> I have a CNC milling machine and am interested in attempting to machine a model made in MoI.

> Ed - If you have a model created in MoI, post it to the forum so we can pass on comments, methods?

I have a small, homemade 4-axis CNC milling machine made from surplus precision ball-screw linear slides with stepper motors. The work envelope is about 6" long, 4" wide, and 3" high. So you can see I'm working with small objects and small tooling. Accuracy is good and repeatability is good. So far all my work has been 2D and hand-coded in G-Code.

As I gain experience with MoI I would like to attempt to mill a 3D design sometime. I'm hoping someone who has done this can recommend software on a hobbyist budget.

Ed

Seattle, Washington

Hi Ed,

>>I have a small, homemade 4-axis CNC milling machine made from surplus precision ball-screw linear slides with stepper motors.

I am very impressed.

CAM software can be expensive, there was at one time software available freely, such as "CNCsimulator" but find all links to that now dead.

I will e-mail around to see what is still available.

I would have no problem, if you like, to create path info for you freely, just a need for me to know your available tooling.

- manz

Hi Steve / Ed,

Worth a look :-

>>http://www.freebyte.com/cad/cadcam.htm

BTW: What system do you have Steve and does it support 4 axis ?

Rgds,

Hi Paul,

>>What system do you have Steve and does it support 4 axis ?

I dont have any machines. I am a contractor, and either provide needed path data or go in-house and produce either directly or by data from their own CAM, or via the programs I have.

It is the way I have worked for over 25 years, and works well for both parties.

The link you provide, yes, it does give some possibilities and certainly worth a look by Ed.


- manz

hi all ive been away and seen the post i do cnc machining and the easiest program for cad that ive found is vetric just draw and save as obj 3ds stl and load and cut very easy on some of my other post i have som examples fairley cheep to couple hundred bucks

Hi Steve,

>>I dont have any machines. I am a contractor, and either provide needed path data or go in-house and >>produce either directly or by data from their own CAM, or via the programs I have.

>>It is the way I have worked for over 25 years, and works well for both parties

OK I get the picture.....what I meant was does your CAM system support 4axis because I believe Ed may well be looking for that facility as an example?

Just curious what CAM systems are you familiar with ? Myself, I have used Depocam & EdgeCAM, EdgeCAM being what we use today to program our mould tools.

Cheers,

To Ed,

Maybe this link is interesting:
http://www.majosoft.com/engraving/html/free_cad_cam_software.html

This a dutch (inglish spoken) site about homemade cnc

To karter, message accepted

Hi Paul,

>>>what I meant was does your CAM system support 4axis because I believe Ed may well be looking for that facility as an example?

I have been digging through my software, up to now I have found Edgecam (version 5) and Mastercam (version 9.1), I have used both in the past.
I will have to take a little time to refresh with these applications, it has been a while, but I do remember Mastercam having up to 5 axis toolpaths, but it was limited. As I say, I will have to re-look.


Ed, what is the 4th axis on your machine?




- manz

My 4th axis is a rotary table ( A axis ).

Of course software that doesn't support a rotary axis can usually still be used if you make your design fit exactly around the circumference of the part.

I've made an Excel macro that divides the length of the design into 360 degrees and converts the G-Code into equivalent A axis moves.

Ed

Hi Ed,

Is the head fixed, or can it be manually rotated?

Have you managed to find any software that interests you ?


- manz

Hi Steve,

Okay...I know what that feels like. I have the same problem with EdgeCAM and Rhino trying to remember
where it all is, thats the beauty of MoI it's simple interface draws me in !!.

--

Ed,

When you say rotary table I assume you mean 90deg opposed to the spindle axis, that is the normal 4th axis and used for machining items 360deg like an engraved cylinder for example ?

Im sure both myself & Steve would be happy to look at machining a model of yours but I would only be able to machine 3axis im afraid or 5axis positional, the 4 axis was not purchased when we bought EdgeCAM :-(

Please post a model you want to cut and a picture of your machine.

