Lead In/Out help

[zayne19]

Hello,

I have a basic picture attached, but when I make a project, I am having this blown out spot from when the cut initially starts. I think that is the Lead In. How do I keep this from happening?

Thanks for the help!

[poplarhillmetalworks]

Can you adjust your lead ins prior to cutting? I use Flashcut and can adjust prior to sending to CNC to cut

[zayne19]

Yes, we use SheetCam TNG. I can adjust any aspect. I just didn't know what to adjust it to to get it to stop.

[acourtjester]

in SheetCam you can adjust the length of the lead in and out and also make the pierce delay as short as the metal thickness will allow.

lead in 2.JPG (52.46 KiB) Viewed 3180 times

lead in 2.JPG (52.46 KiB) Viewed 3180 times

[weldguy]

If the blown out spot is bothering you then it is likley because you are seeing it on your finished piece which leads me to believe you are not actually using a Lead In but rather piercing directly on what is to be your finished line.

In the example below, we have no lead in on the left so the torch will pierce in the corner and blow out a spot, on the right we have a lead in so the blown out spot will be in the waste where no one cares.

Are you using lead in's or just have terminology incorrect?

[zayne19]

If the blown out spot is bothering you then it is likley because you are seeing it on your finished piece which leads me to believe you are not actually using a Lead In but rather piercing directly on what is to be your finished line.

In the example below, we have no lead in on the left so the torch will pierce in the corner and blow out a spot, on the right we have a lead in so the blown out spot will be in the waste where no one cares.

Are you using lead in's or just have terminology incorrect?

Yes I am using a Lead In. So to keep that small spot from cutting or being seen outside of my cutline, I need to set it to no Lead in?

[zayne19]

Here is a picture of a small donation sign we cut in class. If you zoom in, you can see the small blown out spots on the corners where it would start the cuts. I had a lead in of .2 and I believe the lead out was 0. Any recommendations on changes?

[acourtjester]

You can see and move locations of start lead in and outs. You need to have enough length for the lead in/out for inside cuts for them to happen.

[adbuch]

[weldguy]

Yes I am using a Lead In. So to keep that small spot from cutting or being seen outside of my cutline, I need to set it to no Lead in?

No, you want to use a lead in. If you are able to place the lead in wherever you want you can be selective where you place it. In the image below I show your lead ins in green and my choice of lead in location in red. You can see mine will flow into the part rather thank make an abrupt direction change. Also I don;t like using lead outs on thin material but maybe that's just me.

[zayne19]

Here is another example of a sign we recently cut and a picture of what my SheetCam page tells me about Lead Ins and Outs. I have no idea as to what it should be set to to keep the small cut in dots from occurring when it starts its cut.

[TJS]

So Inside the "M", "H" and inside the animal (legs and stomach) you should be performing an inside offset with lead ins on its own layer (remember counter clockwise on inside cuts), call it "Inside" for the layer. Then for outside cut use Outside Offset with also a lead in, call that layer (Outside). I usually don't use lead outs on these but you might want to test it.

[Dirtmotor]

I would think you need to make a inside layer looks like your cutting is set to no offset

[ben de lappe]

While I haven't used sheetcam in ages from what I remember there are settings for inside offset and outside offset. Your cuts appears to be an outside offset applied to an interior cut hence the lead in's/outs being on the wrong side of the line.

This is a cut pic sent by a client who wondered what was wrong with the drawing. Come to find out nothing, the offsets used were incorrect.

[djreiswig]

Usually SheetCam manages the offsets pretty well. If you are cutting a part with inside and outside paths on the same layer and you select outside offset, it will apply the outside offset to the external paths and the inside offset to the internal paths. If you look at the leads on the screen you can see if it looks right.
Sometimes there are errors in your drawing that confuses it.
I agree that it looks like the leads are on the wrong side of the paths.

[adbuch]

Usually SheetCam manages the offsets pretty well. If you are cutting a part with inside and outside paths on the same layer and you select outside offset, it will apply the outside offset to the external paths and the inside offset to the internal paths. If you look at the leads on the screen you can see if it looks right.

This has been my experience as well. I have the paths on the same layer, and then choose the "outside offset" option. The result I obtain is that it puts the lead-ins and cut paths on the correct side of the features.

