[John Cristina]

I have a customer that wants me to cut some fairly complex molding for him and alpha cam will not do it. Does anyone have any suggestions for making 3D relief pieces? Something like a grape cluster.

Thanks

John

[Mike Gladstone]

John,

Is your Alphacam a 3D version? You might want to check out http://www.vectorart3d.com

I currently use ProfileLab which does 3D ( although I haven’t tried a grape cluster).

You could also checkout http://www.artcam.com this one will definitely do it but it’s really pricey. Hope this helps you.

[Tom M]

Mike,
I’ve looked at artcam and I like the program, but I agree that it is very pricey.

Is profilelab similar? Does it translate shadow into depth cuts like artcam does?

[Andy Graves]

I think Alpha Cam has a companion program that will do what you want but it is expensive.

[Mike Gladstone]

Tom,

Profilelab has a Special Effects Module that does translate shadows, but I haven’t really used it, I mainly use it for engraving signs and chiseled letters. What would you be trying to cut?

[John Cristina]

Somebody suggested using enroute, has any one ever used that program? I have seen the artcam in the past but never priced it out. I just gave an example of a grape cluster because that is pretty complicted as far as 3D milling is concerned.

John

[Tom M]

Mike, I’m trying to use shading as layers for depth cutting or island fill. If you gradually thin out the solid surface, you can create a bas-releif that works great as backlit materials.

The island fill option can also work as wall sheet inlays.

I always thought it would be cool to vectorize shadow images of the customer’s children and route them in as tile inlays for a wall sheet.

Never tried it because I never had the better software for it. Filled inlays I could do with standard toolpathing, but this would need more.

[Tom M]

John, the early edition enRoute I have is mostly for toolpathing, CASmate was the signage program. I’m not sure about newer versions, though. This was 1999.

[Travis Harper]

I have enroute pro wood. You have to get the pro version for the 3d relief feature. It works fairly well but be ready to tie up the cnc for a while. Its take a super long tome to cut shapes with releifs.

One other note. The only thing I dont like about enroute is the lack of customer service. I have had an issue with the g-code since I have owned it. (almost a year now) No resolve

[Paul Bingham]

We use Enroute wood pro, and it will convert a grey scale to a tool path. We haven’t had any issues with the software other than it won’t run on Vista 64 bit. We cut an oval serving platter with grape and leaves on the inner surface for the Vegas Solid Surface competition. It took about 8 hours. Cutting complex shapes with small bits (1/8 and it probably should have been cut with a smaller bit) takes considerable time. It doesn’t matter have fast your machine can ultimately cut, it’s based on the material and fragility of the bit more than anything. 1/8 and smaller bits can’t take much load without breaking. We run 1/16 bits at about 30 ipm or less. I accidently ran a 1/16 at 100 ipm the other day and it lasted about 1 second.

Enroute wood pro has a lot of capabilities but is quite expensive, around 7 to 8 K.

Paul

[Travis Harper]

Paul, In enroute I am cutting material with two passes. How do I do an offset on the second pass to get rid of the router bit mark. IN toolpath I do like a .02 negative offset. Not sure how to do it in Enroute

You figure 8k they would provide some sort of training

[George Owren]

Travis, i don’t know what happened to my first reply but here goes. i assume you want to cut slightly oversize and cut to final demension as well as final depth on the second pass.

you need to call the tool twice. the first path becomes “rough” and the 2nd instance becomes “clean”. set the first line to your first depth and 1 pass. set the 2nd instance to the final depth and the width to the amount you want to remove for clean up. i have found that setting the first pass to .480 and the 2nd pass to .510 and the width to .010 works well. our max depth is set at the spoilboord surface. we some times have to adj the max depth a little because the spoilboard will compress. i use a 1/4 bit at 18000rpm and 270 ipm and cut 1in wide strips all the time. we use stand up edge most of the time and the strips go right to the gluing stage.

[Paul Bingham]

Travis,

If I understand what you are saying you cut twice with the same depth setting but offset the tool to smooth out tool marks. There is no offset parameter in enroute as there is in Toolpath. I will have a look tomorrow and see if I can find a way to do it.

We normally do a rough cut and then a finish cut with a small dia. tool to get the surface finish desired. With ball nose tools there is no way to get a perfectly smooth surface. You can use very small tools and small steps to minimize tool marks but they are always there, requiring some level of hand finishing to get the desired surface finish.

My AXYZ tech told me about a project he did using a 20thou bit with a 2 or 3 thou step. It took all day to do a few sq. inches, but achieved a great finish for his customer. It was a mould part and the customer was happy to pay the machine time to get the result he wanted.

Paul

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