[plumbseed]

Thanks for the dxf outline of an F5. I was wondering if anyone had a solid model that oculd be cut.

[mredican]

Well at last I have made the DXF of the F-5 top. I broke down and got Rhino v4... well worth the purchase! Anyhow, I could use a bit of help generating the gcode.

I'm going to post what I have if anyone could convert to gcode please post.

[Mike Stevenson]

If you had a solid model of your file you could use any popular CAM system to create your G code.

[mredican]

I bet that may be my problem. I'll try that a try. I'm using rhino v4.0 but I have not converted into a solid... only have surfaces.

[turmite]

I bet that may be my problem. I'll try that a try. I'm using rhino v4.0 but I have not converted into a solid... only have surfaces.

I don't know about the rest of the cam systems, but Madcam doesn't have to have solids. Surfaces, polysurfaces, meshes and solids can all be machined with Madcam. mredican I posted to your other thread that had the 3dm of the mandolin top in it. I will not be able to do any thing till I get back from Knoxville. I'm headed to the Mach convention and will be giving a demo of Madcam on Sunday.

When I get back I will try to help you with your model.

Mike

[Mike Stevenson]

But there are no surfaces in your DXF file, only splines. If you can give me a 3D solid or surface file I will try to help you with the G code you need. File types I'm looking for are: SAT, IGS, X_T, STEP, Etc.

[mredican]

Here is the file.

[Mike Stevenson]

Here is the G code using a 1/2" ball end mill.

[mredican]

Wow that was fast! Thanks!

I ran this in Kcam and here is what I'm getting (see attached). Hmmm... I'll work more on this tonight.

[Mike Stevenson]

Hmmmm....I'm getting this with my code:

[sdantonio]

Well at last I have made the DXF of the F-5 top. I broke down and got Rhino v4... well worth the purchase! Anyhow, I could use a bit of help generating the gcode.

I'm going to post what I have if anyone could convert to gcode please post.

And this is where it get even more expensive . As a Rhino user myself I would recommend RhinoCAM/Visual Mill. It integrates seamlessly into Rhino and is very easy to use. But it's a bit costly. There are other CAM's available, but I don't know how good they are or how versatile.

[mredican]

I was just thinking on my way home that RhinoCAM is going to be the best solution. Kcam can do simple gcode without any problems but I think the level of work I'm moving into is going to require the RhinoCAM commitment.

[turmite]

Hmmmm....I'm getting this with my code:

I don't know what is causing that but his model needs some work. I extracted curves from the edges and found they were now planar. Now that doesn't necessarily mean they are bad, but it did make working on it the way I work more difficult.

Mike

[mredican]

I broke down and purchased RhinoCAM and last night figured out that my original model had some problems. That is what was making the gcode output look goofy.

[turmite]

Did you figure out the problems? Is the top supposed to be level on the outside rim, other than the scroll of course?

Mike

[mredican]

Yes. The space between the outside border and the center arch was the problem. I changed it to "patch" and that fixed it. I also cleaned up some other arches that I had drawn as guides. I think that was making more complex code than what was necessary.

I'll tell ya, RhinoCAM ROCKS!

[turmite]

Yes. The space between the outside border and the center arch was the problem. I changed it to "patch" and that fixed it. I also cleaned up some other arches that I had drawn as guides. I think that was making more complex code than what was necessary.

I'll tell ya, RhinoCAM ROCKS!

welllllllll if'n you had ask, you could have easily used your first geometry and projected it to the cplane, which would have made everything planar, then rebuilt the surface. If you only applied patch, your edge is still not planar. Whether or not that will result in an improper fit when gluing to the rim I don't know, but keep us posted.

Mike

[mredican]

You lost me at "...projected it to the cplane".

I am trying to join the scroll to the surface of the mando top and then make everything one solid object. Is this related to what your talking about?

Matt

[turmite]

Hi Matt,

No...nothing to do with that, well not at the moment, but it may well after you get that surface planar (level to the world). May I suggest you take a look at the Rhino newsgroup and even present your model there. Lots of Rhino gurus!

[mredican]

Well, a lot of time has passed since I started this thread but I'm making great progress. I have generated g code for the mandolin top plate but have not run it yet.

Here is a view of the mandolin neck: