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 closed cut path. The production planner turns that portion into laser-off travel so material remains connected while the rest of the contour is 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 closed vector-compatible object (the contour 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 width and the machine-profile field

The planner uses the cut entry's stored tab_width_mm value to split a closed contour into cut segments and laser-off travel gaps. The current desktop UI does not expose a supported editor for that width.

The Device Settings Tab Pulse Width (ms) value is stored for compatibility but is not consumed by the current production planner or G-code generator. It does not change the gap width or add a dwell.

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.

Device Settings dialog: stored compatibility field for Tab Pulse Width
Using tabs / bridges for clean cuts guide
Cuts / Layers panel