Need Help!- toolpath from stl file in BC 23?

[Tristar500]

had to edit...

[Tristar500]

Can anybody tell me how to get a toolpath for a 3 axis mill? I've got BobCad 23.

I'm atatching a sample file. (please change the name of the file from .doc to .stl) Sorry, CNC zone won't let you upload a .stl

Thanks

[Allen123]

Is that a joke?

[The One]

Tristar,

Your part is 150 x150 radius. This is because BobCAD read it in as the current unit, my system had 150" radius. Is the size you wanted? If so then you can use any toolpath you want on it.

Not sure how you would actually cut this one, but you can generate a toolpath.

Regards

[BurrMan]

Originally Posted by Allen123 Is that a joke?

Well thats what I was thinking. I couldnt help but picture the circus with the clown that used to ride a motorcycle around in a sphere screaming YAHOO!

Tristar, I was looking at some of your previous posts and trying to figure out if you were needing help. If you need help with learning BobCad, Post back here. Your question was "How to generate a toolpath with BobCad?"

You've been around metal working for quite a few. Are you a new user of BobCad?

[Tristar500]

Originally Posted by BurrMan Well thats what I was thinking. I couldnt help but picture the circus with the clown that used to ride a motorcycle around in a sphere screaming YAHOO! Tristar, I was looking at some of your previous posts and trying to figure out if you were needing help. If you need help with learning BobCad, Post back here. Your question was "How to generate a toolpath with BobCad?" You've been around metal working for quite a few. Are you a new user of BobCad?

I'm proficient in bobcad and have built a few cnc machines over the past few years. mill, router, laser...

I've been looking at the DAVID laser scanning a bit and it is somewhat limited in what format it will output to. It will do stl. That sample file I sent was probably a bad example, I have a three axis mill and may upgrade to a 5 axis machine but even those machines would have trouble with that crazy knot file I uploaded.

I just wanted to know what the basic steps are to get a toolpath off of a simple stl file in Bobcad. I have version 21 and 23.

Thanks!

[BurrMan]

Your biggest drawback of being limited to an STL data file is the geometry will be represented as a whole. No selection of different faces or parts of model to perform operations.

THe steps to create a toolpath are:

Import model. Choose desired toolpath from the 3d cam menu (Right click milling stock and choose Mill 3 Axis) and choose a toolpath like "Slice Planar".

There will be a Slice planar feature added to the cam tree. Click it's plus sign and view contents. Right click on Geometry and choose Re/Select. Click your model to highlight it and right click the workspase and choose OK. You can create some geometry to use as a "Boundry" which will contain the toolpath. If you need a boundry, perform the same as above with the boundry part of the feature. Right click the feature edititor and choose "Edit" and set your parameters. Right click the feature edit again and "Compute toolpath". WHen you get what you like, post the gcode by making sure the post selected is for the machine you will use and right click Cam Part-Milling Tools and choose post. THe post manager will be populated with the code. You can right click in that window to save the code or edit which will open the code in the predator editor.

Post back if you need a more clear description.