David

[adbuch]

Here is an example.
David

[adbuch]

While I haven't used sheetcam in ages from what I remember there are settings for inside offset and outside offset. Your cuts appears to be an outside offset applied to an interior cut hence the lead in's/outs being on the wrong side of the line.

This is a cut pic sent by a client who wondered what was wrong with the drawing. Come to find out nothing, the offsets used were incorrect.
Cactus Mess Up.png

Ben - this pic actually looks fine to me. If I could really zoom in, perhaps I could see what you are talking about.
David

[ben de lappe]

While I haven't used sheetcam in ages from what I remember there are settings for inside offset and outside offset. Your cuts appears to be an outside offset applied to an interior cut hence the lead in's/outs being on the wrong side of the line.

This is a cut pic sent by a client who wondered what was wrong with the drawing. Come to find out nothing, the offsets used were incorrect.
Cactus Mess Up.png

Ben - this pic actually looks fine to me. If I could really zoom in, perhaps I could see what you are talking about.
David

sheetcam 6.jpg

I honestly thought you'd have a better eye for detail David.... Just messin' with you, but lets have another look shall we? This piece is 12"x36" overall. Considering I know for a fact no cut is within .250" of any edge there was no way this was me. All my files are created in this manner intentionally as it leaves a wider margin of error.

[adbuch]

Ben - now that I see what the original is supposed to look like this makes more sense. I was really only looking for pierce lead-ins on the wrong side, as was the OP's original complaint with his file. Thanks for sharing those details.
David

[CNC_rowdy]

Hey everyone, great info
Timbo

[Deezl Smoke]

Usually SheetCam manages the offsets pretty well. If you are cutting a part with inside and outside paths on the same layer and you select outside offset, it will apply the outside offset to the external paths and the inside offset to the internal paths. If you look at the leads on the screen you can see if it looks right.

This has been my experience as well. I have the paths on the same layer, and then choose the "outside offset" option. The result I obtain is that it puts the lead-ins and cut paths on the correct side of the features.

David

This has not been my experience with Sheetcam. I have one Linux and two Windows Sheetcam programs, and I must use separate layers. Of course I have not tried to use one layer for all for years as once it did not work, I have been trained to always use separate layers. Perhaps it is my CAD program or my settings within Sheetcam, I don't know. But I also admit I have very limited experience vectorising an image. I'm usually given a dirty piece of notebook paper with a bunch of scribble on it and have to create the part from that. Otherwise I have gotten quite familiar with that yellow triangle with an ! in the middle showing up in the upper left corner.....multiple times.

[Deezl Smoke]

Here is another example of a sign we recently cut and a picture of what my SheetCam page tells me about Lead Ins and Outs. I have no idea as to what it should be set to to keep the small cut in dots from occurring when it starts its cut.

Where it says Path Rules "standard rules", click on the icon with the 3 dots and take a screenshot or picture of what the drop down menu says.

[adbuch]

Usually SheetCam manages the offsets pretty well. If you are cutting a part with inside and outside paths on the same layer and you select outside offset, it will apply the outside offset to the external paths and the inside offset to the internal paths. If you look at the leads on the screen you can see if it looks right.

This has been my experience as well. I have the paths on the same layer, and then choose the "outside offset" option. The result I obtain is that it puts the lead-ins and cut paths on the correct side of the features.

David

This has not been my experience with Sheetcam. I have one Linux and two Windows Sheetcam programs, and I must use separate layers. Of course I have not tried to use one layer for all for years as once it did not work, I have been trained to always use separate layers. Perhaps it is my CAD program or my settings within Sheetcam, I don't know. But I also admit I have very limited experience vectorising an image. I'm usually given a dirty piece of notebook paper with a bunch of scribble on it and have to create the part from that. Otherwise I have gotten quite familiar with that yellow triangle with an ! in the middle showing up in the upper left corner.....multiple times.

Multiple layers or a single layer - whatever works for you. I can see where using multiple layers would be good for very complicated parts where you wish to only cut one layer at a time. Or even separating your interior cuts into different layers - perhaps for testing the first time the part is cut - assuming there will be multiple parts.

David

[adbuch]

Here is another example of a sign we recently cut and a picture of what my SheetCam page tells me about Lead Ins and Outs. I have no idea as to what it should be set to to keep the small cut in dots from occurring when it starts its cut.

Where it says Path Rules "standard rules", click on the icon with the 3 dots and take a screenshot or picture of what the drop down menu says.