Hello to all,
Making some tab and slot brackets for some slot welds and I am having issues with the narrow .125" slots. This cut is on 3/16" mild steel and my calculated kerf is .068*. Every time a generate a tool path fusion does not pick up this slot in the cut path. Would I be setting up the cut parameters wrong or am I just pushing the limits of cut width capability. I am not using corner rounding options or anything additional to this cut.
Is there a rule of thumb for kerf width vs capable cut width?
Here are some additional details:
No lead out
Currently have lead angle set to 90 degrees, and have tried 60 and 45 as well.
Lead in length is set to .060"
No Radius on lead sweep
Check your lead in and lead out. On tight slots I have to shorten or remove them. Pierce clearance is something I also change for small slots. I normally setup small slots as their own Toolpath in Fusion so I can adjust things to work, but not effect the quality of the rest of the part.
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Could you go into a little more detail about pierce clearance…what are you adjusting on it and why?
Also I never thought to setup another Toolpath for oddball cuts…that makes perfect sense though.
Fusion will not put a pierce close to another feature. The distance that it’s allowed to be is set in the pierce clearance. (same tab as lead in / lead out just next box down). By default it’s 1/2 of your kerf.
(edit note. After a little research I was mistaken. The Pierce clearance is added to lead in/out).
In a few cases I’ve had to fudge my kerf to get things to post. But I’d start with changing pierce clearance to 0. You also might have to add a small line to the drawing and set the pierce point more in the middle if you need squareish corners.
Here’s a real life example from on of my projects. It’s a flange for a table leg. 3"od 1.5" ID with 4 .15" holes around it. For the OD and ID cuts my pierce clearance is 0.0314961 in. Lead in/out .118, 60 degree, lead in/out arch .118 rad.
For the .15 screw holes pierce clearance 0.015748, ieadin .118, 60 degree arc, leadin/out 0.0787402" radius
The holes were a little rough where the pierce started. But I knew that was going to be the case, so the holes were made undersized and drilled for proper fit. (next time I’d make them even smaller cut edge is hard on drill bits…Well at least cheap drill bits.)
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Thanks so much for the detailed replies, this has helped tremendously. I believe this may have solved my issues!
Yes, this reply has helped me too.
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