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Ramp pierce on lines without lead ins

Posted: Mon May 09, 2016 4:47 am
by mancavedweller
Hi Les,

how difficult would it be to allow a ramp pierce to work on a cut path that has no lead in.

Unless I overlooked something, it seems Sheetcam presently does not allow a ramp pierce on a line that has no lead in - correct ??

Keith.

Posted: Tue May 10, 2016 7:09 am
by Les Newell
It should be possible to add ramp piercing on open contours but this means that the start of the line will be missed as the pierce starts.

Posted: Wed May 11, 2016 9:51 am
by mancavedweller
That shouldn't be a big problem Les. My aim for this is to use it with a synchronous laser on command to fire the torch at the start of XY moves on open lines.

It's mainly for decorative open line cuts and avoiding the start hole you get at the pierce. When the metal is thin enough there may not even be a need to ramp down from a higher pierce height, just fire the torch at cut height.

But when the thickness starts to necessitate a higher height for piercing, it would be good to use the ramp pierce to do this. I envision that not much metal will be "uncut" at the start of the open line.

Keith.

Posted: Wed May 11, 2016 12:41 pm
by Les Newell
If this is with a laser does your pierce height need to be higher than the cut height? I would try just using a cutting rule to slow down the start of the cut. I would have thought that would be enough.

Having a higher pierce height is less important with a moving pierce because the slag will tend to spray backwards rather than straight up.

Posted: Wed May 11, 2016 6:35 pm
by mancavedweller
OK thanks Les.

This is just plasma. It's actually better if the moving pierce negates the need for a higher pierce height because then I'm not limited to the Z rapid speed for the XYZ interpolation in a ramp pierce.

Keith.