Pocketing with QCAD/CAM
Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2018 12:10 pm
Although QCAD/CAM does not have a built in tool to create pockets (yet), you can easily create complex pockets using the polyline offset tool.
First, create all outer and inner contours (left). This can consist of polylines, loose lines, arcs, circles, ellipses or splines:
Select all outer contours and inner contours (island) of the pocket:
Start Modify > Offset with a distance of the tool radius. Set the number to something large enough to create all possible offsets (or larger, e.g. 50). Click one of the selected polyline on the side where you want to create the offsets (orange):
You can now use the created offsets as basis of a new profile toolpath. Make sure to set the side to "On" to make sure that the tool center follows the offset curves without any tool radius compensation (the tool radius is already compensated in the offsets).
First, create all outer and inner contours (left). This can consist of polylines, loose lines, arcs, circles, ellipses or splines:
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