Trouble creating toolpaths for Crown

[robinsoncr]

Hi Turmite &/or Joakim,

I'm trying to machine this crown with dentil that I created. I can create a roughing operation but not acceptable finishing operations. I have .125" endmil, .125 ballmill, .25 endmill, .25 ballmill, .375 endmill, .375 ballmill. I attached the drawing in a shortlength to save size. It should be 120" long.

When I try to create a finishing toolpath, any of them, any tool, it freezes. I've let the pc run 2 hours with no result. Just hangs up. I'm running it on a P4, 2.4ghz dualcore, 2gb ram, nVidia 7600GS with 512mb vid ram. I have loaded and machined more complex parts in the past.

I have also tried removing the pockets between the squares that make up the dentil, just machining the overall profile. Same issue.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Chris

[under-dog]

What CAM converter asre you using.

I use Solid Works.

I am not sure if this is an issue because I have only dabbled with Rhino:

I opened the file in a demo I have. I noticed that you had multiple bodies(parts or whatever Rhino adresses them as). in that single part file. I was able to move parts all over the place. Nothing was mated with anything else or merged together.
Could this be creating the issue?


Depending on how Rhino creates STL files and or tool path files it could be finding an issue with the fact that they are not merged together. It may be having issues figuring out how to machine the faces that are internal and adjacent to other parts. Or if there are gaps between them.

I would try merging them together and take another whack at it.

In SW when you genertae an STL file it will merge seperate and touching bodies into a single cohesive STL geometry. However the proper manner is to merge all the bodies in a part into on body.

[under-dog]

not to mention there was what looked to be a surface body in there(left hand face of the part---side profile). This may cause issued as well. I know that in Solid Works only solid bodies are eligable for STL.

[under-dog]

surfaces under each of the squares as well

[robinsoncr]

Under-dog,

Before I cut the model down, I had ungrouped the parts. I'll try eliminating the surfaces and then group the final parts into a model.

I'm using Rhino V4 + Madcam4.

Thanks,
Chris

[turmite]

Hi Chris,

Joakim doesn't have access to high speed internet or maybe even at all right now so I'm it. I have a summer cold and my head feels like it has a basketball on the inside.

I will take a look and see what I can find.

Mike

[turmite]

Chris I just ran a finish tool path with a .250 flat cutter and did a remachine with .1 flat cutter both using planer surfacing. It spit the code out in just a couple of seconds.
I'll send you a pm with my ph 3 and you can call if you would like.

Mike

[robinsoncr]

Turmite,

When I select a 120" section of molding to load into madcam, I get "ERROR! POLYGON ALLOCATION", apparently for each polygon!

I can machine a 2" sample. Not a full length of molding. Interesting, I can load into RhinoCam Pro demo and machine it without error.

Chris

[robinsoncr]

I removed the dentil all together so that I could either machine it seperately or purchase it and apply it to the molding.

I then, created the roughing toolpath without issue. Tried to create a planar toolpath with a .25 ballmill. Running 3 hours later and the pc is showing cpu useage as 50% and nothing is happening...that I can tell.

Chris

[dcd121]

I loaded your file as is and madcam would not recognize it. I then imported it into a blank .3dm file set up for inches. madcam recognized it and toolpathing did not freeze and worked as expected.
Dave

[turmite]

Chris I agree with Dave on this one. I think the problem is more the model than Madcam. Now why it won't recognize it I don't know, though it did on my system, and I don't have that great a system.

I am curious if this is an real time project you are working on, or is it for practice. If for real, there are much faster ways to produce modling than on the cnc. I know you know that, but I am curious what your thinking is?

Mike

[robinsoncr]

Turmite,

This is a realtime project for furniture. You can create straight pieces of molding easier using a molder but if you need anything other than straight, your limited.

Right now, I'm trying to learn how to create a better model of the crown.

The furniture pieces that we are started to produce have alot of carvings and modeled molding, so this is going to become more critical for us over the next several months.

Chris