Part line program

Partline programming is a particular kind of cutter compensation for milled features. If enabled, the actual drawing dimensions of the feature are output as the toolpath instead of the center line of the tool. If Cutter compensation is not enabled for any of the operations in a feature, selecting Partline program does not affect the NC Code.

The tool selected to cut the feature is still important even when using part line programming. If the same tool is used for roughing, ensure that the actual tool diameter does not deviate too far from the diameter of the tool used by FeatureCAM to ensure proper area coverage for the roughing passes. Also ensure that the diameter of the selected finishing tool is small enough to cut the whole feature. If you have selected a tool too large to fit into a tight corner, you cannot correct the toolpath with just cutter compensation.

FeatureCAM automatically calculates the entrance point of the Finish pass and adds a linear move and a ramping move (based on the Ramp diameter value) to your Finish pass to accommodate cutter compensation. If you receive a warning in the operations list such as Can't find ramp in/out arc or Can't extend end of open profile then correct the problem by decreasing the Ramp diameter value or changing the Pre-drill point.