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Outside contouring with automatic step over

Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 11:30 am
by Bill in PA, USA
Hello,

I would be interested in a outside contouring option that will allow for an automatic step over from a boundary dimension to the finish size. Sort of like "external pocketing" going from the outside and moving in. Currently, I am using the finish allowance to take the milling cutter from the outside of the stock to the finished size. This can be very tedious and time consuming especially when small step overs are used.

It would be efficient if one contouring operation could be specified with a starting point x amount away from finish size with a specified step over until finished size is reached.

It is easy to make a mistake when a dozen or more contouring operations have to be created to profile a part with a relatively small step over.

Thank you,

Bill H.

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 7:10 pm
by Les Newell
Several people have asked for this sort of functionality. I will put it on my to-do list.

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 10:33 pm
by Bill in PA, USA
Super, thanks.

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 12:22 am
by jim1108
Great idea. Sometimes I need to remove an excess amount of stock material to get to the finished geometry. I normally would just use the offset command in DraftSight or AutoCad to set the step over so I can just do it all on one layer, but this feature would eliminate much of the unnecessary CAD work. Another way is to just step it down in the Z axis, but this is dependent on how you want to do it.