Inlay artist wants to jump into cnc

[dcd121]

Sorry , here is the link of interest .

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Fiel...lis/ellis.html

[1bordeaux]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the response. I actually spoke with Tom Ellis a few years ago when CNC was just a pipe dream; perhaps it's time for a follow up!

Dc- I take it you have an opinion on the shopbot.
Care to share it, publicly or privately?
I'd be interested since I know nothing of the specifics on the tooling.

I also acquired a copy of Autocad 2004. Will this be useful, or should I begin my software "enlightening" with a program included with the machine of choice?

[1bordeaux]

Randman- Thanks for the compliment and the advice!

[RandMan]

I also would avoid the shopbot (w/screen door rollers and angle iron for rails) for the kind of precision work you do. You don't need to fight repeatability issues getting interlocking parts to fit into pockets. I go pretty slow (20ipm) when I cut abalam/MOP and acrylics for my simple inlays. Point is you don't need a real zippy machine, just a reasonably precise one. A low-end techno-isel, maybe even with steppers might be a good place to start looking. They have a lot of doco on their site to learn from even if you buy elsewhere.

Autocad will be OK for your cad if you already own it. You'll need to learn to play with SPLINETYPE and related settings to coax it to make lots of different types of curves. If you hadn't bought it I would have recommended Rhino since it has more artistic features. You'll need some kind of cam package to transform the drawing to the g-code to drive your router. You should be able to get by with low-end CAM with what's called 2.5d features for profile cutting, pocketing and engraving lines. Basically that means you get to specify a curve to cut around and a depth. I use Onecnc and they have a low-end package and I also have Visual Mill Basic which is part of Rhinocam. You'll want to check out engraving features for lettering etc. You can get lots of good suggestions from people here on s/w. The s/w is as important as the router. You're a great artist and you don't want to waste a bunch of time fighting with buggy cadcam s/w. Lots of systems combine cad with cam for a reasonable price.

[dcd121]

The above response by RandMan is dead on correct.

[1bordeaux]

As I run from computer to shop,(where I'm hand cutting shell), I'm amazed at the quick response from you guys!
You could teach the tech support guys a lot! No waiting!!!

[ger21]

You can download my macro from here AutoCAD 2 G-Code macro that will write your g-code from within AutoCAD. I like to think that it works pretty well, and it's free. You might want to look at SheetCAM http://www.sheetcam.com , which can do pocketing and a few other things.

[1bordeaux]

Ger21,

thanks! I hope a year from now, I too can contribute in this way!

[1bordeaux]

Hi guys,
I seem to be leaning towards a techno isel machine for doing the inlay work.

Lots of Ka-ching, but it seems to be top notch.

Comments?

They recommend Enroute software for the inlays. Any views on this?

(Or should I run this by the software forum?)

Thanks in advance,
Paul

[ger21]

What software are you going to draw your inlays with? There really is no need to spend that kind of money on software, imo. With expensive commercial software, I wouldn't buy anything without working out a deal to let you try it for say 30 days to see if it will work for you. Software salesman are like used car salesman. Be careful. If you can get your designs into AutoCAD, then SheetCAM would be all you need. And you might not even need that, as I said in my previous post. There is a lot of lowcost software that will do 95% of what the high end stuff will do, for 5% of the price. My recommendation would be to try out the low cost software available, and make sure you have a good understanding of how the whole process will work. Then if you think you need something more powerful, like I said above, try out the high end stuff on a trial basis first.

I understand you're in a hurry, but take your time and do some research, it may save you a ton of money in the long run.

[RandMan]

I don't regret getting a techno router but I realize that I paid more for a turnkey machine and commercial grade support. Their support has been outstanding but I haven't needed much because the machine has been flawless. I also looked at Shopsabre and somebody here posted that they like theirs. Techno has tons of options like a lower speed servo/electronics package that saved about $3k and various spindles. Vaccum is wickedly expensive and requires 3 phase so I use mechanical hold downs and/or tape $5/roll and a roll lasts a long time. A Fein vaccum and a shop-built plenum will hold sheets down for < $500. But if you think you need a vaccum table, do that up front so you don't buy a second table and have the pains of installing and aligning it. I'd be glad to look over a quote or send you a copy of what I bought if that helps. My sales guy is Tim O'connor and he's excellent. See if they can provide you a local reference so you can see a machine and talk to the owner.

How much is Enroute basic or 2d or whatever ? For your engraving lines is a set depth enough or does it need to engrave along a variable depth (Z-direction) line ? Very basic packages may only do a set depth although you could just draw separate lines for different fixed depths. I bought my Visual Mill Basic ($1000) from Techno although they recommended more expensive stuff. You can download a demo package and play with that at mecsoft.com . They had a free version called freemill that did basic 2d stuff but I don't know if they still have that. I switched to OneCNC which I really like but I do a lot of 3d modeling and machining. I don't know how much their basic package is but I think it's reasonably competitive pricewise with visual mill and you'll cad and more with that. I had a bad experience with Bobcad although I know people that use it successfully. Techno makes money on s/w and tend to recommend packages that they know their customers like. As a company they seem more interested in a happy customer than a sale. Ask for suggestions here as there are lots of choices.

[1bordeaux]

I just spoke with Tim yesterday. The software is $2500.00 and is used by another inlay fellow, Bryan England @ Custominlay.com.
The LC model machine they sell is what I looked at. For cutting inlays, they recommend using a high speed air spindle to achieve 65,000rpm.
The machine is $17k, + software, + $800 for spindle and mount HW.

Bring it on fella's!
Imagine explaining the cost differences to your wife!!!!!!!!