You can machine a design larger than the bed-size of your router, or larger than the sheets of material that are currently available. ArtCAM divides calculated toolpaths into sections so that you can machine separate sheets of material one by one, and then piece them all together, or machine a single sheet of material larger than the router's bed-size in sections, repositioning the material on the router bed until all sections have been machined.
Use the Panel Toolpaths panel to cut a large job into smaller sections, or panels.
To display the
Panel Toolpaths panel, click the
Panel Toolpaths
button in the
Toolpath Operations area of the
Toolpaths panel. The following settings are available:
- Standard Panel Size — Specify the size of the panels. This could be the size of your available panels of material, or size of your router-bed; whichever may be the limiting factor in the job.
- Width — Enter a width for the panels.
- Height — Enter a height for the panels.
- Create Regular Panels — Click to create the guidelines in the model area that define the panels.
Tip: When possible, restrict sections of detail in the toolpath to a single panel. This helps preserve the integrity of the complete design when the machined sheets of material are assembled. To do so, edit the guidelines drawn to represent each panel as required. - Panel Overcut — If you want to allow a toolpath to extend beyond the top and right edges of a panel of material, specify the maximum overcut distance in the Overcut box and click Apply.
- Panel Numbers — Select the order in which the panels are numbered.
- Click
to number the panels horizontally.
- Click
to number the panels vertically.
- Click
- Panel Sizes — This area displays the number, dimensions, and required offset of each panel.
Note: The offset is the distance along which the sheet of material must be pulled across the router-bed, or positioned from the job origin to machine the complete design.
- 3D View Toolpath Drawing — Select the toolpaths that you want to display in the 3D view.
- Display All — Select this option if you want to display all panels.
- Display Selected — Select this option if you want to display a selected panel only. Choose the panel you want to display from the list.
If you have selected Display Selected, select:
- At Origin to display the toolpath panel at the origin of the model.
- In Finished Job to display the toolpath panel at its position within the whole model.
- Panel Summary — If you want to print the data required to machine the toolpath panels, click
Display Panel Info. This displays the
ArtCAM toolpath panelling window, which contains an image of the toolpaths when divided into panels, and the data for machining the job.
- Include toolpath summary — Select this option if you want to include the toolpath summary data along with the panel information.
- Save Paneled Toolpaths — If you want to save the panelled toolpaths, click Save Paneled Toolpaths to display the Save Toolpaths dialog. The toolpath is divided up into segments that are restricted to a particular panel. Each panel can be saved as a separate toolpath file with the _px suffix applied to its name; where x is equal to the panel number. Each toolpath segment has the origin moved to the bottom left corner of the model. If no part of a toolpath appears in a particular panel, there will be no output file for that panel.