trouble with milling along curves

[hammerfinger]

Hi together,
this is my firs post.
I am working currently with VisualMill and I have downloaded Madcam vor evaluation. 3d Milling works fine so far, but also I have to do some engraving work which I propose to do with Madcam.
First, I cannot select lines, I am told to select bodies or surfaces. Lines will not be selected. Anyhow, during some tries I could get Madcam to calculate, Dont ask me, I did it somehow and I dont remember how, but than the simulator went out of space, there were toolpaths I could not zoom in. Then, checking the results, the toolpaths were not adjacent to the letters. For example, the letter "n" looked almost like an "r".
I uploaded the file, if somebody likes to look, the link is http://www.wmummert.de/rhino/Gravurschriften.3dm
thanks and have a nice one

[Jason3]

Hi there,

Which command are you using? It doesn't look as though there's a surface for madcam to use to calculate the cutter path. I haven't had a lot of experience using MadCAM to engrave, but when I did, I created a surface then used project curves to create the toolpath.

Someone with more experience may be able to offer better advice on this

Best regards,

Jason

[hammerfinger]

Hey thanks,
I did not create a surface over the area, that was the problem. But still the letters are not followed. I purchased me a special set of single line engraving letters. I guesss the fonts are the problem.... I still dont understand. You see the letters but the toolpath doesnt follow like it should do.
Hope you see it on the attached pictures.

[Dan B]

It's been my experience that single line engraving fonts are not really what they claim to be. Often there are duplications of lines and curves to simulate a single line (if that makes any sense). Add this macro to a button or alias, and use it to clean your text before using Madcam:

! Ungroup pause SelLast
NoEcho
SetRedrawOff
SetObjectName "scribetext"
Explode
SelNone
SelDup
Delete
SelName "scribetext"
Join
Group
SetObjectName ""
SetRedrawOn
Echo
SelNone

Also, as pointed out, create a "dummy surface" even if you don't really need it. This isn't a short-coming with Madcam, I have to do this with WorkNC too, which is pretty high-end software.

Good luck,

Dan

[Dan B]

I should clarify one thing. I said that this is how I have to do it in WorkNC too, but it would have been more accurate to say that this is how I choose to do it in WorkNC. It's not a necessity, as you can activate curves alone. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

Dan

[scottsss]

What does the dummy surface get you????

[Dan B]

Creating the surface is necessary in Madcam to initiate the plug-in. Actually, it doesn't have to be a surface. It could be a polysurface or a mesh too.

Dan

[hammerfinger]

well may be I did something wrong with the macro but it did not help me too much. I have contacted the seller of my fonts and he promised me to check it out. So far I have not received a response......
But something else. In between I purchased the software :-))
If want to I engrave I found out that the machine does not mill in the material. The toolpaths are exactly on the surface of the letters. If I move the text for example .5 mm below Z than it works. In the engraving menu I can enter whatever numbers I want, the machine does not go deeper than where the text is located. Is this the way it should be od do I something wrong? Normally you select the text and tell the machine how deep it should go. This is not the case.
2.5d pocketing works on a 2d drawing, but not the engraving.

An other question, whre do I find out which version of Madcam I own.

Also, how is the machinig time calculated. The post processor tells me the part needs 2 minutes but the machine takes really about 2 hours. I assume it has something with the feedspeed in the tools- menu to do, but if I reduce the cutting speed, my machine goes too slow ant nedds even more time. So somewhere I have to change the ratio of the feedspeed, I guess, I am not an expert.

For future developments, it would be helpful to edit the toolpaths. If I did something wrong, like selected the wrong tool, I have to delete the layer and make all the selections and calculations from beginning on.

But least I am happy with the software. On 3d objects everything works fine, the toolpath stratey is very smart and the machine dos not perform many empty movements like on the software I had before. This is a success.

Have a nice one

Hammerfinger

[scottsss]

I raised that same issue about editing tool paths once they are done rather then delete and redo. Think his answer is in my post think it was last week when I was asking for some help, that they are working on. So I am unsure if it will come out when 4.2 is out of beta or if we will have to wait.

[turmite]

Originally Posted by hammerfinger well may be I did something wrong with the macro but it did not help me too much. I have contacted the seller of my fonts and he promised me to check it out. So far I have not received a response...... But something else. In between I purchased the software :-)) If want to I engrave I found out that the machine does not mill in the material. The toolpaths are exactly on the surface of the letters. If I move the text for example .5 mm below Z than it works. In the engraving menu I can enter whatever numbers I want, the machine does not go deeper than where the text is located. Is this the way it should be od do I something wrong? Normally you select the text and tell the machine how deep it should go. This is not the case. 2.5d pocketing works on a 2d drawing, but not the engraving. An other question, whre do I find out which version of Madcam I own. Also, how is the machinig time calculated. The post processor tells me the part needs 2 minutes but the machine takes really about 2 hours. I assume it has something with the feedspeed in the tools- menu to do, but if I reduce the cutting speed, my machine goes too slow ant nedds even more time. So somewhere I have to change the ratio of the feedspeed, I guess, I am not an expert. For future developments, it would be helpful to edit the toolpaths. If I did something wrong, like selected the wrong tool, I have to delete the layer and make all the selections and calculations from beginning on. But least I am happy with the software. On 3d objects everything works fine, the toolpath stratey is very smart and the machine dos not perform many empty movements like on the software I had before. This is a success. Have a nice one Hammerfinger

Hello Hammerfinger,

From that handle I assume you are/were a carpenter that used hammers!

I think I can help you with your problem. First, yes, the text needs to be at the depth you intend to cut, if you only need to engrave.

Attached is a zipped 3dm file that includes a portion of an engraving job I just finished with. The first part is set at the top of the surface, the middle is set to 0.040" below the surface and the last one is set to the top of the surface, but using 2d profiling with the "cut on curve" function selected, absolute position chosen and the top of the surface is -.250" with bottom of surface set to -.350", and then a .040" cut per pass. This gave me a much deeper cut using another strategy instead of cut along curve. I could have duplicated the cut along curve -.040" cut in this 2d sequence but chose to show you one more option Madcam offers.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, let me know.

Mike

[turmite]

Hammer I forgot to mention that you can take the model I sent you, open with Rhino, select the surface, then madcam and you can then do a simulation without having to anything else. After you have done this, go back to the model and select the first madcam toolpath group and lower it by .04". Now, do another simulation and you will see the path is now in the surface.

Toolpath editing is coming, but there is a major toolpath strategy Joakim is working on that has to be done first.

Mike