
KinetiC-NC
User Manual
CNC-STEP GmbH & Co. KG ▪ Siemensstrasse 13-15 ▪ 47608 Geldern ▪ Germany
Page 106
Support: +49 (0)2831/91021-50
10.11.2018
T a n g e n t i a l k n i f e c u t t i n g
What is it?
This machining method does not work with a tool that rotates at a constant speed, but rather a knife
is always rotated at the correct angle tangential to the tool path with an extra positioning drive, this
explains the name. The knife may be either rotatable but vertically fixed or oscillating. With the
fixed knife usually slides are cut, with an oscillating knife even thicker materials such as foams can
be cut.
I mport of option
The KinetiC-NC software supports the automatic turning of the knife in the right direction, without
having to explicitly specify the angle of rotation in the NC program. To do this, the machine type
must be set to "Knife Cutting Machine", a rotary axis "C" must be defined, and a few other
parameters must be adjusted. The easiest way to do this is to import the file "Tangential-Knife.ini",
which is located in the subfolder "Addons" of the default parameters (menu File - Import Settings -
Default Parameters).
There, all necessary parameters for the most common tangential knife type with stepper motor and
1: 1 gearbox are already predefined.
Bac kup
If the machine is also used alternately for milling, do not forget to make a backup of parameter
before importing the tangential file.
Che c king the knife
Before using for the first time, check the resolution of the C
axis and the correct orientation of the knife. There are knife
drives with different resolution. The tangential gauge EOT-2
has e.g. 200 full steps per revolution, which corresponds to a
resolution of 5.55555 steps / ° in 1/10 micro step. The
tangential EOT-3 has twice the resolution.
First carry out a homing run on the C axis. If the C axis coordinate display is not zero, use the C + /
C rotary arrow buttons on the Setup page to move the axis to the zero position. Do not use the zero
button, this would just set the coordinate to zero without rotating the knife. Now check that the
blade of the knife points exactly in the X + direction. For a high-z machine this means that the knife
must be aligned parallel to the long axis with the cutting edge to the right.