Beginner G41 cutter compensation question

[sendithard]

I ran a quick contour pass on a part in cam with and without compensation on a vertical mill setup. I noticed the x and y absolute values didn't change. What did change was the simple G41 line below:

Compensation off:
Z-1.
X0.04 F100.
X3.04 F45.
G2 X3.54 Y-0.04 I0. J-0.5

Compensation on:
Z-1.
G41 X0.04 Y0.46 D1 F100.
X3.04 F45.
G2 X3.54 Y-0.04 I0. J-0.5

Is the G41 line pulling the value of D1 from when the operator entered the amount of tool wear in the offset sections? And is the controller actually telling the machine to place the centerline of the worn out tool closer to the part to make up for the wear?

If your want to implement this with a fresh tool exactly to spec do you run the program with cutter comp and then make sure you enter zero into D1 and then as the tool loses diameter the operator would enter a negative value in?

Someone told me cutter comp wasn't for tool wear or minor adj. They stated it was for programming your absolute values on the part edge so you can use differing size tools. I was wondering if this was the case more so in manually writing gcode, b/c for all I have seen in my limited time is cam exporting absolutes half the tool diameter away from the part. Thanks.

 

[EmGo]

Someone told me cutter comp wasn't for tool wear or minor adj. They stated it was for programming your absolute values on the part edge so you can use differing size tools.

No, you can do it either way. What's most important is that you are consistent. Whatever the shop decides to do, always do it that way.

 

[DouglasJRizzo]

I leave the "Wear" offsets at zero when setting up, and input the cutter radius (or diameter depending on machine) in the Geometry.
I use G41/G42 A LOT. I can program to drawing dims and "tweak" the radius offset to bring the part right to size.