i am considering which CNC machine to upgrade my shop with, however some of my jobs are on a workpiece thats larger than the travels on tormach machines (in my price range) but the workpiece is still about the size of the bed (20-26" usually)
its been really hard to find, but does pathpilot support tiling? or would it be possible to setup my cam to do that manually if need be?
Welcome! It’s petty common to work on a project that is bigger than your build envelope but I don’t fully understand what you mean by tiling. Can you give me an example?
yeah, by tiling im just referring to a ‘built-in’ functionality to be able to basically output a single CAM system, and either pathpilot has the ability internally to split that into two ‘separate’ operations and allow for the moving and relocating of the workpiece on the table to ‘resume’ the rest of the operations on the new half of the workpiece. Or alternatively, pathpilot support the ability for the CAM software to setup a cam profile and system that says there is a split in this operation, so that pathpilot ‘expects’ that each operation is only one half of the total cam operations.
i understand its probably common to simply do this manually in the CAM software itself, and simply build two (or more) separate and distinct CAM operations that are effectively separate and agnostic of them being performed on one large single workpiece. but i am hoping to simplify that work by allowing the software to ‘tile’ the operation itself instead of me doing it manually.
as i understand it this is a somewhat common function in many wood-working focused CNC machines
Seth,
This really isn’t a thing in the metalworking side of machining that Pathpilot originated from, the closest that comes to mind is having two operations in a single file with a manual stop with instructions of “do X thing” for the operator (though I don’t see any benefit to those instructions vs separate files in the majority of cases). Pathpilot takes a G code file but doesn’t manipulate it in any way or care what the contents of the file are as long as every move is within the machine’s travel limits. But in CAM the G code file can be set up any way that makes the most sense for you.
The systems that I am familiar with with a function similar to what you describe have a restriction that the workpiece cannot be moved and generally operate with two different “work zones” that the workpiece is spanning over. Unless you have a fixture that can ensure precise placement moving the workpiece will require finding where it is on the machine table before you can resume machining.
Thank you,
Norman
The functionality you’re seeing in woodworking machines is just a nice little wrapper for what is really happening on the CAM side of things. The software for those machines just creates a separate program and/or adds a pause in the program with a comment to move the material. Neither is difficult to do on your own. And while I can appreciate the simplicity of not having to muddle through the learning curve, my experience with machines that have that kind of feature is that the software tends to be so dumbed down in the interest of making it accessible for anyone, that it’s often more difficult to use if you’re trying to create anything with real precision.
Creating the tiled programs yourself in cam really isn’t a complex or difficult thing to do. The harder bit is working out locating features so that when you resume the program, the material is in the right place so the cuts are continuous. This is a challenge in all kinds of machining though, be it wood or metal. Anytime you move the raw stock after an operation, it’s critical to locate it based on a machined feature before moving on to the next step. Never assume that material is square, flat, parallel, round, etc.
I see, thank you all for the info. I had assumed it would be better and more reliable to ‘let the software do it’ instead of trying to manually make two separate operations myself. but it makes total sense that this is still a manual sort of operation for pieces larger than the travels.
does anyone have any resources or videos that will go over the process of preparing operations for pieces larger than the travel volume of a CNC? im having a hard time finding anything done well enough for me to understand
I use Fusion and learned a lot from this video when I went down this rabbit hole. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWk7GoZ9fHk
There are CAD/CAM systems out there that do support tiling. Vectric Aspire/Cut3d is one example.
I personally would setup two cam files. The first I would machine what I could leaving a flat machined x y z spot close to the middle where you can locate your second MCS. The flats could be in the part or the stock, the longer the better. They can even be in different positions, x here, y there. You could even screw down a 123 block or some other square piece of material. Company I used to work for, QA sometimes used Legos on occasion as they are actually a very close tolerance part. What ever you choose it just needs to be true to the first machined side/end. Or, put the part/stock in the middle, machine enough of a square that will incorporate both ends, move, realign, machine what you can reach. Next move use the remaining flats. Dowel pins in the stock are another option. Just a couple ideas.
I have been doing some door frame cutouts on 8’ pieces of wood. Obviously they have to go through the said windows. But I just break the cad into a couple parts and relocate the first part, marking the table as I do it. The. Then I just line up the second piece of stock to the marks.
So no for tiling.
Also learned that .002mm tolerance doesn’t work for wood.