pic: Offseason Gearbox

[Cory]

Originally Posted by asid61

Wait really? I was told I had to put all the radii in manually even for a CNC.
I've been lied to... lol.

If you don't enter the radii you will end up with sharp corners in your toolpath or with finishing passes that take out huge chunks in the corner, not the (for example) .015" you may be running around the rest of the chain. You'll get a radius there, but it will be harder on your tool than desirable and will leave a poor surface finish.

It's always best to make your radii slightly larger than the cutter you intend to use, so that you can roll the cutter through the corners instead of coming in and making a sharp line entry/exit. We usually use .010-.015 more on the radius to help with this.