut the holding tabs using a chisel and mallet. A typical job might have 156 tabs. This takes a while. Mostly the tabs can be placed at a location where they will be cleaned up during finishing/sanding.

I am thinking that I could save a great deal of time if I could remove a tab with a single plunge/drill operation after the cut has been made. There would be no x/y movement so the part should not move, in theory.

I could perhaps, specify the tab location in the drawing on it's own layer and then simply create a final drill operation using the same layer. Does this make sense? Can I locate tab locations based on a drawing point?

Thanks in anticipation.
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