Hello Guest it is March 28, 2024, 10:36:19 PM

Author Topic: Engraving around outside of a tube  (Read 11689 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline birdbrain

*
  •  41 41
  • Stupidity, beyond belief!
    • View Profile
Engraving around outside of a tube
« on: December 17, 2009, 10:43:53 AM »
I have a job to do which involves engraving text and logo around the outside of small (20mm) tubes. The engraving would be at a single fixed depth of, say, 0.1mm.
My mill is a K2 clone with a 4th axis (rotational). The rotation is parallel to the Y axis. So, the cutting movements will be on X and A axis( with the plunge on Z axis as usual).
I also have the full version of Lazycam installed. 8)
The logos etc. are graphics files. They can be easily converted between graphics file formats.
How can I do this engraving job without buying additional, expensive software?

Offline Dan13

*
  •  1,208 1,208
    • View Profile
    • DY Engineering
Re: Engraving around outside of a tube
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2009, 11:01:00 AM »
Check out CNCWrapper http://www.cncwrapper.com

Daniel

Offline birdbrain

*
  •  41 41
  • Stupidity, beyond belief!
    • View Profile
Re: Engraving around outside of a tube
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2009, 01:28:14 PM »
Check out CNCWrapper http://www.cncwrapper.com

Daniel

Hey Thanks Daniel!
That's just what I've been looking for.

Offline birdbrain

*
  •  41 41
  • Stupidity, beyond belief!
    • View Profile
Re: Engraving around outside of a tube
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2009, 03:14:35 PM »
Cnc Wrapper will be handy when I have managed to make a G-code file from an image.
Does anyone know of a cheap software that can convert an image file (i.e. a logo) into G-code?
I have lazycam but it seams unable to convert any of my images. The images are Fireworks PNG files (they can also be saved as GIF, TIFF or JPG).

Offline Dan13

*
  •  1,208 1,208
    • View Profile
    • DY Engineering
Re: Engraving around outside of a tube
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2009, 03:25:36 PM »
Try CamBam http://www.cambam.co.uk it has a free version with some limitations... http://www.cambam.co.uk/download/previous/beta-081.html may be it will do for you.

Daniel
« Last Edit: December 17, 2009, 03:27:34 PM by Dan13 »

Offline ger21

*
  • *
  •  6,295 6,295
    • View Profile
    • The CNC Woodworker
Re: Engraving around outside of a tube
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2009, 03:38:16 PM »
Creating g-code from an image file is very inefficient. You might want to convert the image to a vector file first, then convert the vectors to g-code. Could cut your machine time be a factor of 10 or more.
Gerry

2010 Screenset
http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

JointCAM Dovetail and Box Joint software
http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
Re: Engraving around outside of a tube
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2009, 05:43:18 PM »
You might want to check out D2NC (there is a link to it in the DOWNLOADS section).  Not free (think it was $65.00).  I have used it for many engraving projects with great success.

Bob@BobsShop

Online Graham Waterworth

*
  • *
  •  2,668 2,668
  • Yorkshire Dales, England
    • View Profile
Re: Engraving around outside of a tube
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2009, 07:02:47 AM »
There is also this software that converts images to g-code I have not used it so I can not comment on its results :-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/picture-to-g-code-cad-cam-cnc-software_W0QQitemZ190359039361QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2c52486d81

Graham
Without engineers the world stops

Offline birdbrain

*
  •  41 41
  • Stupidity, beyond belief!
    • View Profile
Re: Engraving around outside of a tube
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2009, 04:47:38 AM »
Creating g-code from an image file is very inefficient. You might want to convert the image to a vector file first, then convert the vectors to g-code. Could cut your machine time be a factor of 10 or more.
This is a very important point.
I have now bought a really good vector drawing program (serif DrawPlus)http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/drawplus/index.asp, it only cost 9.99 GBP for the full version!. Drawplus can save files in the DXF format and they are easily converted to G-code by Lazycam.
I also have D2NC installed and it is really good for making quick wizards. D2NC can also convert Drawplus DXF files to tube wrapped G-code.
So, thanks to all for your advice. I have been able to check out some software that I didn't even know existed.
By the way, CamBam looks like a very useful piece of software. I'm definitely going to install it. Only thing is that it'll take some time to learn how to use it.  ::)

Offline stirling

*
  • *
  •  2,188 2,188
  • UK
    • View Profile
    • www.razordance.co.uk
Re: Engraving around outside of a tube
« Reply #9 on: December 20, 2009, 11:44:55 AM »
why is "special" software needed for wrapping engraving gcode round a cylinder? just swap the Y code to the A code and as long as the steps per are set right - job done. Isn't it?