I'm a newbie - Hi!

[saturnnights]

I've just joined this forum - holy cow! It's HUGE!

So anyway, I've been a home woodworker sort since birth (my dad always had a shop and I'd made many piles of sawdust in my life). The metalworking is new however...

I bought a Harbor Freight mini-mill a while ago and then an 8x12 lathe. That was the beginning of a new odyssey/obsession. My wife is an artistic sort of person and I've got this bug up my hiney to try to make tools for her. My latest ideas are what brought me here

She is looking for molds to make "pressed" objects, like in clay and whatnot. These molds (don't really know what to call them) are more like raised-plate printing dies (don't know what to call them either) and she wants to press patterns from them. Sounds easy, right? Hmmm...

So I went and bought myself a Taig CNC mill and PC. That was the easy part... Heh, heh...
The hard part, of course, is creating the gcode. I've been working with lots of demo software to generate 2D, 2 1/2D and 3D objects and I'm learning a lot. I still don't know which one/two/three to buy, but I'm getting there.

I guess that my question (where I've been heading with this post) deals with the CAD/CAM more than anything - I need to take an idea that's in my brain and put it quickly/cleanly onto a piece of acrylic or whatever, via my Taig. Okay, for those of you who are scratching your heads over this post, try to imagine something simple like a small block of acrylic, 1" by 1". Cut onto this, imagine something simple like a heart - not solid, but an outline (I suppose, a relief?) of the heart. All that remains after the machining process is the raised outline of the heart. The outside and inside are milled away.

This may sound easy to you guys and gals, but I'm starting to think that I should sell my Taig on Ebay...
Not really...

Anyway, I'm looking for software that I could take a simple .jpg or .bmp pic and import it and turn it into one of these "raised" sort of molds/dies/whatever. Then CAM it to gcode.

From what I've found so far, the toolpaths I get are either along the x or y axes and not necessarily a nice, short cut along the outside of the object, with some final cleanup. Going back and forth gives "ridges". I know that I'm not doing this right, but I'm hoping to find software that will make it a bit easier.

If you're still with me in this post ( ), what sort of pointers can you give? Imagine that heart example. Or anything - take a simple pic and turn it into a raised line art sort of gcode. How can I accomplish this?

Thanks!!!!

Mark

[ger21]

Originally Posted by saturnnights Anyway, I'm looking for software that I could take a simple .jpg or .bmp pic and import it and turn it into one of these "raised" sort of molds/dies/whatever. Then CAM it to gcode. From what I've found so far, the toolpaths I get are either along the x or y axes and not necessarily a nice, short cut along the outside of the object, with some final cleanup. Going back and forth gives "ridges".

If you want to start with an image, then what you're doing is the way to do it. To get rid of the ridges, use a smaller stepover, and the largest diameter tool that will give the detail you need.

A much better way to go about this, IMO, is to draw the shape in a simple 2D CAD program, with the inside and outside profiles. Then, use something like SheetCAM, with can pocket out the inside and outside, with a cleanup pass around the profile. Most likely this will also cut in a fraction of the time. But you'll have to draw the parts in CAD, not use images. A lot of people will load the image into the CAD program and basically trace it.

Hope this helps. There's a pocketing screenshot of SheetCAM on there website, http://www.sheetcam.com/mill_moreinfo.htm

[ger21]

Here's a quick sample of whatyou're toolpaths should look like (very rough, and a few lines are missing). This is a screen shot from Mach3.

[saturnnights]

Originally Posted by ger21 Here's a quick sample of whatyou're toolpaths should look like (very rough, and a few lines are missing). This is a screen shot from Mach3.

Hi!

Thanks for the two responses!

So, it looks like the toolpath is back and forth? In your last post, you mentioned a cleanup pass - is the cleanup pass along the edge (the actual shape) or does it just do the back and forth but with one last, very close cut?

I have sheetcam 2.0.3 (the demo) running and I'm still trying to figure it out

I also have Mach3's demo running and am still working on that - I printed out the 168 page manual and have been reading it. I'll likely use that with whatever CAD/CAM I buy/use.


Mark

[ger21]

Actually, I didn't use SheetCAM, I just drew some quick lines to show the pocketing. By Cleanup I meant to cut around the profile with 1 continuous path, while the pocketing is just parallel passes stopping just short of the profile.

I just looked closer at the SheetCAM link I posted, and SheetCAM does it a little different than I showed. That SheetCAM pic is pretty self explanatory of how they do it, I think.

Do the SheetCAM tutorials, if you want to figure out how to use it a bit quicker. Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy.

[saturnnights]

Originally Posted by ger21 Actually, I didn't use SheetCAM, I just drew some quick lines to show the pocketing. By Cleanup I meant to cut around the profile with 1 continuous path, while the pocketing is just parallel passes stopping just short of the profile. I just looked closer at the SheetCAM link I posted, and SheetCAM does it a little different than I showed. That SheetCAM pic is pretty self explanatory of how they do it, I think. Do the SheetCAM tutorials, if you want to figure out how to use it a bit quicker. Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy.

I was just thinking and had another question - your example of the heart - you said that you just drew the toolpath lines, but where'd you get the heart? Did you draw that too???? Or did you import it from another file?

Thanks,
Mark

[ger21]

Originally Posted by saturnnights but where'd you get the heart? Did you draw that too????

I just drew it real quick in AutoCAD.