Trying to figure on the 2d program part how to set the feed in feed out for 1/4” holes? Or piercing for that matter.
All piercing and trying to cut small holes does is eat consumables. If you only are making 1 or 2 parts drill the holes.
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I keep the lead in radius small, set the Lead in angle to 90 deg and the lead in distance to something over my kerf width (0.06 or so). Then I can set Pierce Clearance to zero (because it adds to the Lead In distance). That will cut smaller holes. If you don’t mind a ‘divot’ in the edge of the hole, you can also turn Lead In off. That’s as small as I know how to go for sized holes.
Drilling instead is certainly an option. But remember that if you need to do a clean up pass with a drill bit the plasma hardened edges of the holes will soon ruin it.
To do a pierce, I draw a hole 0.001" wider than my tools kerf size, then turn Lead In, Lead Out to ‘off’ and Pierce Clearance to zero.
That makes sense, think I’m just gonna drill the smaller holes and plasma the larger ones. Thanks for the advice
Using just a pierce is useful for laying out your holes. Then you can use the pierce as a pilot hole for drilling to size.
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