Probing Surface to adjust Depth of Carvings on Non-Planar Surface??

[muddiver]

Hello Forum!

At first i want to introduce myself, i am a hobbyist from Germany. I use Mach3 for 5 years, now with a Smoothstepper ( newest Motherboard did cause Step-Rubish ).
Please excuse my bad English, I'm not used to write in English.
I'm pretty pleased with mach3, but I'm missing one feature...

I'm using Mach3 mainly to engrave or V-Carve in Wood.
My Mainproblem is that my Engravings are variable in Width because I'm using V-Bits and little Hight-tolerance in Material will cause my Engravings look ugly.
If there was a possibility to scan the material with a Touch-Probe on the Machinetable to adjust the Z-Depth automatically my problems were gone.
I know just one Software at the moment which is capable for that.
Perhaps there is a possibility similar to your Srew-mapping feature?

The perfect result should have the possibility to activate or deactivate it at any Toolchange in program.
Sometimes it's better to deactivate the feature for Cutout for example.

I know a surfacing Toolpath can make it, but i got pieces of wood looking great because of Agingeffects on the surface, i would prefer to engrave directly on the existing surface without messing-up my results.

Is it possible?

I know that it's not programmed in a day, but it could be a big Step forward for all engravers..

Greetings from Germany, Thomas

[RICH]

Thomas,
Think your the first person to every ask how to cut / machine a warped board.
What's the software called that you mentioned?

I quess you could scan the board, generate a 3D solid of the surface and layer in the engraving to follow it.
Then use CAM to get the code for it. Not as easy as it sounds.

Maybe be easier to plane the board flat, machine , and then create a patina affect to the wood.

Maybe someone will have something in their bag of tricks .........wish ya luck,

RICH

[muddiver]

Hello Rich!

the software is called cncgraf.

http://www.boenigk-electronics.com/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81&Itemid=19&lang=de

When i believe the posts in german Forums the use is easy and the Hightcontrol works fine.

I´m stil searching a software to create stl or something of pointclouds.

What are you using??

As 3D CAM i use BOBCAM, not the best but affordable..

greeting, Tom

[RICH]

Tom,
Can't read German thus the link is of no value to see what magic the software does or dosen't do.

I model 3D parts in AutoCad, generate code using with MeshCam or CamBam.
Don't fool with point clouds at home since it's enough of a PITA at work and leave it to the pro's at work to do if required.


RICH

[BR549]

There is no way inside of MACH3 to do it. It will have to be done at the CAD/CAM level.  Mach3 does NOT have any terrain modelling capabilities that I am aware of.

(;-) TP

[adprinter]

Engraving is a true test of machine accuracy, repeatability, table flatness, etc. And even wood which has been planed flat directly on the machine can sometimes present problems when doing an engraving. (Because it IS, after all- WOOD!). Changes in wood grain density, knots, and direction changes of the grain around knots, etc. can create apparent cutting depth variations in an engraving. Particularly very delicate text engravings, with very fine lines, and small characters. What I have learned to do, through trial and error (a LOT of the error part!) is to start with a cutting depth which is VERY SHALLOW -maybe 0.003" deep. Engrave the first pass, and inspect the result. If not deep enough, I usually load the file into LazyCAM, and set the cutting depth a little deeper (maybe 0.002" at a time), and repost to Mach, and run a second pass. Inspect the results again, and repeat as needed. The wood grain density problems I mentioned above, can sometimes be overcome by using a little trick I have learned: with the file loaded into LazyCAM, select all characters EXCEPT the one (or more) character(s) that appear not to have engraved deep enough into the wood (due to a denser area of the wood grain) and DELETE them! Repost the file to Mach3, and run the program again. If they still don't appear cut deeply enough to match the other characters, you can always go back into LazyCAM and set the cutting depth a little deeper, and repeat until you achieve the best results. Using a V bit for engravings, to create a BOLD font, just select the desired characters to be cut as BOLD, and set the cutting depth a little deeper for these. You are still using the same font, but the results in the engraving make the characters appear as a BOLD font. Yeah, I know. It's a PITA process. But necessary sometimes to overcome the MANY variables which working with wood presents in order to achieve a quality engraving. It is a bit of an Art form, and learning to control the machine to become your "Artist's Brush" does invlove some rather tedious WORK! Starting with the "Fonts" I use, which are actually hand-drawn groups of lines, circles, and arcs which mimic actual fonts for the best engraving results. Hope this helps!