Is it possible to make inclined or curved walls in a pocket in Estlcam, as the arrows show in the drawing of the section of the workpiece?
For inclined you use a V-bit and set another tool for cleanup. Inlays are mostly done that way. Curved walls would work with a curved endmill as well.
That is, it should be done not one deep, but several pockets at different depths with a variable value for finishing for each subsequent one?
Not automatically, AFAIK. You can make that shape in a 3D model, and carve that with estlcam. I believe it will want to follow the entire surface though, even the too that you don’t want milled.
Kiri:moto might do a bit better, ignoring the top surface.
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The easiest way to do either is with a bit that matches the profile you want to cut. Carve pocketing with a V-bit is the only way to get square corners. With plain carving it’s best to leave Cut depth and Maximum carve width at the defaults, when using a Carve pocketing tool both need to be set - Maximum carve width doesn’t really matter other than it needs to be at least 1/2 the maximum distance between any two lines. The pocket will be cut like any other (size automatically adjusted to accommodate the V-bit perimeter) and a tool change to the V-bit will cut the perimeter like any other carve (e.g tool setting depth per pass).
Adding a Chamfering tool to a regular hole/pocket is the easiest way to profile the edges of a pocket, e.g. with a roundover bit. Here the profile will be outside the drawing perimeter lines, with Carve pocketing its inside. While you could use a V-bit Chamfering tool for your slopped profile, the pocket corners will be rounded.
…hacked carve pocket and chamfer examples
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Milling the top surface of an STL can be excluded by using a Mask. I haven’t tried and don’t know if it can be used to exclude the bottom of a pocket as well.
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Nice feature. Thanks for the tip Dave.
Thanks for the tips. I know about stl, but I would like to have such an opportunity with dfx. We will try.