Changes

Most of the time, you will not be using ProtoMAX LAYOUT to design a part. Thankfully, this program can accept ".dxf" files, but you still have to create the tool paths. If using a ".dxf" file, import the file to skip the last section and start here to give it a tool path.

Most of the time, you will not be using ProtoMAX LAYOUT to design a part. Thankfully, this program can accept ".dxf" files, but you still have to create the tool paths. If using a ".dxf" file, import the file to skip the last section and start here to give it a tool path.

Before showing you how to create a tool path, there are a couple of things that you must keep in mind.  When the water jet cuts, it cuts on the left side of a line from the direction it is moving in. Because of this, you must control the direction that the nozzle will travel. For an outside cut, you want it to cut on the outside of the line to preserve the proper dimensions of the part. For and inside cut, you want the opposite of that. For a ring, you would want the nozzle to travel clockwise for the outside cut and counter-clockwise for the inside cut.  To control the direction of the nozzle, you place lead-in and lead-out lines. Its how you specify the start or end of a cut and the cut direction. Lastly, it is better to cut the inner bits first and then the outer bits last; and if you can help it, don't let the nozzle travel over any holes that were already cut.

Before showing you how to create a tool path, there are a couple of things that you must keep in mind.  When the water jet cuts it has a kerf which means it will take away some of the material it is cutting and you do not want it to be taking material away from your part. Instead, you want to remove material from the scrap that is not critical to the part's function and as a result the tool path must be created with this in mind. To do this, you must first keep in mind that the waterjet will always cut on the left side of the tool path lines. This changes based on the direction the nozzle is traveling; for example if the nozzle travels clockwise around a circle it will remove excess material outside of the circle and if it travels counterclockwise it will remove excess material from the inside of the circle. Because of this, you must control the direction that the nozzle will travel. For an outside cut, you want it to cut on the outside of the line to preserve the proper dimensions of the part. For and inside cut, you want the opposite of that. For a ring, you would want the nozzle to travel clockwise for the outside cut and counter-clockwise for the inside cut.  To control the direction of the nozzle, you place lead-in and lead-out lines. Its how you specify the start or end of a cut and the cut direction. Lastly, it is better to cut the inner bits first and then the outer bits last; and if you can help it, don't let the nozzle travel over any holes that were already cut.

# Zoom in closer to the circle. Select the "Lead i/o" tool from the "Draw" menu on the left of the screen. Select the bottom edge of the circle and move the cursor upwards and click to create a lead in and out from the center of the circle. This will tell the water jet to cut on the inside of the circle. Looking at this picture, you can see that one line is longer than the other. This longer line is the lead-in line. The nozzle will penetrate the material from the beginning of the long line and work its way down to the bottom of the circle. Once the nozzle hits the bottom, it will start counter-clockwise because the lead-in line is positioned at a slight angle to make counter-clockwise and easier direction than clockwise. This is how you tell the nozzle which direction to cut.[[File:Lead_i-o.png|none|thumb|600x600px]]

# Zoom in closer to the circle. Select the "Lead i/o" tool from the "Draw" menu on the left of the screen. Select the bottom edge of the circle and move the cursor upwards and click to create a lead in and out from the center of the circle. This will tell the water jet to cut on the inside of the circle. Looking at this picture, you can see that one line is longer than the other. This longer line is the lead-in line. The nozzle will penetrate the material from the beginning of the long line and work its way down to the bottom of the circle. Once the nozzle hits the bottom, it will start counter-clockwise because the lead-in line is positioned at a slight angle to make counter-clockwise and easier direction than clockwise. This is how you tell the nozzle which direction to cut.[[File:Lead_i-o.png|none|thumb|600x600px]]