Rgds,

Hi Paul,

>>>I know what that feels like. I have the same problem with EdgeCAM and Rhino trying to remember where it all is

I have just looked at Mastercam for about 20 minutes. I do remember the main functions etc. I also remember the main problem I had was getting my head into the part modeling, as it is more a case of just building the surfaces with boundaries and/or contours rather than creating a 3d model. But as I build externally, then not a real problem.

@Ed,
Can all axis be used while machining? I know on some similar setups it was not always possible.


I will put together a quick model to play with:


- manz

A quick simple model:-



It could have an hole in center for clamping, or possibly held on excess in chuck? does not really matter (it could even be pre-turned) its just to have a play, so would think to mill all.(internal rads @ 0.75mm)

model attached as ZIP

-manz

Thanks for the offers guys - but I don't have a model in mind yet. I was just curious if anyone has machined a MoI model, and if so, what software was used.

Here's a possibility:
http://www.deskproto.com/gallery/reference.htm

By the way - my mill has the rotary axis 90 degrees to the spindle, so I can cut around a cylinder.

Machining has its limitations of course. Just because you can draw a model doesn't mean you can machine it. However, for those who make castings, the latest thermal wax printers have incredible accuracy and can pretty much reproduce in 3D anything you can create. I expect MoI to have a market for this type of application. See:
http://www.2objet.com/Misc/Gallery/tabid/70/AlbumID/393-22/Default.aspx

Ed

Hi Ed,

>>By the way - my mill has the rotary axis 90 degrees to the spindle, so I can cut around a cylinder.

I guess that rules me out for writing any code for you....sorry !!!. I will have a go with Steves model as a
3axis jobby as soon as i get some free time (Trying to learn MoI & Carrara).

All the best,

Hi Ed,

I've been using MoI for many of my jewellery designs & output them as STL files for milling.
My mill is a Roland MDX-15 which I've fitted with the rotary unit made by Fourth Axis.
http://www.rolanddg.com/index.html
http://fourth-axis.com/

The CAM software is supplied by Roland as part of their package which uses their own machine code.

There seems to be many 3 axis CAM programs that are fairly cheap, Vectric's Cut3D or Delcam's MillWizard being a couple of them.
http://www.vectric.com/
http://www.millwizard.com/default.asp

But as far as I'm know, once you've moved into 4 axis CAM, there's nothing "cheap".
It seems the starting price for most of them is about $4000 & up!

regards Colin

Hi Ed / Colin,

Another CAM product that springs to mind on a lesser budget is http://www.onecnc.net/index.htm

Just gives you a few more options to chew over....

Rgds,

All right, I was going to stay out of this (so many other resources on the web beside the MoI forum), but....

RhinoCam is a plug-in that runs inside Rhino. So you can ctrl-c in MOI and ctrl-v in Rhino and then toolpath. No importing, saving, or anything else. Basic 2d cam is $1k or less. Continuous 4th axis rotary is an add on to the basic 2d, for another $1k. So, you can have honest to goodness, no BS wrapping, 4th axis rotary toolpath in seconds from MoI.

RhinoCams toolpaths are OK, but not too smart. They STILL dont have a spiral toolpath along the axis, its more like a wrapped XYZ raster. However, this is the cheapest way you can get true 4th axis toolpathing as far as I know.

Mecsoft is supposed to be releasing an improved version in June 2008, but they're ignored critical requests for years, so I'm not going to hold my breath for anything groundbreaking.

I think they have a free demo downloadable on their site, but expect a few calls from Anita the salesperson if you put your real phone # in there. ;-)

Hi Ed,

You may want to look at Meshcam? http://www.grzsoftware.com/

It does have 4 axis (rotary table) and is only $175

There is a 30 day download (fully functional trial).

It is more of a rapid prototype software, but does have pencil (so concave rads can have finish path). I have downloaded to have a play, but no time until later.

There is also a cutter path verification program there (cutviewer) at extra cost, but both together are only $325, so maybe worth a look?(again you can download a full version trial)


- manz

edit:

Just noticed there is limitation on the 4th axis (rotary) in that :-

1. The 4th axis must be parallel to the X axis.
2. The program zero must be on the left-hand side of the stock and along the center of rotation.

>Just noticed there is limitation on the 4th axis (rotary) in that :-

3. It is indexed only (non-continuous).