[chas]

I need someone's help with 2 simple gcodes.
I have just finished my 1st machine and want
to mill 2 words in wood. I am just starting to
learn cad and cam, however I want to show
someone something milled from the machine now.
I need gcode for the words "Phil" and "Ascott"
Simply plunge into wood surface 1/8 in and
mill out the letters. Size of letters aprox 2 in.
and in any font or style.
Any help would be appreciated, as I feel it
will take me too long to learn how to do this
and I need to show a sample a.s.a.p.
Thanks in advance
Chas

[Pythagoras]

what bit will you be using? a Vee bit? it helps with making the code nice for the job.
I will do it for you.

[WayneHill]

This is what I would use for some fast g-code from text. And it's free...

http://www.deskam.com/deskengrave.html

[Pythagoras]

do you want machine the letters along the vector ( good for a Vee bit )
Machine the letter via area clearance , the leters are engraved into your work piece as a flat area. ( Good for a square bit ) Or machine the rest of the material and leave the letters still on the piece.

Or you just dont care......you want movement

[vladdy]

The easiest way is for you to get a program such a 'DeskEngrave' , simple and easy to use, and the price is right..
attached is a file crested with program, font size is 36, depth is 0.125, and can be easily sized with most CNC output program , a good one to start with might be KCam [Kellyware], older versions unsupported, but free,

enjoy

[chas]

Pythagoras
Thankyou so much for your help, The last suggestion would be
excellent. Even more that I could have hoped for. The total
size of the example perhaps 3 x 6 in with the word "Phil" exposed
and background milled away. Same for "Ascott".
But anything you could come up with would be great.
You are helping me out big time. If I can return the
favor I would be more than willing.
Chas

WayneHill - I tried DeskEngrave - not sure what I did wrong
entered the word and asked it to create gcode. what it did
was create gcode for 3 boxes no letters. As I said I want to
learn all this, however I need to show a result from
the machine. Thanks for the thought. Over the next few
months I plan to learn enough cad/cam to make a mess. (hahaha)

[vladdy]

DeskEngrave will machine the letters [pattern] OUT of your stock, not the other way around..
You will need something a little more powerful [and complex] to do inverse relief..the proper name you are looking for is profile and pocket machining..

enjoy..

[Pythagoras]

I hope this is alright. I had lots of troubles adjusting to imperial measurements.

The z zero is at the top of your work piece. You will be routing 5 mm deep
You will need a 1/8 flat bottomed bit for this

I suggest doing an air cut b4 running this code on timber.

[WayneHill]

The total
size of the example perhaps 3 x 6 in with the word "Phil" exposed
and background milled away. Same for "Ascott".

Okay, You need a CAD/CAM system for that. Keep Deskengrave in your toolbox for future use...

[chas]

Thankyou Pythagoras and vladdy!!
I will take a look at them on the weekend, I have to fly out of
town for 2 days, last minute meeting came up.
But when I get back it will be the 1st thing I do.
Thanks again, I will let you know how I made out.
Chas

[Zoff]

You got the machine, the machine have the control, put the tools in write the g-code and pusch the button, If you need more then this then go back to school.

[chas]

Thanks again guys,
Pythagoras I tried your gcode, however the settings you have for z are out
of the range of my machine, I plan to play with the code on the weekend.
Vladdy I just modified your z range to work with my machine and split it into
2 words and actually milled them!!! Thanks!!
Great to see my machine work!!
Now I will have something show for it all. (haha)
Pythagoras I am going to get your code working this weekend and
that will be the example that I hope to show, it looks impressive!!
Once again, thanks guys for all your help. Perhaps soon I will know
enough about gcode to help someone in the future.
And Zoff perhaps you didn't read my 1st post, I am new to this and
am still learing gcode, cad and cam.

[Pythagoras]

It is very easy to open the code in notepad and change the z movement numbers to a lesser number. There should only be 2 or 3 of them to change. just make sure you press save before closing down the file.

If that is too hard I can do anothery for you.

[chas]

Pythagoras, thanks for the offer...
but I would like to try and modify it
and learn in the process.
As far as changing z elevation that
should not be hard, however can you
suggest an easy way to split the
2 words up, so phil alone and
ascot alone??
Thanks again for all your help!!
chas

[nervis1]

Don't pay Zoff any mind, 99% of the people on this forum will help you out anyway they can. Feel free to ask anything you want.

Good luck with your first cut.

Dave

[kenlambert]

sure had me worried about asking more dumb questions :cheers:

(chair)

[WayneHill]

Zoff (chair)

Ask away. Been doing this stuff since 1980.

[chas]

Phythagoras, Had a quick look at the code last night, I was able to
change the z elevation so that it is within my machine spec's, however
the overall size of the code is beyond the dimentions of my machine
and this is starting to get over my head for now. I know that from
within a cad program I can resize, However as I stated at the start
I'm still learning, and am not sure how to proceed??
Any suggestions??
If I could impose on you again, what I am looking for is simply
the word "PHIL" with the background milled away leaving the
word "PHIL" exposed. Size 50mm x 100mm. Sorry for asking
you twice!
Thanks for all your help.
Chas

[ESjaavik]

@Chas: Try to enter a G21 early in your code.
My guess is that as Pythagoras is in Austria he use metric, and you being in Canada use Imperial. So you probably have Imperial as default, and setting it to metric will downscale everything by 25.4. Clue is that he sent Z down to about 5mm, and you said that exceeded your machine. Very unlikely unless you try to plunge down about 5 inches. (The poor 1/8 cutter probably would not like that!).

[Pythagoras]

Yes EsJaavik is correct the code was in Metric. If you ran it on your machine as imperial it would want to plunge 5 inchs instead of 5 mm. I should have mentioned that.

No you wont be imposing by asking for me to do two more codes for you. One for each word. I will post it some time later when I have a moment to put it together.

In the mean time, why dont you use the original code and do a test cut.

I dont know if Zoff has a stick in his bottom, but I notice he isnt that willing to help. Maybe he should go back to the school of friendlyness and helpfulness. )