Tip of the Week: 2D Slot Entry Position

The 2D Slot strategy allows selecting one or more entry positions, which lets you specify which end of the slot to plunge into. This is useful if you have pre-drilled holes in your slots.


Multiple slots with no entry positions specified.


The selected entry positions.


The resulting toolpath plunges at the specifies entry positions.

Note that HSMWorks interpret entry positions as indications for where the tool should enter. As such, the actual entry positions does not have to be exact - HSMWorks will always choose an actual entry position on the toolpath, but as close as possible to the closest of all the specified entry positions.

This looseness in the handling of the entry normally yields the desired results, when you select explicit entry positions as in the example above, but at the same time allows for greater ease and flexibility in specifying the entry positions. As such, the following entry position selections will give exactly the same toolpath as the selection above:


Selecting just two entry positions like this causes HSMWorks to start all the slot toolpaths at the ends closest to the positions.