Messages

111

General Mach Discussion / Re: general newbie questions

« on: November 03, 2008, 10:04:53 AM »

Here's a question: In the Features section for Mach3, it says that it "allows direct import of DXF, BMP, JPG, and HPGL files through LazyCam."  Does this mean what I think it says, that I can load a Jpeg or BMP into LazyCam, and either it or Mach3 will convert it to something that they can generate Gcode from? This would eliminate the need to trace over the JPEG with a CAD program in order to do the conversion. Does anybody know if this is true?
Thanks, Bob

112

General Mach Discussion / Re: general newbie questions

« on: November 01, 2008, 10:35:34 PM »

OK, I have spent the day doing CAD tutorials and thinking about what everyone has said, and here are my thoughts now:
1.) As per Glenn's suggestion, I went to solid edge 2, and I don't think that will work for me. The site, I think, is aimed at CNC professionals, and they assume that you have a lot of  CNC-specific knowledge and nomenclature that I don't have.
2.) As per ger21's advice, I went to Vectric's website, and I think they may have what I need. From reading their information, I believe that their software will allow me to trace over a line drawing the get it into a DFX file. I posted a question similar to my initial one here on their forum, and will see what they have to say. Also, ger21, I think your idea of printing out scale drawings to use as templates for the veneer is great -- it started me thinking that I could use colored paper the make the designs, rather than veneer, I can cut paper with scissors, which makes changes easy, and there's no waste of veneer. I can then use Sam's idea about using the cnc  to cut both the inlay area and the veneer.
3.) Sam, I will be happy to share pics with everyone, and as to your question of my original intent, I built the machine specifically for doing the inlays. I'm kind of a one man show, not a big production cabinet maker, and I don't think I would use a cnc to drill hinge holes or cut doors.
4.) Rich, I understand what you are trying to convey re: how photographing will distort the scale of a drawing. My plan was to zoom in on each door panel from far away, thereby reducing the distortion effect. Do you think that will work?
5.) MasterCam is $10K? Jesus.
6.) I can't tell you guys how much I appreciate all the effort and thought you've put into this, but I want you to know that it has been very helpful. Please send anything else that occurs to you, and I will let you know what I get back from Vectrics.
Thanks again, Bob

113

General Mach Discussion / Re: general newbie questions

« on: October 31, 2008, 07:27:13 PM »

Wow, this Forum thing really works! Thank you very much for the feedback.
Re: the point Rich makes about the scan to CAD software sucking, I have been in touch with a firm in Britain called, appropriately, Scan2CAD at the softcover.com website. I sent them a digital picture of a line drawing I had made and photographed and they sent back a file, which, of course, I can't open because I haven't installed a CAD/CAM system yet. However, they said their software will do this no problem. They also said that the file they sent back contained Bezier curves, and since some software can't handle Beziers (I guess because they're algorithymic), they asked if I would like them to do it using arcs, which, they say, is also no problem. I spoke with them on the phone and they sound very conscientious and knowledgeable, and I have the feeling that they know a thing or two. If anyone would like to see the file the sent, I will forward it to you-- maybe you can tell me if it looks good or not.
As to the suggestion "You can take your picture or scan and draw over it CAD", I'm not sure what that means. Does it mean that I download a scanned line drawing into a CAD program, magnify it, and then use a pointer to convert it to a CAD drawing. kind of like what Glenn was saying?
Also, maybe I should explain something about my design method, because it may impact on what Sam said and scanning in general: I'm treating cabinet doors as a group, that is, all the faces of a group of upper cabinets may contain, for instance, a flock of birds, or a vine with flowers that travels across all of the doors. The base cabinets might be a garden scene or desert landscape. I like to work in full size, so what I will do is cut large white poster cardboard the same size as all the doors and tack them to a wall in order, and then place my cut veneer pieces on them in the pattern I want. It is easy to then trace the veneer pieces with a black pen, and the result is that each representative poster door has a line drawing that can be photographed. I think if I set up my camera from across the room, and include a scale somewhere on each poster, I will get an accurate digital file that can be scanned to CAD. I think I want to do it this way because the door sizes are all different, and larger than what you can run through a scanner.
As far as cutting the veneer, I have a scroll saw that does a good job. I understand that I can use sacrificial boards to get good edges, and I will do that in the scroll saw, but I don't want to cut the veneer with the CNC because it doesn't allow me see the veneer on the door-sized posters, and I need to see that. I make a lot of changes at that stage.
I'm going to try what Glenn suggested and go to solid edge 2d, but please keep it coming. This is all VERY helpful.
Thanks again, Bob

114

General Mach Discussion / general newbie questions

« on: October 31, 2008, 01:11:55 PM »

Hello all,
I have just finished the physical construction of a 24" x 36" router table and am now getting to the software part. I am a cabinet maker by trade, and what I want to do with my cnc machine is the make shallow area routes of flat cabinet doors so that I can inlay veneers into the routed areas. I will make the inlays myself on a bandsaw, and they will be about 1/16th inch thick. The routed areas will be freeform, that is, I want to hand draw, for example, a bird in flight, transfer the drawing to the veneer, cut the veneer into the bird shape, use the cut veneer to make a line drawing of the outline of the veneer bird, take a picture of the line drawing with a digital camera, download the pic into my pc, use a scan-to-CAD system to change the line drawing from raster to vector, have it expressed as a DXF file...and this is as far as I go. (Do I get extra credit for run-on sentences?). I don't know what my next step should be, but I think I need to buy both a CAM software system such as MasterCam to translate the DXF file into Gcode, and a motor controller such as Mach3. Or maybe one of those systems will act as the scan-to-CADer? Do I need to combine the pc requirements (ram, cpu size, etc.) for both the CAM system and the motor control system to have a pc with the capabilities to run both? I have a whole bunch of dumb questions like that, but you get the idea -- I need advice, and would appreciate any help you can offer.
Thanx, bob