Learn/Tube/Machine, Stock & Sources
Machine, Stock & Sources
At a glance
- Configure the chuck axis, tube direction, centerline, jaw clearance, and usable travel
- Choose round, HSS, angle, channel, beam, or custom structural stock
- Create parts from flat wrap geometry, Drafting bodies, imported solids, copes, or bent members
A Tube job begins with a plasma machine that has a rotary axis assigned the Tube chuck role. The Tube / Rotary settings describe the physical rig: which linear axis follows the stock, its direction, the stock centerline and lateral position, the chuck face, jaw clearance, and usable travel. JetCad3 uses that one machine description for the scene, nesting limits, toolpath poses, re-chucks, simulation, and posted motion.
Choose the stock
Open Stock in the Tube Browser and choose a stick length plus a section from the shared structural-stock library. It includes pipe and round tube, square and rectangular HSS, angle, channel, and I/W-beam families in common North American and metric sizes. Custom dimensions are available when the exact section is not listed.
The machine view draws the selected stick, chuck, jaws, and torch together. Check the stock size and machine envelope here before laying out parts.
Bring in a part
Tube accepts several kinds of source geometry:
- Import flat DXF or SVG geometry and wrap it around the selected section.
- Send a supported body from Drafting to Tube and update the Tube part when its Drafting source changes.
- Import a supported solid from STEP.
- Create fishmouths and branch intersections with the Cope and Features tools.
- Straighten supported bent members and carry their bend information into the job.
Round and rectangular 3D bodies are supported for direct body extraction. Angle, channel, and beam work uses the stock section and face-aware Tube features. A sharp corner in a bent path represents a mitered joint rather than a bend.