Estlcam - Optimized Islands?

Mostly Printed CNC - MPCNC Advice
#1

I’m attempting to make a zero clearance insert for my tablesaw and I’m running into an issue.

The part I’m making will be 3/4" thick in the middle, with a 9/16" wide x 1/2" deep rabbet joint around the outside. Hopefully that makes sense.

The problem I have is that Estlcam wants to cut the rabbet in a linear tool path, moving up in Z space to avoid the island on every pass, which makes makes my program like an hour long, when it could easily be done in less than half the time.

I’m not using the 3D machine processes because that calculated an even longer toolpath. I feel like there is a solution to this problem and I’m just overlooking it. Any ideas?

#2

Can you post a JPEG or a zip file? Something I can visualize.

#3

Yes, of course.

Here are photos of the model: https://www.amazon.com/photos/share/c3mOvvzet6tWzLHjxjbXQzcAGfxeT2NwIemE0pbgFxd

So the center portion of the part doesn’t need to be machined at all. Rather than simply machining around it, Estlcam lifts the tool over the top of it on every pass and does linear cuts, adding a ton of time to the program. Does that make more sense?

#4

Are you loading it into estlcam as an stl? I’m not sure what you mean when you say you aren’t using the 3D machine process.

Simple things like this would be better as a DXF, with the outside perimeter, and the island defined.

If you still can’t get it, can you post a screenshot of the estlcam preview, at an angle that shows what you’re talking about?

#5

I don’t know what I am doing differently today, but I’m not experiencing the issue anymore. My problem was that Estlcam was programming the machine paths for the “shoulder” or “rabbet” part in a linear fashion, lifting to avoid the tall center part on every single pass, rather than going around it like I would expect.

To answer the question, Yes I loaded the STL into Estlcam, selected free machining and extracted the outline. It’s a roundabout way of accomplishing the same thing as if I had loaded a DXF, only I didn’t have to redraw the part as a DXF (I had already created an STL with Sketchup). I then manually defined the outside and island perimeters.

What I meant when I said I didn’t use the 3D machine process is that I didn’t use the 3D Block Machining or 3D Free Machining options, opting to use the standard 2D workflow. Does that make sense?