Can MadCAM cut around a part profile to cut it out? If so how do I accomplish this.

Magtd I won't be able to help much till Monday but here is the quick version. If you look to the left of the 3d toolpath icon you will see a 2d icon. You can used the 2d to cut parts out. The 3d is more for shaping surfaces and cavities for molds, or in my case, gunstocks.

Mike

I can get the 3d cutting to work fine, I just can't figure out how the 2d profiling works.

For one thing I can't select any edges from my part or any holes for drilling, only the work piece box lines (the green lines created by MadCAM). Is this because I imported it (stl file) into Rhino rather then creating it from scratch?

Is there any tutorial on the 2.5D Toolpath I can look at or can you give me a quick rundown on how it works? I just want to be able to bore some holes and cut my part out.

Thanks

Can you save a screen shot of the part you want to use 2d on and put it up here? It sounds like to me that you are trying to get 2d toolpaths from a 3d model? Am I correct in this? If so, remember the 2d only works on lines and arcs so the work box created around the 3d part would give you those type entities.

Do this. Create a simple box with a circle inside it with Rhino. Open up Madcam and.............well I just tried it and it doesn't work like I thought. It gives a splash screen saying you must select solids or surfaces first. I thought the 2d had lines and curves only in it but I guess I was wrong.

I was in contact with Joakim this last Friday and he is out of the office till this coming Thursday.

So, knowing that, give me a pic of the part if it is something you can share. I can tell you now, that you will have to extract some lines and curves from the stl for it to work. I have used the 2d but it was always inside a 3d model so the solid or surface thing had already been taken care.

Mike

Here is the test part I was trying to cut (its an imported stl file):
http://www.geocities.com/maglight2000us/test_part.jpg

I would like the four holes to be drilled, while the inner holes pocketed because I don't have a drill that size. And then the entire part cut out.

MagTDK,

You will need to extract a wire of the areas you want cut, i.e., the outside and the pockets. Those curves will need to be at the lowest point of the cut you want to do.

I think this command will do it for you. ExtractMeshEdges

Then Rhino will prompt you for the mesh and you pick the mesh edges you want to extract as curves. I have not tried this command so it may not be the one you want, and if not, just type in ex and wait for Rhino to pop up your choices. There will be several there to choose from.

Mike

MagTDK,

If creating 3D toolpaths, you can use a mesh model from stl or a nurbs model. For 2D work, you need curves and the curves can be of any type like lines, polylines, arcs and nurbs curves. If the model is a nurbs model, you can use the edge curves directley from the model. When importing a stl-file, you need to create the curves before using the 2,5D functions.

If you need help, please e-mail the model to info@madcamcnc.com and we will create some sample toolpaths for you.

Joakim

MagTDK,
Here are some 2D toolpaths created from the edge curves.

Joakim

Thanks for the file JOM, that helps.