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Messages - mt.man

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1
General Mach Discussion / Re: A Long Sad Story
« on: October 11, 2007, 04:52:16 PM »
It is funny what a little poking around on the web will get you.  I have found what I need: http://www.precisebits.com/applications/luthiertools.htm plus they have a great deal of useful information about CNC inlay.  Maybe this will be helpful for the rest of you as well.
Bill

2
General Mach Discussion / Re: A Long Sad Story
« on: October 10, 2007, 09:47:43 AM »
Steve:
Of course you're right! All this math, I have been spending so much time converting SAE to metric, I blew the easy one.  anyway I found the bits I need.  Thanks.
Bill

3
General Mach Discussion / Re: A Long Sad Story
« on: October 10, 2007, 12:53:25 AM »
Those are exactly what I need!!  Of course I am going to have to get over some of the software issues that I am having, but I’m gaining some real optimism.  I do have a website (www.mountain-craft.com) but there really isn’t anything there yet, our production has been so slow, building our guitars with just standard tools, that we have not needed to put up a decent site as word of mouth has given us as many orders as we can fill.  I hope to automate the more time consuming tasks so that we can get to a reasonable production output. Thanks again for all of your help.

4
General Mach Discussion / Re: A Long Sad Story
« on: October 09, 2007, 08:33:32 PM »
Hi Guys:
Thanks again for all of the help you have given with my original post, I am making huge amounts of progress and will soon be cutting usable parts.  I have downloaded a copy of Cam Bam and I was wondering if anybody had any experience with this software, if I should spend the time to learn how to use it or if it is too much a Beta project to try to use.  Also I have been following the discussion about Hodges’ lightening bolt logo and I am rather confused about one part.  It seems that in order to cut it he is going to have to use a cutter with a diameter .0625” I was wondering where one would get that small of a bit.  The smallest that I can find is 1/16” .  As I intend to cut inlays as well I will need to get some of these really small bits.

Thanks again, this is starting to be fun again.

Bill Green
Mountain Craft Stringed Instruments

5
General Mach Discussion / Re: A Long Sad Story
« on: September 29, 2007, 06:16:37 PM »
Thanks for all the responses so far, you have been very helpful and encouraging.  The first thing that I found is that Lazy Cam has changed significantly since I last played with it.  It will now open the files that Illustrator puts out without arguing.  That is a huge relief!  One of you asked if I know the difference between a raster and a vector, yes I do, as I do a good amount of graphic design, I’m pretty much up to speed on that.  As far as using CAD, I’m not all that good, Sure drawing a square box and the like is fine but guitars have all kinds of curves and angles, when I have tried these I really mess them up.  On the other hand I can draw virtually anything on paper. Thus my desire to scan drawings and trace them.

Stirling, thanks to the link to the probe, I never dreamed that they were that simple, but it stands to reason.  So once a guy has a probe what software does he use to probe the object and generate the G code? I’m sorry if this sounds like a dumb question, but I’m really not clear on this.

One last question for clarification:
It seems that the version of Lazy Cam that I downloaded will only simulate pockets and it refers to “Lazy Cam Pro,” is that a real program?  Is that what I get when I buy the full version of Mach 3, or is that “vapor ware” that will release at some future date.  I need to be able to cut pockets or this whole thing is pretty much useless as I need to cut for inlays.  Also, incidentally, when I try to use the “pocket” feature, the program hangs and then crashes.  Maybe I’m doing something wrong? 

Thanks again, you all are causing me to feel like there is hope after all.   

