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Author Topic: Marines Emblem 1st Carve  (Read 10742 times)

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Marines Emblem 1st Carve
« on: June 12, 2014, 03:00:39 PM »
I've attached an image of my first carve from my DIY CNC run with Mach3. The g-code I created was 10 mb and set up to do 64 passes per inch. I'm surprised at the file size that I can use on my 10 year old computer that I use to run my machine. The depth of carve is 1/4".
Re: Marines Emblem 1st Carve
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2014, 07:37:59 PM »
That looks really sharp ! Thanks for posting.
I'll guess about 4" dia., what is it actually ?

I know several that would be proud to have one about 10-12" dia. for the wall.

Very nice indeed !

Thanks again,
Russ
Re: Marines Emblem 1st Carve
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2014, 08:24:57 PM »
This is one of the military patterns I have up on ebay for sale. But I don't have g-code up and ready for ebay though. And this pattern is made for about 9.5" in diameter. It doesn't really get as good a resolution as the other one which is like 12.5". But I'll try to post a 7zip file if anybody wants to try it. Like I said its 64 lines per inch and 1/4 inch depth.

It took me about 2 hours to run at about 80 feed rate. I also have my z axis turned down real low to slow down for the plunging. But maybe your machine is tougher than mine. You need to run this with one of those pencil shaped carving bitts to get the detail: http://www.ebay.com/itm/TAPERED-TOOL-FOR-THE-CARVEWRIGHT-OR-COMPUCARVE-MACHINES-2-1-2-OAL-/380925105790?pt=Routers_Bits&hash=item58b0e7d67e.

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Re: Marines Emblem 1st Carve
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2014, 05:13:21 AM »
Nice work Artcarver - thanks for posting the GCode file for others to try.

Tweakie.
PEACE
Re: Marines Emblem 1st Carve
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2014, 07:46:03 AM »
Nice work, Artcarver!
Mine took considerably longer to cut (about 7 hours), and entailed quite a bit of Dremel work by hand to finish it up.
I really like the sunburst background on your medallion. I will have to give that a try later on.
Re: Marines Emblem 1st Carve
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2014, 12:56:30 PM »
I don't have much knowledge about g-code or how it works on different machines and what not. I don't know if it's necessary to set up different plunge rates or if g-code is different when you use different software to make it. Is g-code different if you lets say use one plunge rate. I mean like the numbers. Well I guess I'm just not very knowledgeable about it.

This g-code that I've posted is very simple and just has the one F50 at the beginning that sets the speed. I find that I had to adjust my z axis velocity to slow it down for plunging using the motor tuning in Mach3.

Any insight to this would be welcomed.

I've been looking at this program called bmp2cnc that has some nice features and I can see that it does actually change the tapering around steep objects when you put in different angled bits. I plan on getting that software unless anybody knows of another one maybe to create raster carving tool paths.

Alan
Re: Marines Emblem 1st Carve
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2014, 12:55:53 AM »
Artcarver,
The software I use for my carvings is called MeshCAM Art. It is really easy to use, once you gain a comprehension on how to use it. It will create tool paths from simple bitmap files such as JPG's, PNG's, BMP's etc. As for the feed rate used in a g-code file, it is not quite as difficult to change (WITHOUT altering the Z axis in Mach's Motor Tuning screen). In fact, you can edit the g-code file using a simple text editor (such as the Notepad program that comes with the Windows operating system). To change the feed rate using Notepad, simply open the g-code file desired, then click on Edit (at the top of the Notepad window), and select Find and type in F then press the Return or Enter key, Notepad will find every occurence of the letter F contained in the file (beginning with the first one it finds, it will stop and wait for you to type something, before continuing to the next F that it finds).
For example, if the feedrate of your current g-code file is 50, then the first (and possibly ONLY occurrence of the letter F contained in your g-code file) will say F50. To change to a different feedrate, simply highlight the 50, and type in your desired feed rate, then press the Enter or Return key. Make sure you save the file, after making this change. And then regenerate tool path in Mach3 (so that Mach will read the new feedrate).
For more info on using MeshCAM Art, please see my article in the Winter 2013 edition of Digital Machinist Magazine on Digital Sculpting. It goes into a lot more detail on the process of creating 3D g-code files using Corel DRAW, and MeshCAM Art. Hope this helps you, I know how confusing it all can be, when first starting out in CNC.
Re: Marines Emblem 1st Carve
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2014, 12:54:30 PM »
Thanks, adprinter

Yes there is a lot to get to know when starting out with g-code and cnc. I have edited the F federate several times. I guess I was just unclear about the creation of the g-code from images from various software applications. When I create the g-code in Linux cnc it looks much different from this other software simplycnc art. I was thinking that maybe some software stepping may be different. I know that I can change the y stepping to make more steps per inch but what about the z.

In any case I'll get the hang of it over time. I went ahead and bought the bmp2cnc software. I like the fact that you can select the outside zero depth areas and create the code to omit this area. This feature in itself will shave much of the time off. Bmp2cnc also takes into account the tool size that you set it up for and offsets the g-code accordingly which is visible through the 3D screen preview. I've not actually tested the code on a project yet but will be doing so today. The software puts some sort of tool change code in when it creates the code but I have figured out how to select and delete it since I don't have a tool changer.

I'll keep the MeshCAM in mind for the future. Maybe they have some info on they're web site too.
Re: Marines Emblem 1st Carve
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2014, 04:31:25 PM »
nice job my friend
Re: Marines Emblem 1st Carve
« Reply #9 on: June 16, 2014, 05:41:32 PM »
The software puts some sort of tool change code in when it creates the code but I have figured out how to select and delete it since I don't have a tool changer.

The tool change g-code is probably needed, (Even if you don't have an automatic tool changer). The process is generally to begin with a roughing tool, to remove the bulk of the material, then do a tool change to a smaller, (finishing) tool for the finer details needed on the finishing cut. You can set up Mach3 to "Stop spindle, wait for Cycle Start" on tool changes from within the General Menu. When Mach3 encounters a tool change, it will stop the program and the machine from running, and wait for you to click Cycle Start (after completing the actual tool change manually). If you are not using a macro to automate the process, then you will want to set the new tool's Z zero depth using a feeler guage such as a sheet of paper (simply jog the Z down until it just "touches" the sheet of paper, click on Z Zero) THEN click on Cycle Start to continue the program's execution. Also, it is important to note, that even if the Stop Spindle, Wait for Cycle Start is checked, if you have not yet assigned unique tool NUMBERS to the various tooling (I.E. IF your Roughing Tool is tool NUMBER 1, AND your Finishing Tool is also tool NUMBER 1, then Mach3 will ignore the tool change, and continue running the program). I would recommend, that you create a table for your tooling. An actual LIST of tools, so that you can refer to it, when creating g-code. This will help save you a lot of frustration, since you can simply read your list, to obtain the index number of the desired tool.