I recommend plotting the coordinates from your program on a piece of graph paper. Finding this kind of problem can be difficult, especially if the drawing isn’t made to scale. If a surface is about to be violated, most controls will generate an over-cutting alarm. With this look-ahead capability the control can also determine if the tool cannot completely machine one surface without violating another. As the cutter is moving along one surface, the control is looking ahead to see what is coming up in the program so it can end the current motion in the appropriate manner. All current controls have a look-ahead feature that allows the control to scan at least a few commands into the program. Once cutter radius compensation is instated, the control will simply keep the cutter on the right side or left side of all surfaces it sees coming up in the program. Open Your Own Machine Shop? Here is Advice On Starting Small To avoid this problem, be sure to specify the maximum cutter size on the setup. The last time this program was run, the setup person used an appropriate cutter size, but today the cutter is larger. By the way, this is one situation when a program that has successfully run before is now generating an alarm. If the positioning movement stays 0.5 inch away from the surface, the largest cutter that will work is 1 inch in diameter. Note that with most controls, this prior position also determines the maximum cutter size that can be used. If using a 1-inch diameter cutter, for example, the tool must be at least 0.5 inch away from the first surface to mill. With most controls, this prior position must be at least the cutter’s radius away from the first surface to mill. Insufficient Clearance on ApproachĪlmost all versions of cutter radius compensation require that you make a prior position movement in X and Y to get the tool to a position from which tool length compensation can be instated. Here we offer five of the most common problems and give some advice for avoiding them. This can be quite frustrating, especially when a program that has worked in the past is now failing due to some cutter radius compensation alarm. Just about the time you think you have it all figured out, some new situation arises that you haven’t dealt with before. There are many rules, and when something goes wrong, it can be difficult to diagnose and correct the problem. Cutter radius compensation can be one of the more difficult programming features to fully master.