6
General Mach Discussion / A Long Sad Story
« on: September 28, 2007, 07:11:00 PM »
A long sad story:
Hi there and thanks in advance for your help.  My son and I are engaged in a small Luthierary business (we make guitars and other stringed instruments.)  A little over a year ago I got the bright idea of moving into the world of CNC.  I did some research and realized that a handy guy like me could build a pretty darn good CNC router for not much money.  Well I purchased some plans and steppers and a controller and built a really cool router.  After researching controller software I concluded that Mach Three was the way to go. So I downloaded the demo version and set up my machine.  Everything worked great and pretty soon I was cutting out roadrunners like nobody’s business.  Of course I have no use for roadrunners, but I digress.  Then came the time to start cutting actual parts.  Thus begins the sad story:  Let me preface that I am by no means a CAD expert, and I have no desire to become one.  What I want to do is scan a drawing of the actual size part that I wish to produce in 2d, convert it to G Code and cut it on my table.  One would think this to be fairly simple, and it probably is.  What I did that didn’t work was to scan a drawing and open it in Illustrator.  I cleaned up the drawing and saved it as a dfx. Then opened it in Mach 3 at which time it told me I couldn’t use it because it had “splines.”   Well I did what any red blooded American guy would do; I posted a question to the forum.  I got all kinds responses about splines and other great bits of wisdom, but I really don’t want to know anything about splines, I just want to make a part.  Shortly there after, I started researching making 3d parts on my table and learned that I would likely have to send tens of thousands of dollars to buy 3d CAD/CAM software and probably have to go back to collage to learn how to design these parts.  Did I mention that I make these parts all the time using conventional tools?  Long story short, my really cool router table sets in the corner of the shop and has become a table for putting stuff on.  It hasn’t been “fired” up for months.  Now I’m getting to the point of either figuring out how to make it work for us or putting it on ebay.   I would prefer to make this tool work for us, and that is where all of you come in.  Here is the situation:

Part One:
I want to cut parts in 2d. The parts are simple but have lots of curves (guitar bodies and such) and pockets.  Also I would like to cut inlays and the pockets that they go into.
I have “hard” drawings of every part I need.
I wish to scan them into the computer and convert them to G code and cut them on my table.
I have a scanner.
I have photo shop, Illustrator, flash and fireworks.
I am planning on purchasing the full versions of Mach Three and Lazy Cam.
I don’t wish to buy any more software unless it is cheep and will make this process easier.

Can you folks advise me on how I can go about this process?

Part Two: (after I accomplish the above)
I wish to produce parts in 3D.  For example the carved top of a Guitar and the contour of a neck.
It would probably be best to use a digitizing probe as I am not and don’t wish to become a 3d CAD expert.
I haven’t seen an affordable probe/software combo that will work for my setup, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
I should have probably just “bit the bullet” and bought a shop bot, but I didn’t so how can I do this with my rig?

Okay, I have laid out my quandary; I am hoping that you all have some helpful ideas for me.  I really would like to use this equipment to make great parts.

Thanks in advance for all of your responses.

7
LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Okay I must be stupid (or losing my mind)
« on: July 25, 2006, 11:43:20 AM »
Gerry:
You seem to be quite knowledgeable with this stuff and your help is much appreciated!  I have been looking at DesignCad 3D Max on their website.  It sounds too good to be true.  $89.95 for CAD and $149.95 for CAM certainly fits the budget.  Do you have thoughts about this particular package?  I’m not particularly concerned about the “learning curve” I minored in Computer Science and have lots of experience with Graphics software.  Though my CAD experience is limited (a former employer used ORCAD) but we just did schematics and circuit board layout, I think that I can be “up to speed" fairly quickly.  The piece I don’t wish to get involved in is downloading lots of different “trial versions” and spending the learning time only to realize that the product won’t work for me.  I will need to trust you and others not to steer me in the wrong direction.
Thanks again for all of your help!

Bill
Mountain Craft Stringed Instruments

8
LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Okay I must be stupid (or losing my mind)
« on: July 25, 2006, 01:59:27 AM »
Thanks, but at some point (soon) I am going to have to be able to do at least 2.5D and better 3D for necks,  carved tops, arched tops and mandolins. .  so far that looks like a serious investment in software.  But if you have any good ideas in that direction I would love to hear them.

Thanks again for all of your help!

9
LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Okay I must be stupid (or losing my mind)
« on: July 24, 2006, 01:40:16 PM »
Thanks!  It was drawn, or rather traced. in adobe illustrator.  I redrew several of my parts last night, or was it early this morning, and they are now working.  Illustrator is not really designed to do CAD so it tends to decide on it's own how it will do things, evidently this is one of those cases. Unfortunately we are very limited on funds around here and can't lay out thousands of bucks for the "real" CAD programs. . .May be Santa will bring me ART CAM Pro and then I won't have to struggle so much :D

Probably not. . .Or everybody that reads this could buy one of my guitars then it wouldn't be a problem.

Thanks again.

PS it would be really great if there was some documentation for lazy cam.

10
LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Okay I must be stupid (or losing my mind)
« on: July 23, 2006, 10:23:16 PM »
Here is the most involved file. . .

Thanks in advance for your help!
Bill

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