The all in one, 'how do I' and 'look at this!' thread...

[CarveOne]

Thank you. I'll play around with it this weekend if I dont have to work.

In the v2.0 file I drew in the closed vector for cutting the bevels with a 90 degree V-bit, but you will have to decide whether you want to use it or not. There are many other ways to make the bevel. 45 degrees isn't a critical angle. When installing the hinges it will be helpful to make a scrap plywood V trough to lay the stand halves into. Lay the hinges in place, mark and drill 1/16" shallow pilot poles and insert a screw in diagonal corners one at a time.

I didn't think of it last evening because the one I modeled this file after doesn't have them, but we could add rectangles where the hinges mount and create a tool path for 0.020" deep hinge pockets using a 1/8" end mill or router bit. It will help hold the hinge straight while installing the screws.

Oh yeah, these need some decorations on them while you're at it. Celtic knots of course.

[LouF]

Here you go Colten. I couldn't locate the original files so I made a new one this evening. It's a medium size stand, so you may need to scale it up for the book and use 1" high hinges.

I never did cut any of these. Toolpaths can be set up for whatever size end mill or carbide router bit you want to use. I would use a 1/4" solid carbide down spiral. Round the outer edges of the plywood and bevel the hinge edges to about 45 degrees.

You can draw straight vectors or a rectangle along the hinge edges of the plywood and use them to profile the bevels with a 90 degree V-bit before doing the final shape profile. I plan to do that, but will wait until I am ready to cut a couple of them. The edge view at the bottom of the drawing shows how the shapes are made and how the hinge is installed.

The .crv and .dxf files are attached in a .zip file.

Update: Replaced the original file with v2.0 which has better hinge details.

Thanks for the file C1..

Lou

[r00t4rd3d]

cd can you post the files you have for the book ?

[CarveOne]

Someone on the Vectric Forums posted a Purpleheart Medal DXF file that someone else was looking for. I downloaded it for use as more training with 3D modeling in Aspire. Making the rounded shapes was easy. The file was drawn for Vcarve toolpaths. I finally figured out that I would have to split up the vectors so that the ribbon vectors are separated from the heart vectors. This was required in order to "flip" the carvings so they were not inverted. Some of this 3D stuff can get very complicated for the three fully functioning brain cells I still have. I call this fun, but sometimes I'm not so sure about that.

It still needs some tweaking but it's now mostly a matter of tuning the depths of cut to make it look a little better. I'll cut this into scrap red oak tomorrow to see how it looks carved into a 5" x 7" block.

[CarveOne]

I cut the Purple Heart medal today. The vectors around the heart model and the shield area barely left any grooves. I have made the DOC corrections and will cut it sometime tomorrow afternoon when I get the chance. This simulation looks like it will do the job.

[cd_edwards]

Right now I'm design computer less. My motherboard on that computer gave up. It's only 3 months old. I'm hoping to get warranty on it. I'm very unimpressed right now with ASUS. Anyways, thursday is payday and I hope to get another board then.. of course all my design files are on that particular computer and I don't want to move that HD to another to get them.. This will teach me to have a backup.

[LouF]

My PC is running slow again after reformat and I keep getting Error messages I was thinking about getting something newer..


Lou

[CarveOne]

Right now I'm design computer less. My motherboard on that computer gave up. It's only 3 months old. I'm hoping to get warranty on it. I'm very unimpressed right now with ASUS. Anyways, thursday is payday and I hope to get another board then.. of course all my design files are on that particular computer and I don't want to move that HD to another to get them.. This will teach me to have a backup.

Walmart has Toshiba 500Gb ($59) and 750Gb ($89) USB external hard disk drives that can back up individual files and folders or do a full system backup. The 1TB version is $119. These are fairly quick to backup a computer. I have one of the 500 and 750 versions that I use. I use USB memory sticks for transport from the house to the shop because the wireless N LAN doesn't have a reliable enough signal out there.

[cdrd03]

Thats a great idea C1. I have a western digital 500gb that I back all my cnc stuff on up on.


Lou when you up grade your system make sure your software is compatible with the new os. I don't know how different Windows 8 is.
Chuck

[cd_edwards]

Yeah I've got a 1tb drive. Just need to remember to use it. I tried wireless out to my shop but it didn't work very well. So I sucked it up and used the cat5e cable that I had run from the house to the garage when I put in the power but had never gotten around to using

[CarveOne]

Thats a great idea C1. I have a western digital 500gb that I back all my cnc stuff on up on.


Lou when you up grade your system make sure your software is compatible with the new os. I don't know how different Windows 8 is.
Chuck

The one person I know that has installed Win 8 said yesterday that he does not like the new interface and uninstalled it after a week of trying to figure it out. He is a long time computer repair person who generally has little trouble figuring out the new releases of Windows.

I purchased two OEM copies when TigerDirect had them on sale for $20 off each copy right after it was released. They have not been installed on anything yet. If it cannot be switched to the older style interface (like previous versions allowed) they may not ever get installed by me. I will have to get more opinions about the new interface before I bother with installing them to see what it won't run. I quit long ago attempting to be the bleeding edge techie and the first on my street to have the latest M$ operating system at home.

I have read that the Vectric software runs ok on Win 8. That isn't all that needs to run ok on it though.

[LouF]

Thats a great idea C1. I have a western digital 500gb that I back all my cnc stuff on up on.


Lou when you up grade your system make sure your software is compatible with the new os. I don't know how different Windows 8 is.
Chuck

Chuck thanks, I run XP Proffersional on my shop PC I have contacted Dell and HP and tried to order a XP machine they don't sell them any more will Mach3 and Vetric software run on Vista or windows 7 or 8?
I wonder if I buy a new hard drive and install it and use XP I don't know much about that I have been using a memory stick like C1 said to get since my last PC nightmare..


Lou

[ger21]

They have not been installed on anything yet. If it cannot be switched to the older style interface (like previous versions allowed) they may not ever get installed by me

It's $5, but this is supposed to be the best option for a Windows 8 Start menu

Start8 for Windows® 8 - Bringing back the Windows Start menu

There are other options from other developers.

Haven't tried any, as I'm still using XP.

[cd_edwards]

I run Mach3 under Win7 pro. I also run Aspire on Win7. So yes it will work fine.. just remember to turn alot of stuff off.

[CarveOne]

Thanks Gerry. I use XP Pro on the CNC machine computers and Win 7 Home edition in the house for project development. One other computer runs Win 7 Pro 64 bit.

I bookmarked the site for when I add Win 8 to something.

[ger21]

I use Windows 7 Pro x64 at work, and I like it a lot. I'll be finally upgrading later this year when the next gen Intel processors come out. So I have a few months to decide whether to go with 7 or 8.

[LouF]

So windows 7 will work I have looked at a few there mainly 64 bit and have no Parallel port how do you get around this?


Lou

[ger21]

You need to use a 32 bit version of Windows 7 if you want to use the parallel port.
Otherwise, you need to use an external motion device like the Smoothstepper.

[LouF]

Thank you Gerry.


Lou

[CarveOne]

You need to use a 32 bit version of Windows 7 if you want to use the parallel port.
Otherwise, you need to use an external motion device like the Smoothstepper.

Will a parallel port plug-in card not work with the 64 bit OS? The card slots should still be 32bit interfaces.