Saw incision

A saw incision is one flat cut into a face, at any angle across the face and leaning at any angle into it, limited in length and depth. Left without a width it is one pass of the saw blade; with a width it is a kerf that wide, such as a slit for a steel knife plate.

Inclination 60 °

Inclination 90 °

Inclination 120 °

Saw incision. Drawn by the editor's own geometry code; right: the carved part in 3D.

When to use it

A milling cutter is round, so it leaves a radius in every inside corner. A saw cut does not. Use a saw incision for:

a sharp inside corner at the end of a housing or a notch;
a V-notch: two cuts leaning towards each other that meet below the surface. The wedge between them comes free;
a seat or a shoulder at an angle;
a slit for a steel knife plate, with Kerf width set to the plate and its play.

For a straight groove along or across the face with square walls, a slot says the same thing in a form more machines accept.

Fields

Field	Unit	Range or options	Default	What it changes
Position X	mm	from 0	1500	Where the line starts along the part.
Position Y	mm		0	Where the line starts across the face, measured the way the machine file measures it.
Face		Top, Bottom, Front, Back	Top	The side of the part the processing is on.
Direction	°	-180 to 180	90	Which way the line runs in the face: counter-clockwise seen from outside, 0 along the part.
Inclination	°	1 to 179	90	The angle of the cut to the face, measured on the left of the line: 90° is square, less leans the cut to the left, more to the right.
Length	mm	from 1	120	How long the cut runs along its line.
Depth	mm	from 1	30	How deep the cut goes, square to the face.
Kerf width	mm	from 1	Blade kerf	Empty is one saw pass, as wide as the blade. With a width it becomes a kerf, for a steel plate for example.
Kerf side		Centred on the line, Left of the line, Right of the line	Centred on the line	Which side of the line the kerf lies on, looking along the line.
Splinter-free		Machine default, Off, Tool path	Machine default	Machining that keeps the edges from splintering. Machine default writes what each file normally has for that operation. BVX and BVN carry an explicit choice where the operation has the setting, and the export says so where it does not. BTLx has no such setting.

Default: what Add fills in on a 3000 mm part of 120 x 120 mm.

The line is where the cut meets the face. The cut leans by its Inclination, measured on the left of the line: 90° is square to the face, less leans it to the left and more to the right. Its floor is square to the cut, and Depth is measured square to the face where the floor meets the line.

Add a saw incision

Select the part in the Parts list.
Under Extra processings, click Add.
Type saw in the search field and pick Saw incision. It starts as one square cut across the top face, 30 mm deep, in the middle of the part.
Set Face, Position X, Position Y and Direction. In the 2D view you can also drag it by the start of its line.
Set Inclination, Length and Depth. For a kerf, set Kerf width and pick the kerf side.
Check that the part shows a green check. If not, open the Issues tab.

In a designed joint

A joint you design in the fitting workspace can hold saw incisions beside its outlines. The Knife-plate slit starting point is a half-lap with a kerf in each member for one steel plate.

Machine export

Format	Status	Details
BTLx	Partly supported	One saw pass as SawCut, a kerf of a set width as Slot, at any angle and inclination. Read back on import, as are angled Slots from other programs. Both are written from the BTLx manual alone, so the export notes that without blocking.
BVN (Hundegger)	Partly supported	A square kerf along the part as operation 0800, with a note in the file: CAMBIUM read it as meant. Experimental, included with a warning unless you leave them out: one saw pass, square or inclined, as operation 0109; CAMBIUM runs the saw on past both ends of that line. An inclined kerf or one at an angle has no operation and is listed as a machining loss.
BVX2 (Hundegger)	Partly supported	A square kerf along the part as CAMBIUM's own Slit, with a note in the file. Experimental, included with a warning unless you leave them out: the other forms, turned onto the line and tilted onto an inclined kerf, one saw pass 5 mm wide.
BTL 10.6	Supported	013 saw passes, including inclined cuts; 016 explicit kerfs. The receiving machine chooses the saw blade for a single pass.

BTL status describes what the specification can represent. CAMBIUM imported our earlier BTL test files; confirmation applies to the tested forms and build. See BTL coverage for representation and receiver caveats.

BTLx writes one saw pass as a SawCut and a kerf as a Slot. Both follow the BTLx manual, and no file or machine has shown yet how a reader measures a SawCut’s angle or an inclined cut’s depth, so the export notes that without blocking. A Slot at an angle from another program comes in as a saw incision you can edit.

BVX and BVN write it in the shop test pack only until the shop has confirmed how CAMBIUM reads it: BVX as a Slit turned onto the cut, BVN as one saw groove (operation 0109) for a saw pass, square or leaning, and as operation 0800 for a square kerf along the part. BVN has no operation for a leaning kerf or one at an angle, so it lists that as a machining loss.

Controls and handles

The card shows a guide, Place, Size / shape, Lean / turn, and All values. Blue choices and quick picks show the value in use. 0° means square; the format’s own angles remain under All values. Drag a blue handle to move or size the cut, or the bore’s tip to lean its axis. Each handle has a hint; Alt leaves the usual angle snaps free.