Why are my tabs doing this?

Every tab I i place ends up cutting slighting into the part I am trying to profile. It doesn’t seem to matter where I place them or what size I create them. Using VCarvePro. You can see from the bottom view, that the bit will dig into the piece I am cutting slightly. I wouldn’t mind if it went the other direction, but it is always towards the piece I am profiling.

Imgur

Imgur

1 Like

Wondering if it’s a tramming issue… or a loose bolt somewhere watching to see what it is

Are you using a downcut bit?

I’ve found that using triangular shaped tabs helps alleviate the issue but doesn’t remove it entirely. I think it mostly has something to do with bit flex. When it comes up out of the material you get spring back.

1 Like

That’s a cutter mark where the cutter briefly dwells as Z raises and lowers for the tabs. I see that occasionally on my work. I rarely use tabs, and leave stock for a finish pass to eliminate this. You can’t always avoid using holding tabs, but I do minimize their use.

I don’t know if there’s a way to ramp up/down when using tabs so the cutter has more of a fluid motion, but if there was, that would probably eliminate those dwell marks.

2 Likes

I hope this will help. It’s a link to the same issue on the Vectric forums some of the recommendations may help.

1 Like