Tabs
Add or remove tabs (bridges) on cut paths so cut-through parts stay connected to the surrounding material.
A tab (also called a bridge) is a small intentional gap in a cut path, the laser pauses, lets the material stay connected, then resumes cutting. Without tabs, fully cut parts fall out of the bed before the job finishes, often shifting under the head and ruining the rest of the cut.
The Tabs tool places and removes these gaps on a single selected path.
Activate
- Hotkey:
Ctrl+Tab - Toolbar: Creation Toolbar
How to use
- Select a single vector path object (the path that will be cut).
- Activate the Tabs tool.
- Click on the path's edge where you want a tab.
- To remove a tab, click on its marker.
The Tabs tool requires a single selected path. With nothing selected or with multiple selected, clicks do nothing.
Hit detection
The hit threshold for clicking on the path or on a tab marker is the larger of:
- 3 mm in world units, or
- 8 screen pixels.
This makes it easy to click on the edge even at low zoom.
Tab pulse width
The default pulse width (how long the laser pauses) is set per machine profile in the Device Settings Tab Pulse Width (ms) field. Beam Bench uses that value when generating the G-code.
What gets modified
Tab markers are stored on the path object as part of its metadata. They are visible only when the Tabs tool is active. The cut output respects them at job time.