topic Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down in Fusion Manufacture Forum

Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

sewais — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 16:57:46 GMT

Greetings,

While adaptive clearing, I prefer the tool to not retract, & just move around in the X & Y.

Even tho the options are selected, the tool still retracts.

The maximum stay down distance box doesn't work properly, bc it thinks the rapid motion violates the work piece???

The only thing that seems to have an effect, is the tolerance box under the passes tab, & that's always a toss up.

How can I keep the tool down?

This becomes a big issue when I'm working w. a longer tool & a the indexer is @ B0, & fusion is trying to retract a tool that would alarm the machine out mid operation.

Thank you,

Sam E.

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

seth.madore — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 17:07:39 GMT

Hmm. I'd have thought having the Keep Down distance set that high would have done the trick. Would you be able to share a sample file that shows this issue, either here or privately?

To share here: File > Export > Save to local folder, return to thread and attach the .f3d file in your reply.

To share privately; just drop a link to the file in a DM (direct message) and I'll take a look at it.

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

sewais — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 17:35:08 GMT

Sent!

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

programming2C78B — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 18:07:35 GMT

May I also suggest you change your lift height default to 0.00 and a no-engagement rate of 400ipm.

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

seth.madore — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 20:02:20 GMT

File is received. I'll have a chat with the devs to see if there's anything we can do to absolutely force no retracts other than the final one of the toolpath, but no promises..

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

seth.madore — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 20:33:03 GMT

Question for you though; won't you still have an overtravel alarm at the start and end of the toolpath, even if we can eliminate all other retracts from the operation?

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

sewais — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 20:46:14 GMT

Seth,

Yes, but I can rotate the C axis @ B0 under Tool Orientation to make the tool enter on the tool change side of the work piece & exit on the same side too. The exit can be tricky.

example:

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

seth.madore — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 09:04:11 GMT

Nope, it doesn't look like there's some secret method of forcing the Most stay-down to omit these extra retracts. I've logged CAM-65783 to investigate making improvements in this area.

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

sewais — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 17:27:12 GMT

Any improvements on this? Still having this issue.

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

sewais — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 17:32:44 GMT

I managed to get it to work by changing the Tolerance box (under the Passes tab) .0001 at a time as well as the Horizontal Lead In/Out Radius (under the Linking tab)

Seem to be doable w. minor tweaks, but I'm not sure why it doesn't work from the start.

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

sewais — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:47:29 GMT

After discussing w. the AI (Autodesk Assistant), it sent me to this link, seems to have some work arounds to the issue:

Multiple unwanted retract or plunge moves during a cut in Autodesk Fusion

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

lauri_barnhart — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 12:50:47 GMT

Hi @sewais,

I wanted to check in and see if you still needed assistance, or if you found a solution to your question already? Let us know if you need further assistance by providing an update or if you have found a solution, please share it with the community so other members who may have the same question could learn from your experience.

All the best,

Lauri | Community Manager

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

sewais — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 20:51:47 GMT

Will this ever be looked into? I can't be the only one who needs this option to work.

I can't get 1 retract to go away & trying to tweak the fields that effect it by micro increments is so time consuming.

I made one revision & now it wont behave.

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

andrew2085 — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 23:06:12 GMT

I was struggling with this years ago and couldn't figure out a way to reliably get rid of all the retractions. I vaguely remember doing what you did, just messing with the precision etc. Increasing lift height and decreasing stay-down clearance (0.1" to like 0.01") doesn't help does it?

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

andrew2085 — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 20:20:18 GMT

I set up a quick test and it is indeed the minimum stay-down clearance that is is leaving the last few retractions. The system default is a function of the tool diameter. Does resetting it to that get rid of them, or reducing it further?

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

sewais — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 14:23:20 GMT

Yes, certain fields need small tweaks of .001", there are many of them that can stop the retracts like Tolerance, Optimal Load, Radial Stock to Leave, Horizontal Lead in Radius, & some others.

What I found to be the most effective is choosing Silhouette under Stock Definition, that seems to work almost every time, but of course its not always the best choice for the actual operation.

If you read in the explanation bubble of Maximum Stay Down Distance, it says regardless of stay down distance, the tool retracts if the rapid motion violates the work piece. This is the issue I think.

Worth noting, having the ability to 'drive' the machine using one dial for all moves is very handy for first time run parts. I can keep the rapid dial at 0 while controlling the feed dial only (Okuma/OSP). I know retracting is faster, but speed isn't everything for low count parts where clearance is tight.

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

andrew2085 — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 15:24:56 GMT

@sewais wrote:

If you read in the explanation bubble of Maximum Stay Down Distance, it says regardless of stay down distance, the tool retracts if the rapid motion violates the work piece. This is the issue I think.

Yes, I think this is exactly it. I think that what happens is that immediately after the lead-out move it sees that the stock is closer to the tool than the Minimum stay-down clearance which forces a retract. It makes sense why Tolerance, Optimal Load, Radial Stock to Leave, and Horizontal Lead-in Radius would all affect that, but I think the main culprit here is Minimum stay-down clearance.

I'd be curious to see if you can find any situations where you can't get rid of all the retractions by lowering the Minimum stay-down clearance further.

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

sewais — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 15:50:47 GMT

All of them, look at my screen shots above.

In one I have 8000 Min Stay down distance & the other 400. It was only after tweaking the horizontal lead in distance from .05 to .0493 that it worked.

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

andrew2085 — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 15:56:48 GMT

Not stay-down distance, stay-down clearance, the box under it.

Re: Adaptive Clearing, Keep Tool Down

sewais — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 16:04:57 GMT

It gets worse. Some screen shots below:

Before:

After: