I'm assuming this function (tabs) in sheetcam is so a long skinny part sayyyy 2.5" X 46" won't move around from warpage or what ever while the machine finishes cutting??
Guessing the torch stops then restarts a very short distance or how does that part work?
Thanks for the help
Tabs
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Largemouthlou
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Tabs
1250 hypertherm
4 X 8 Precision Plasma
CandCnC electronics
4 X 8 Precision Plasma
CandCnC electronics
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tcaudle
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Re: Tabs
Short answer: don't use tabs in plasma cutting
It is useful in a situation where you have setup (liek on a router) where a cut is being made to cut out a shape and you don't want it coming loose and the spinning bit catching it and slinging it across the room. In plasma the part does not tend to be pulled up by the bit or from friction and you WANT it to fall out through the bottom if it is small. Because the torch has to turn off and the restart it can get ugly. Bigest issue in plasma is tip ups whare a part does not fall cleanly through the grid. If you make your rapid height enough it will miss thip ups and you seldom have situation where the cuts are made and the torch comes back over a previous cut while cutting the job. You can control a lot of that in SheetCAM and cutting things in layers and in sequence. After a while you can look at a cut and predict it may have potential tip-ups.
A strong magnet and quick hand will save a crash.
I cut a bunch of small squares that I did not want to fall out because I was going to powder coat a sheet at at time THEN break them out fo use as color samples for customers . I just used an open object and did no close the squares so it left a "tab".
I have used tabs a lot when I was routing PCB boards and doing the outside. Otherwise you hold the board down with your finger (NOT advised) or it gets launched up into the air as it breaks loose and hits the spinning bit (at 10,000 RPM)
TOMcaudle
It is useful in a situation where you have setup (liek on a router) where a cut is being made to cut out a shape and you don't want it coming loose and the spinning bit catching it and slinging it across the room. In plasma the part does not tend to be pulled up by the bit or from friction and you WANT it to fall out through the bottom if it is small. Because the torch has to turn off and the restart it can get ugly. Bigest issue in plasma is tip ups whare a part does not fall cleanly through the grid. If you make your rapid height enough it will miss thip ups and you seldom have situation where the cuts are made and the torch comes back over a previous cut while cutting the job. You can control a lot of that in SheetCAM and cutting things in layers and in sequence. After a while you can look at a cut and predict it may have potential tip-ups.
A strong magnet and quick hand will save a crash.
I cut a bunch of small squares that I did not want to fall out because I was going to powder coat a sheet at at time THEN break them out fo use as color samples for customers . I just used an open object and did no close the squares so it left a "tab".
I have used tabs a lot when I was routing PCB boards and doing the outside. Otherwise you hold the board down with your finger (NOT advised) or it gets launched up into the air as it breaks loose and hits the spinning bit (at 10,000 RPM)
TOMcaudle
