Hi, I’m a real newbie to chillipeppr/TinyG but I have an issue which is driving me crazy. I’m really hoping for some help.
When I want to mill out a design the GCode tool path doesn’t seem to take into account that if it cuts the outside first everything inside it will then be free floating. Is there something simple that I’m not doing to specify order of cuts? Thanks in advance.
Change the order of operations in your CAM software, such as F360.
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And do not cut a part completely free, but instead place some tabs around to hold the part in place.
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Thanks for your reply @donkjr. I’ll investigate that a little further and try and generate the Gcode in F360 rather than relying on Chillipeppr to do it
You can also use the painters tape and super glue trick. put a layer of painters tape on your work peice, and on your tble surface, and super glue the workpeice to the surface. this will ensure the bits you might count out remain in place. double side tape works well as well.
The safest is to put tabs in which hopefully is an option in you CAM software. another intresting approachs Ive seen is to use a down cut bit which forces the saw dust down and uses the saw dust to hold the work peice in. Best used on larger peices.
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I often use downcut bits even with the workpiece taped to the bed with double-stick tape and even if I leave tabs rather than making sure I have double-stick tape where every loose part will go; it often produces a nicer finish. I do specify all my operations in a sensible order, or at least I intend to!
@donkjr has occasionally recommended Spectape ST501 which is really awesome workholding tape. I heartily second his recommendation. It is now one of those things where I keep an extra in stock to avoid running out at an inconvenient time…
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