I finally got my CF Pro cutting and I’m starting with name signs. I set a lead in and lead out as Arc and .1in. However every lead in is on the wrong side. I is not in the waste, it is in the “keep” (I don’t know what to call it.
I feel I must have some setting backwards, but I cannot figure out which one.
The only way I can get the lead in on the right side is to set the Contour method as Outside Offset. When I do this (my tool kerf is .06) I lose a bunch of the cut lines as I guess they are too small.
Outside offset is the correct way. Sheetcam will automatically assign the correct offsets(inside, outside and no offset) to each part of the drawing, as long as “outside offset” is selected and there are no issues with the drawing.
If you choose “inside offset” for the whole drawing, Sheetcam will reverse all of the offsets for the whole drawing. This will lead to undesireable results, as seen in your example.
If the correct offset is causing you to lose parts of your drawing, you need to scale up your drawing, edit the lines in question to make them larger, or change your kerf setting to “fool” sheetcam into moving the torch further away from the line.
Increasing the kerf setting will move the torch further away from the line. The kerf setting in CAM doesn’t change the size of the kerf. It tells the software how wide the kerf is, so it can move the toolpath the correct distance away from the line. Telling the software that the kerf is bigger than it actually is, will cause the toolpath to be moved further away from the line.
If I’m cutting out a decorative name sign is there any serious negative impact in reducing the kerf width? I know for parts that have to fit together you need it correct, but I don’t see the need for this application.
