Hello All
Sorry I don't post very often,but you usually have the answers posted somewhere. My question:can cambam generate the gcode to mill the top face in the attached image. I have a diy 3 axis router controled by mach3. Would this surface be considered 2 1/2D or 3D.Any sugestions about free or opensource software,best cutting operation.I learn best by doing, so if anyone
knows of a tutorial that demonstrates the machining of this type of surface,it
will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Hello Alonzo,

I am sorry for taking so long to reply to this one.

There are a couple of ways you could do this. One way might involve using a number of different SideProfiles with different radii.
I posted an example of this on the CamBam forum recently:
http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=707.msg3875#msg3875

However, I think my preferred approach would be to use a 3D machining operation.

In the following example, I did the following:

. Drew a rough 2D profile of a similar shape you are after.
. Selected the shape then used the Draw - Surface - Extrude menu option with an extrude distance of -150 (or however long you want the shape)
. Used the transformation property of the resulting surface to rotate it around the X axis 90 degrees and translate it so that it's highest point was just below Z=0
. Inserted a 3DProfile operation and set it do a vertical scanline method.
I reduced the clipping volume in the Y direction slightly, so that the 3D profile did not try to machine over the ends of the profile.
I set depth increment to 1 to rough out the stock.

You could do this with a couple of 3D profiles, with one that has a DepthIncrement defined for roughing, then another on with a fine stepover for a finishing pass.