Limitations and cautions

Using "Wiggle" lead-ins for thicker materials can help clear slag and manage the initial heat spike during piercing. Drill Routines for Thick Steel:

A user on the CNCZone forums reported that every 1" AR500 wear plate he cut cracked exactly 2" from the lead-in. He blamed SheetCam.

Mark leaned his forehead against the cold metal of the control box. The machine wasn't just cutting steel. It was cutting him now. Every cracked part was another hour lost, another pound of scrap, another notch in the argument with his wife about why he couldn't make it home for dinner.

To make sure I’m giving you exactly what you need, I have to ask for a quick clarification. "Hot crack" in the context of (the CNC software) usually points to one of two very different things:

or delayed cracking, occurs when the thermal stress from plasma or flame cutting causes the material's edge to fracture. This is most common in high-carbon steels or wear plates and is driven by: CUMIC Steel Residual Stresses:

While "SheetCam" and "hot crack" appear in similar contexts—particularly in discussions about metallurgy and CNC software—there is no official software feature named "Hot Crack" within .