[Seth Emery]

Shane,

I’m glad to hear that you have been able to make some progress with your standby projects.

Tom,

What machine do you have? Our KOMO doesn’t have an R1 or R2 axis that I know of. The only R’s that I have seen in CNC programs are to set the radius of an arc. I’m at home, so I don’t have access to our KOMO manual, but I think there are a couple other axes than the X, Y, and Z axes for using aggregates. Is that what the R1 and R2 are for on your machine? I read the explanation for 2-1/2D and 3D on a CNC website. It said also that many experts don’t even explain the terms in the same way. One person explained 2-1/2D as a pen plotter that moves to one point, puts the pen down, keeps the pen down while it plots, then lifts the pen up, and so on. No matter the terms, all of our CNC machines all do some pretty awesome machining operations.

Thanks Matt and Shane for the compliments. I’m sure you all could teach me a few things about AutoCAD too. You guys have many bigger fish to fry than AutoCAD commands and programs, and I enjoy learning about all of those on the forums too.

Matt,

“Haven’t gotten fired yet” – nice one. Like Shane said, layers are the foundation of Router-CIM and its automatic toolpath creation. I use them all the time even with breaking the tops down and nesting. One of the best features of layers is being able to turn them on and off. The XYZ sounds like a good machine, and the CAM software sounds like it is top notch too. I’ll post some more about LISP and some commands/variables that have really helped me out since I started working in the countertop industry. If you don’t end up feeling that upgrading to the full version of AutoCAD is worth the money, that’s great you don’t need to spend the extra money, and if you do, that’s great too.

Here is a variable that I have found helpful, especially since I need polylines for machining and true ellipses just don’t work. Type in pellipse. Change the value to 1. Draw an ellipse (el). Explode the ellipse. Join the lines with polyliine edit (pe). Kohler has quite a few lavatory sinks that are ellipses, so that is where I use this the most.

Have a good one,
Seth

[Tom M]

What
machine do you have? Our KOMO doesn’t have an R1 or R2 axis that I know
of. The only R’s that I have seen in CNC programs are to set the radius
of an arc. I’m at home, so I don’t have access to our KOMO manual, but
I think there are a couple other axes than the X, Y, and Z axes for
using aggregates.

Seth, I have an AXYZ as well. The 8012, I think (80″ x 150″ cutting surface). It was described as 2 1/2 D, but, as you said, the terms get flown around quite a bit.

No matter the terms, all of our CNC machines all do some
pretty awesome machining operations.

That’s the truth!

When working with layers (I assume you mean in the CAD file), do you always keep a reference border so the router has the same start point every time?

Tom

[Tom M]

Also, Seth,
I think some routers refer to “R” as “Z” axis.

Usually a rotating head, if I recall correctly.

Tom

[Shane Barker]

I have a “C” axis otherwise known as a forth axis that accepts an aggregate tool holder, it basically rotates at the base of the spindle.

The “Z” axis is the standard vertical axis

Shane

[Tom M]

Shane,
Right. My bad. Thanks for the correction.
I still think that “true 3-D” has a rotating head, to get under the object.

Tom

[Seth Emery]

Tom,

Thanks for the tips about the R and Z axes. 80″x150″ table – nice. Ours is 60″x145″. Do you find the extra width useful? I think it would be most useful for reintroducing large tops to rout the edge profile and also for doubling-up 36″ wide sheets.

I just keep the reference border on Layer 0 all of the time. Layer 0 has no machining knowledge associated with it the way we have Router-CIM set up. I place the sheet representation with the lower-left corner at 0,0,0. I only pick the origin if I am programming using multiple files. Do you do something similar?

Shane,

If I remember correctly, C is the axis to control aggregates on our KOMO also. Thanks for getting me up to speed. Do you have a saw spindle? That is sweet for cutting MDF strips and for scoring patterns on full-height backsplash.

