Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] StlWork beta progress & 3D inexpensive modelers

Fred Smith of IMService wrote:

> For those that might be interested, the latest StlWork 2 beta has waterline tool paths working correctly. Information is at : http//www.stlwork.com

Fred:

A question about the waterline toolpathing and its efficiency:

- Lets presume I have "lots of islands" separated by big distances
(such as Pacific Islands in the Pacific Ocean), and I want to use waterline
tool paths.

- There are two possibilities:
- cutting all heights Z, and then cutting all heights Z-delta, and repeating down to sea level
or
- cutting an entire island (down to sea level) before moving on to the next

Obviously the most efficient path is the latter, as it eliminates a huge
amount of extra inter-island travelling. But I imagine it is also hard to
program for that case.

The question is: which algorithm does StlWork use, and if not the latter,
do you agree there is merit in looking at that improvement?

Thanks
Doug Fortune
http://www.cncKITS.com