Divide Toolpath by Direction

This tab contains the following:

Flat Angle — An angle limit measured from the XY plane. A move is counted as Flat if it makes an angle with the XY plane smaller than this limit.

Remove Segments Smaller Than — Removes segments that are smaller in length than the figure entered here. The higher the value, the smaller the fragmentation. This value should normally be set to a similar value to the machining tolerance.

Subtract — There are three areas that you can separate from the whole toolpath:

• Up — Subtracts the moves that are cutting Up, leaving only moves that are Flat or Down.
• Down — Subtracts the moves that are cutting Down, leaving only moves that are Flat or Up.
• Flat — Subtracts moves that are Flat, leaving only moves that are Up or Down.

Save — Specifies which part of the toolpath to keep:

• Subtract — Keeps the part of the toolpath specified by the Subtract option.
• Remainder — Keeps the part of the toolpath not specified by the Subtract option.
• Both — Keeps both parts of the toolpath as two separate toolpaths.

  This example shows the effects of dividing a toolpath by direction.

  

  On the Divide Toolpath > Direction dialog:

  1. Enter a Flat Angle of 0.5.
  2. Select a Subtract of Up.
  3. Select a Save of Both.
  4. Click Apply. The two new toolpaths have the same name as the original but have _1 and _2 appended to the name:
  • _1 contains the Remainder portion (the Down and Flat moves):
    
    
  • _2 contains the Subtract portion (the Up moves):
    
    

Note: If you want to keep just the upward portion of the toolpath, select Save Subtract. Similarly, if you want to keep just the downward and flat portion of the toolpath, select Save Remainder.