We are very happy with PolyBoard’s ability to put all the relevant data into .hops files but we would like to have greater control over some machining parameter.

When it comes to exporting parts as .dxf – the parameters like tool lead in can be modified after exporting them from polyboard (after all .dxf is just a geometry file). This is not true for Holzher’s .hop files: all the parameters (except milling speeds and some other) like tool number, tool lead in, depth per cut and so on need to be specified at the export in PolyBoard. 

Could we expect some of additional parameters added in the future?

Parameters that we would like to have control over in PolyBoard:

1. Tool lead in with Z interpolation (sloped lead in).

2. Depth per cut and Amount of milling steps.

It looks like it should be very easy for the developers to add those features since all that the possible Polyboard update should be able to do is to change some numbers:

Below is the example of Starting Point line of code in .hop file. Each number (or text) is specifying either a machining style or giving information about dimensions and depths and the placement of the number withing that line of code is important.

SP (1210,490,-19.2,1,-1,_ANF,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,10,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0)

SP – means starting point and is followed by the coordinates in x and y as well as depth in z (-19.2 mm in this case).

1 – Tool lead in mode. Polyboard can already export them as 0 – no lead in, 1 – Linear Lead In, 2 – Radial and 3 – Lateral

We need an option for what HOPS calls “Z Interpolation” and it’s basically just adding a minus sign to that number, so -1 is Linear lead is with Z interpolation, -2 is Radial Lead In with Z interpolation and so on.

10 – depth per cut in mm

0 – amount of cuts (0 for full cut, unless depth per cut is specified)