Who's this "Chris Botha" they reference to in the instructional videos???  Wink

Hey Sam, He seems to have done a runner from the forum lately - missing the excellent pics of his work I am.

Thanks for the tip Gerry - The MeshCam software is indeed a fraction of the price and has a free 30 day trial.

Yea Barry, you are just showing off because you have more axis than I have milling cutters. 

Tweakie.

Yup, I think we all miss Chris. You guys did see his post about why he was going offline for a while didn't you?

Brett

Just read his last two posts. That really sucks.

Tweakie, if you need more than 30 days with MeshCAM, just let them know, and they'll extend it. Tell him I sent you.

Many thanks Gerry, much appreciated,

I am not planning on installing/running MeshCam until my DP 30 days are up then I can spend more time learning it.

One thing that comes to mind having made this is that the 70 x 70 tiger took 3 hours machine time - whereas a skilled woodcarver could, i think, have made this in considerably less time (and possibly even, done a much better job). Metalworking is probably where the major benefits of 3D CAM prove to be of greater advantage. So may try a metal object with MeshCam and use the mill instead of the router.

Tweakie

That's true about the skilled woodcarver, however, what we bring with cnc is repeatability.  I can tell you that aspect is super important with the projects I have lined up;)

Barry

One thing that comes to mind having made this is that the 70 x 70 tiger took 3 hours machine time - whereas a skilled woodcarver could, i think, have made this in considerably less time (and possibly even, done a much better job).

You need a faster machine, then. Or, do a roughing pass with a 6mm bit, then do your finish pass. That should cut the time in half.


I did this in about 1-1/2 hours, with a 1/16" bit (1.6mm). It's 6" diameter (150mm) Finish pass was 8% stepover at 155ipm.

Another benefit is that you can let your CNC do it's thing, and you can work on something else.
Nice Gerry, I like it.

Yup Gerry, that's a nice one too. Looks good.

Brett

Those both look really great. I'm going to try out the Meshcam, thanks.

Now I have to go find out what happened to Chris.

Oh, yes I had read that, I guess I didn't get the full meaning at the time.

Excellent work Gerry.

I think a feedrate of 155 ipm would scare the pants off me using a cutter that small. If you can recall what depth of cut and spindle speed did you use please ?.

I managed to take a better photo of my tiger (without the flash this time).

Tweakie.