How to preserve the consistency of the Horizontal strategy

[Sadovshikov_Vitalii]

With the Horizontal strategy, I am experiencing unwanted and seemingly unnecessary tool retractions that disrupt the consistency of the cutting path. As shown in the figure below, the tool starts cutting at one end of the flat surface, then retracts and travels a long distance to the other end. Why does this happen, and how can I avoid this idle movement?

 

[seth.madore · Accepted solution]

Pretty much any toolpath (2D Pocket, Flat, Horizontal) is going to give you some amount of "wasted move", in that it will need to reposition the tool to address an area. I suppose you could get around that by sacrificing stepover, but that's just going to raise your cycle time in other manners.