Can a Moderator move this to the CNC Forum -- It's late - I messed up
Nicely done. So many questions, I'm guessin you're using a ball nose bit. What size bit 1/4"? and do you do a 3D rough pass first or just go for it. I've never been very good with poly's. You spray or brush.Got a call wanting to know if I'd do a family crest. I've done a couple coat of arms - they were simple forms with mountains. crosses, and such. So I said sure. He texted me a pic and I thought oh-oh, I'm screwed. Not to be defeated (I hate that) I turned to MEBCWD with a plea for help. He came up with a file (don't know how) on Aspire and sent it back to me. Here's the pic and the finished cut. My customer was ecstatic and I breathed a big sigh of relief. These are cut from 1 1/2 inch butcher block countertop from Menards. They measure 12 x 16 with golden oak stain and 4 coats of semi gloss poly.
No - never!!! All I did was cut the piece of material, load the file on a thumbdrive, line the machine up, and hit go ...... about 5 different times with different bits. CNC 101. Scott would have just cut it out with a chainsaw, painted it the original colors, and added a crusades battle scene along the edges.yur becoming a threat to Scottart...
This was done on the small machine. I still wouldn't attempt it on the new one for a while yet.Nicely done. So many questions, I'm guessin you're using a ball nose bit. What size bit 1/4"? and do you do a 3D rough pass first or just go for it. I've never been very good with poly's. You spray or brush.
Thanks John for all the help you and other give me.
Those really look good, John! What was the cut time on the small machine?
David
Not sure about magic in my fingers, might be too much time on my hands. A bitmap like this just won't make a good model with the 'create model from bitmap tool'.Nicely done, John and Mike!!
I would love to be able to convert an image like that as well. I just tried a quick 'create model from bitmap' image and it didn't turn out very well, so Mike must have some magic in his fingers...
Not sure about magic in my fingers, might be too much time on my hands. A bitmap like this just won't make a good model with the 'create model from bitmap tool'.
Something like this I just import the bitmap and then draw the vectors over the image. Put different vectors on different layers to keep them straight. 2 rail sweeps and cookie cut what I need from them. Import a model or two and modify them to use in the project. Lots of sculpting and then test some toolpaths, make a few changes in the design to fit the tools I want to use and a little more sculpting.
Then toolpaths are run with the largest bits I can use and not lose detail. If there is an area of the carving that has detail small enough that it is not carved well then I run a separate toolpath with a smaller tool just for that area to regain the detail lost with the larger bit (sometimes I will do a process called Rest machining to cut the lost detail if it is all over the project and not just in one area).
AND that's all there is to it!