Hi Tony,

I think you would need to make a set of blueprints for your stock.
Measure all of the dimensions and angles.
It would help to have some reference points or planes, line the butt end.
Left view, right view, top view, bottom view, 2 end views, complete with measurements.

Here is how some guys made a 3D model of a laser rifle. http://www.3d-sphere.com/weapons/modeling-a-laser-rifle-in-3dsmax
http://kronosprops.blogspot.com/2010/03/aer9-laser-rifle-fallout-3-prop.html

Also have read that if you have a model of the action, you can boolean it out of the stock.

You could scan some precise photos, and import into moi as a help in making the blueprints...

I think autodesk has a free online program to create 3d models from some photos. Never used it...

Again, need the measurements...

Hi Tony,

> Question- On post 25 is a drawing I attempted that had the cut
> out shape. If I wanted to just draw it to cut the rough 2D shape,
> would this work?

Well that would work but the result would be exactly what you see there, you would get a shape with totally flat vertical sides that looks sort of like what you get when you push a cookie cutter into a piece of dough. That's a pretty different kind of shape than the actual sculptured type form that you really want to get though.

So even though that will work it will construct a shape that's pretty different from what you really need.


> What tools would I use to get the outline drawn
> accurately for cutting?

I'm not sure if I understand this part - if you've already drawn the shape and have the model how you want it then you're finished with the drawing part, then you take the model into your CAM program and have it generate toolpaths.

Do you mean that you need some guidance on how to work the Vectric Cut3D software? I think that Vectric has their own forums over here: http://www.vectric.com/forum/ if you need help working Cut3D you probably want to ask over there.

- Michael

Hi Tony, one other design software/hardware combination you might want to look into is the Sensable system: http://www.sensable.com/ - that's pretty expensive but it combines a hardware 3D pen like device with some sculpting software and it might be the easiest to use solution for you to be able to model some sculptured type shapes with a lower learning curve.

- Michael

Thanks.
About 6 wks ago I tried overlaying a picture to help with the drawing as Micheal had suggested. But I did not understand the front,top,right windows as much then, so I will try that again.
I know that cutting 2D is way short of the end result but at least it would let me use the cnc machine to save time on the initial steps I currently do with hand tools, while getting more familiar with Cut3D and Mach3.
I have been on the Cut3D forum and will be again as I am having trouble getting the tabs correct to protect the fixtures that hold the left and right side of the stock.

This wkend I hope to make time to work more on this.

Tony

Hopefully I will have a chance this wkend to get the pictures put in the right place and see if I can post the file. I will also get the measurements.

Tony

Ok, I hope I have the attachment here. I am not sure how to position the 3 pictures.
I will describe this as I am looking down on the table.
The left side is 5" front to back and 1.8" thick (Z axis). The back goes to the right 7.5" ( the z axis is 1.2" thick at 7.5" from the right) and tapers 2.5 degrees to the front where it meets the arc,which is 3" across and 1.5" deep. (I assume the arc will be used for this step).
The left front goes to the right 6.5" and tapers to the back 11 degrees before the next arc is used to meet the flat slanted portion of the grip (this flat area will be cut before the cnc is used). The grooves on the right side are not fussy since these are custom fitted afterwards, but I would like to remove some of the excess wood in front of the grooves. The arc on the back right side can be ignored since this will be shaped before going on the cnc machine.
The bottom side will be cut the same.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Tony

Hey Tony!

You have to embed the images in the 3DM-file..right now there are just LINKS to those images and not the actual images

Just open your file in Moi and go to VIEW->IMAGE and set EMBED IMAGE DATA for each of those images via the PROPERTIES dialog.







~ Marco

Thanks for telling me how to do this step. This should be better.

Tony

Hi Tony,


Here is a quick sketch of your measurements.
Cannot understand the arc location without pictures...
It might help to provide the center to center spacing of the two butt bolts,
Also the overall length from butt to trigger end, say at 90 degrees from the butt line.
The length from the butt to the flat at the (top or bottom?) of hand grip also.
Then the pictures could be scaled.

Hi Tony,

The 3dm still shows up, for me, with no pictures...

Did this one work?
With the length of the stocks varying several inches in length from one order to the next, I planned to zero from the right back region which is where the metal fits in the grip and is the constant. The top portion of the arc on the top right portion is about .4" behind the metal.
The bolt holes on the left side are 3.1" apart-but this varies with different recoil pads.
I have fixtures holding the wood up off the table since the wood thickness varies.
With the variations in length as well as thickness of grip region in most orders, I see the machine doing the rough shaping and the final shaping will allow for the variations.

Tony

It opened on mine with changing the "open with" to a cad type wording.
Pretty nice to move the three around and size them better.


Tony

Here is the easy part, outline of a center plane. (other two pictures removed.)

Do not have a cross section of the butt end...

I suppose the pictures introduce a bit of distortion?

The front picture seems to be of a different stock? Was not able
to align it very well.

Got to quit for now...

Edit, used Options icon at bottom of screen to set units to inches.

hope this helps or do they need to be on same attachment?

Tony

Pistol grip....

Butt profile

Excellent grip tutorial!

Thanks a bunch. I can only open the attachments from my shop computer so I have not been able to watch the last couple. Looking very forward to Tue afternoon when I should get time back in the shop.
The right picture showing the front of the stock was of the same stock, but very hard to get it accurate. What do I do with the right picture, and how do I line up and connect them into a solid?
I will need to practice a lot. The icons used to get the pistol grip region finger grooves will work on the stock picture as well correct?

Tony

Wow, Bemfarmer and Burrman, you have shown me a lot of stuff needed. Thank you very much. I will be practicing later today. BemFarmer, how did you get the curve lines for the behind the grip region?

I also am not sure, how did you use the right side picture of the front of the stock to help this process?

Tony

Hi Tony,

Well, I cannot claim that anything I did was the "proper" or best method...
The curved region was done using the tree rings as "contour" lines, like in a terrestrial map of elevations.
This assumes that the grain was straight and parallel to the center plane of the stock, which may not be true, but
given the taper of the left of the stock, and the way the tree rings taper, it looks fairly parallel.
So the curved portion should be more or less accurate. They may need to be redone, or made less shallow...
In Top view, placed a lot of dot points along a curve. The leftmost dot was placed at high z, starting from the far left loft. The rest of the dots occur at z = 0.
In Top view, starting with the high z dot, doing a freeform arc through all the dots, created a curve with constant high z value. The curve did NOT drop down to the center plane. Then did lofts or sweeps... This was time consuming, and the result less than perfect.
The naked edge test showed a lot of edges, so some fixing may be needed...


The two rounded, right hand red extrusions were quick and easy. In Right view, the right end picture was aligned to match the base of the handgrip, and
the top (back) of the rounded area. Then the thickness was estimated, and one (or two) rectangles made. The rectangle is extruded to be larger than the
front rounded area. Then the centerline top profile of the rounded section was extruded in the plus and minus z directions, beyond the red areas, and used
as a boolean difference to trim the red 3D rectangle solid. (A common and good technique). (Had some trouble with disapearing red portions, so should have just done one red block, and then copy it...)

Made an assumption that the stock is not right handed. (That the bottom half is symetrical with the top half.)