Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

I am trying to come up to speed with Intercon's cutter comp and am finding it to be a bit less than intuitive. The Youtube video says that the first move with cutter comp must be a straight line. So I toss in a straight line right after I comp right at line 0004 (sure it is only 1/4" but I am just trying to get the cutter comp up and running) then I continue to go to the rest of the profile.

No matter what I do to follow this shape Intercon wants to shove me into the material before bouncing back and respecting the cutter comp for the remainder of the part. How do I avoid this? What's the proper strategy for entering and milling around an oddball profile like the one in my dxf with no good clear straight approach?
I must be missing something as I have played with this in many directions and still just can't get it to all work as expected.

Done.

Uwe

Okay so what are the rules that I need to follow to actually use the cutter comp? I tried so many different combinations and all of them had it zigzagging through the workpiece once before obeying the line. You make it look so easy. Is that rapid even needed, or can the comp right begin right after the tool is selected?

The rapid is needed.

For best results, position the cutter just clear of the part, at cut depth, before turning cutter compensation on. Make your cut around the part. Then turn cutter compensation off and lead out clear of the part.

Do not attempt to leave cutter compensation active as you jump from feature to feature. Turn it on as you start to cut a feature, and turn it off as soon as that feature is done.