Hello All,
First, I'm new to CAD (Biochemist by trade) so i have been heavily self taught and I learned to do it on AutoCAD. My CNC runs off of Mach3 and BobCAD (V24) so I've had to relearn a lot of stuff. Just some quick questions:
1.) For the life of me I can not import a metric (cm) drawling into BobCAD. I've tried every different scale it offers (mm-meters, inces ect) and nothing seems to work. My fix had been to size the drawling from CM to INCH in autoCAD before importing it in. Have I missed something obvious?
2.) Once I figured that out, 2D cutting has been no issue at all, however I would like some explanation on 3D. The shape I'm looking to cut out is a double sided wedge. 160cm long (x axis) x 14cm wide (Yaxis) 0.2cm in the tip goes up to 1.2cm in the middle (55% of length) and then back down to 0.2cm in the Z axis. When I import it into CAD and compute the tool path it wants me to to put the part in the -Z axis. Which I have figured out how to do but i can't figure out how to accurately cut the stock to thickness. My stock is 1.5cm (Z) 15cm (Y) 183cm (X) and I would like to have the CNC cut down to the .2-1.2-.2 accurately. So, zero the bit out on the table top then cut, correct? so why does the part have to be in the -Z axis. Also the stock will not necessarily be a uniform thickness 15mm-13mm.
3.) is there a way to change the direction of the slicing in 3D mill. BobCAD cuts along the y direction then moves up X axis a small amount then across the y in a zig zag pattern (repeats). Wouldn't it be more efficient to move the full length (160cm) in the Y and step over X and repeat?
I'm sure this is supper simple and I'm just missing a big part. any help you would be willing to provide would be greatly appreciated.
~Brad