Thanks a bunch Craig ... much appreciated !
I'm anxious to scale it up and try it later today.

I was asking if it would be feasible to do ALL of the cutting in the SAME direction ... longitudinally.
Maybe not recommended ? for some reason ?
It will be polished 9 .001-.002")after machining.

Cheers,
Russ

EDIT ........

It will be polished (.001-.002")after machining.

Cheers,
Russ

I used cut in both directions to minimizes the step over ridges that are created. But I might run a single roughing pass thru the center line to clean out the mass leaving ~.010"-.015". Easier on the small cutter flutes. Looks like a sprue. Have fun polishing.

Yeah, I see the fun coming up.
I got the Rhino5 user guide and am looking through it.
Great explanations in the begininning, thanks again Craig,
Russ

While waiting for the .050" carbide ball endmill to arrive, I used a HSS .125" one to run a simulation/model in aluminum.
I scaled the file up 2.5
Came out quite well. Little effort polishing, but realize that will be different with the steel.
All in all, I am pleased.

Thanks guys, will be back to learn more later ....
Thanks again,
Russ
 

Good Job Guys, (;-) TP

Well ain't that purrrrdy!!!
good job Russ

Little effort polishing, but realize that will be different with the steel.

I would reckon that your polishing woes are largely due to the fact that you cut a scaled up version, hence a larger step-over.

Rhino is really a superb program. Great price for it too, or it at least it used to be when I was looking into it. It is a very advanced program though, so the learning curve is quiet huge, as is the rewards once you get a firm grip on things. There are quiet a few CAM programs for it, so no lack of choices in that area. Chris Botha uses Rhino with DeskProto I believe. We all know the wizardry and magnificent jobs he accomplishes (i think he sold his soul for those skills), but he's not exactly a weekend warrior, either.
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,11446.0.html
http://www.deskproto.com/

Side story:
I know that book all to well in the background.

Dad:I've been reading these westerns for quiet a while.
Me: Really? That sounds nice.
Dad: Oh it is! Let me tell ya, they really get interesting at times! Six shooters! Trains! Indians! Gold!
Me: :    
Dad: You probably wouldn't know a good book if you picked one up. I bet you haven't even opened one up since you were in school.
Me: I read. I read allot, actually. Just yesterday I read a few pages of a real good book.
Dad: I bet. What was the name of it? Penthouse?
Me:  No. Penthouse is a magazine. Ain't no words in a Penthouse anyhow. Just pictures far as I can tell. It was called McMaster Carr.
Dad: McMaster Carr? The name certainly sounds interesting. Kinda got a western ring to it. Any guns or train robberies?
Me: No. Maybe a strongbox or a knife or two, though.
Dad:   

      
Thanks Sam.
I'm anxious to try it with the steel and proper cutters.
I'll post the finished part if it works out right.

See Ya,
Russ
 

Hi folks,
 I have another request.
I am trying out a demo of MeshCam.
It can open an STL file but I have no way (afaiko) to produce one.
I modified the earlier project a bit and wonder if someone here would mind to take the attached DXF and convert it to STL for me.
Everything is drawn to scale so all of the pertinent info should be there.
After MESHCAM, if I can get it to work for me, I will need to figure out what I need to do the dwgs.

Thanks,
Russ