Making ‘spline’ contours is a time consuming process in WoodWOP but with ONGAA CAM, smooth contours are simple and fast.
In WoodWOP the process usually starts with a list of points that came from a drawing or by manual calculations. These points are then entered, if done correctly, as ARC segments or LINE segments. The result should be a smooth approximation of the curve.
Unfortunately many other programs that generate MPR contours only generate straight line segments.
In this image we show the difference between a straight segment ellipse (lower half stating with the blue segment) and an arc segment ellipse (upper half).
In each case, the segment lengths are the same. The segments are easy to see in the lower half but the upper half required a square mark to identify the end of segment #2.
And If you can see it here, you will definitely see it in the final product. The only way to improve the straight segment contour would be to increase the number of segments (X 4 or X 8). This will slow the machining down.
With ONGAA CAM simply select the edges and all splines are converted to ARC based contours (where possible). The contour can be further refined with both Chord Tolerance and Segment Length Tolerance to limit any deviations.
The result are smoother contours with the fewest number of segments (fastest machining).
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