Two Kinds of Contour

The interpreter handles compensation for two types of contour:

• The contour given in the NC code is the edge of material that is not to be machined away. We will call this type a "material edge contour".
• The contour given in the NC code is the tool path that would be followed by a tool of exactly the correct radius. We will call this type a "tool path contour".

The interpreter does not have any setting that determines which type of contour is used, but the description of the contour will differ (for the same part geometry) between the two types and the values for diameters in the tool table will be different for the two types.