Importing from Rhino to Mach

[gabi68]

Hi,

How about Deskproto and Rhino? What do you think about this?

[harryn]

Hi, just reviving a question in an older thread.

I am building up a DIY CNC router which will be run from Mach III. I do not have ANY CAD programs or experience, and am not ready to take this part on right now. I do have experience with T square based drawings on paper.

I am also new to G code and trying to learn, but still - more or less just reading. Wow - sounds pretty lame when I spell it all out.

Anyway, a guy I know would like to take his 3D Rhino (cad ) drawings (true 3D shapes, not 2.5) and have me cut a few parts out. I told him that he should buy a copy of Mach III as well, import the CAD file to Mach III, and send the resulting G code to me to run on my cnc router. I assumed I can provide a copy of my tool configuration information to him, and his exported G code would work on my router.

Now that I am reading a bit more about it, I am thinking that this advice is not sufficient - perhaps wrong. After searching through the topics here and the mach support site, it seems that the steps are really more like:

a) Draw in Rhino CAD
b) Convert from CAD to CAM using Rhino CAM or similar
c) Post processor - no idea what that is ?
d) Have him import into Mach III at his site
e) Email the file to me for running
f) Run on my machine using Mach III

Is this right ?

It seems like perhaps Meshcam is easier ? Can meshcam do both the CAD and CAM conversion ? http://www.grzsoftware.com/

If I am properly following the discussion, Mach III can deal with generating a tool path for 2.5 D objects directly from a DXF files, but not generate a true 3 D tool path from a 3 D CAD file.

The parts are not that complex, but it is possible / likely that the parts will need to be flipped over for cutting from both sides.

It is also likely that at least sometimes, the parts (foam) will need to be cut in sort of slices and assembled to achieve the desired thickness.

I tried searching and reading about this topic, but I am still unsure of exactly how to go from drawing to part.

Thanks for helping direct me.

HarryN

[turmite]

Originally Posted by harryn Hi, just reviving a question in an older thread. I am building up a DIY CNC router which will be run from Mach III. I do not have ANY CAD programs or experience, and am not ready to take this part on right now. I do have experience with T square based drawings on paper. I am also new to G code and trying to learn, but still - more or less just reading. Wow - sounds pretty lame when I spell it all out. Anyway, a guy I know would like to take his 3D Rhino (cad ) drawings (true 3D shapes, not 2.5) and have me cut a few parts out. I told him that he should buy a copy of Mach III as well, import the CAD file to Mach III, and send the resulting G code to me to run on my cnc router. I assumed I can provide a copy of my tool configuration information to him, and his exported G code would work on my router. Now that I am reading a bit more about it, I am thinking that this advice is not sufficient - perhaps wrong. After searching through the topics here and the mach support site, it seems that the steps are really more like: a) Draw in Rhino CAD b) Convert from CAD to CAM using Rhino CAM or similar Yes and that similar would be Madcam! I am the US reseller for Madcam so you know what I'm going to suggest! c) Post processor - no idea what that is ?Built into Madcam and probably most other cam packages d) Have him import into Mach III at his site No need if you are going to run the part e) Email the file to me for running email the gcode created by the cam package f) Run on my machine using Mach III Bingo! Is this right ? yes It seems like perhaps Meshcam is easier ? Can meshcam do both the CAD and CAM conversion ? http://www.grzsoftware.com/ meshcam doesn't do the model If I am properly following the discussion, Mach III can deal with generating a tool path for 2.5 D objects directly from a DXF files, but not generate a true 3 D tool path from a 3 D CAD file. Mach3 only uses gcode that you supply and uses those gcodes to actually move the machine by putting signals to the motor drivers ......another discussion The parts are not that complex, but it is possible / likely that the parts will need to be flipped over for cutting from both sides. It is also likely that at least sometimes, the parts (foam) will need to be cut in sort of slices and assembled to achieve the desired thickness. I tried searching and reading about this topic, but I am still unsure of exactly how to go from drawing to part. Thanks for helping direct me. HarryN

Harry can you supply one of the parts? If so I or someone else can do you a gcode from it so you can see the process.

Mike

[ger21]

A) create the 3D model in Rhino, and export into a format that the CAM program can accept.

B)The CAM program will create the g-code from the model.

C) the post processor is part of the CAM program. It's purpose is to tailor the g-code to a particular controller

D) Load the file into mach3 and start cutting.

[harryn]

Hi

Thank you Turmite and Ger21 for the info.

Turmite
- It is fine to recommend what you sell/ belive in
- If I correctly understand it, Madcan is intended for use by a Rhino CAD user and becomes more of less an integrated part of the Rhino user experience ?
- That makes it ideal for a Rhino user, but if you do not own Rhino, perhaps not as useful ?
- I will look at the demo versions of Rhino and Madcam, but right now, I don't own ANY CAD or CAM software.

I appreciate your offer to transfer one of the part drawings from 3 D CAD to G code. At this point, I cannot take you up on that as I don't have the part drawing, but it is more or less similar to a large RC airplane wing in shape. It is too thick to cut from one piece, and requires flipping of both parts for machining, then assembly of the partially overlapping "slabs" to make it all work.

That is what makes it very useful to if the software can help deal with parts which must be machined in 3 D from both sides, and assembled from these 3 D shaped "slices" parts.

At least I now have a better understanding of the flow. It looks like I am going to have to own some kind of CAM software no matter what.

[turmite]

Harry here is a shot of a project I did in slices and then glued them together. It sounds like something like you might be doing.

Mike

[harryn]

Thanks - that is a good indicator of what I need.

[ger21]

Both MeshCAM and Cut3D can do slicing of your model. They can also do both sides of your model. However, I'm not sure if either one can do both slicing, and both sides combined. Although it is possible to do your own slicing in your CAD program and then export the separate pieces for 2 sided machining.

www.meshcam.com
www.vectric.com

[tjk888]

I am just wondering how to router both sides of a 3d object? How do I "flip" over the material and line it up exacting where I want?

-thanks for the help