Have a nice evening,
Seth

[Shane Barker]

Seth,

I have not invested in any aggregates yet, those things get really pricy. I had the forth axis thrown into the deal when I bought the machine as well as the drilling block. The drilling block has come in handy on doing some garage cabinets but I haven’t used the C axis yet.

So you use the saw to put the grout marks in the backsplashes? I was going to ask what tool you use because we are going to do that for my installer’s mother-in-laws house and we have never tried it yet. I was thinking of a 1/8” ball nose but I didn’t know how that would look.

Shane

[Tom M]

Seth,
Do you find the extra width useful?

Dang straight. We preglue our seam, making sure to cover the build up, etc. in the over-all sheet. We then cut the top, build up, etc. out of the whole deal. It allows us to auto-stagger the build-up joints, and it makes for a quicker fit when gluing the build up. The 80″ width allows for a top that, if too much longer on an “L”, might not fit through a standard doorway. We bought it before the hockey puck depth setting thingamabob, but added that later, as well as a newer cutting head with an air controlled quick release.

If I am doing multiple insertion routes (duffrent color inlays, etc.), I always kept the outside border so I could have the same start point. I never thought about level “0”. I’ll have to pick your brain on that later.

What are you and Shane refering to when he says “grout marks in the backsplashes”?

[Seth Emery]

Here is a command has helped me out a lot. I used go through rotating tops many times to insert all of the sinks, appliances, etc. parallel to the finished edges, like on L-shaped tops where the inside corner is not truly square. Then, I found out more about the UCS. Type in UCS->New->OBject and click on the line that you want the object that you are creating or inserting to be parallel to. If you draw a rectangle (or whatever), you can move it perpendiclar or parallel to whatever object that you clicked on. Just type in UCS->World to get back to “normal”.

Have a good one,
Seth

[Seth Emery]

Shane,

That’s cool that you were able to get the drill block. I used to work for a furniture manufacturer that had multiple Biesse point-to-point machines with drill blocks. That makes drilling 32mm spaced holes very fast since you can drill several simultaneously. Are you able to drill horizontally also?

We sometimes use the saw and sometimes use a v-grooving tool to cut/rout the scoring pattern. There is a beading pattern that we can only do with the saw. I don’t know how cutting with the 1/8″ ball nose would look, but the v-groove tool leaves a nice, well-defined line.

Tom,

That is really cool how you cut out the tops in one piece by pre-seaming. I imagine the “hockey puck depth setting thingamabob” is something similar to a tool touch-off probe. We don’t have one. Sounds pretty cool though.

If you go here: http://http://www.hhross.com/photogallery.htm and scroll about 3/4 of the way down the page, there is an example of the “grout marks in the backsplashes” in, correct me if I’m wrong, Everest with Mediterranean inlays.

Have a nice evening,
Seth

[Tom M]

Seth,
All I get is a redirect to some http protocal page.
*sniff*

[Seth Emery]

Tom,

I’ll try this again: Click here.

Thanks,
Seth

[Tom M]

Seth,
Thanks, that one worked fine.
Oh, that’s what you mean. I thought it was some kind of prep route for a better seal with the caulk.

Nice work. I’d love to see some inlays spec’d in this area. We’d kick butt.

Tom

[Seth Emery]

Thanks Tom. I guess the popular options vary by location. We do usually two or three inlays a month. Mory seems to do plenty more than that. His inlays are extraordinary. Judging by the pictures on your website, scalloped splashes and edges are common in your area. We have done a few jobs with those features, but it is pretty uncommon here. By the way, nice website and work. I particularly like the Architect’s Corner page.

Have a good one,
Seth

[Tom M]

Seth,
That was a nice compliment, thank you. I designed it myself, so the simple look was more of a necessity than a choice, but I think it works.

There should be at least one pic of my countertop in my kitchen (okay, the Mrs’ kitchen). It should show a Cameo White deck with a malachite inlay and Sequoia border. It’s a small area, but it should be there somewhere.

It needs an update bad, though. I was also peeved, because everycontractor does not use front page extensions, so some forms and stuff does not work.

Tom

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