How to surface a Topographical map?

[Eric S.]

I am stuck. I have been trying to figure out how to surface a topographical map for milling. I do not have solids. I have tried to use loft surface, but I have had no luck. Any ideas would be apreciated. Thanks!

[Keith Graydon]

Hi,

What Version of MasterCam do you have? I think that you need Level 3 for full 3 axis machining. If you have that then you can machine it.

The hard part is to convert all those contour lines on the map to full 3-D geometry. THis would more than likely have to be done by hand. Then build all the surfaces that you need to drive a tool to.

HTH

My .02

-KLG

[Eric S.]

Thank you for the reply. I curently have MC 8.1 level 2. I have been messing around and discovered that if the mountains are drawn form a side view in layers on the Y axis, that it is possible to loft the contours to join them together. Then I can create toolpaths for the surface, but this seems like a lot of work! I have a file with the mountains split up in the Z axis (a regular topographical map view) and it would be nice if I could find a way ot use it. I need a surface that is like laying a blanket over the map (If it is posible. Which I think may not be with the level I have?) Thank You.

[BernieT]

Download the evaluation copy of Rhino3D from www.rhino3d.com. I works for 25 saves. They have exactly the surfacing tool that you need. And it translates perfectly from and to Mastercam.

BerTau

[ERIC14779]

Also if you generate just 1 (one) large surface you should be able to machine with level 2 MC.

level 3 adds multiple surface (machine many surfaces in one operation) and multiaxis (4 and 5 axis) support.

[Scott Bond]

Hi

I use r2v

www.ablesw.com/r2v

[Simtech]

Take a look at type3 software.

www.type3.com

Luc

[Will Slota]

I agree with the rhino option. It will make one surface out of what you would expect to be a bunch of surfaces. Use it daily and love it as a companion to Mastercam. It even runs my Micro-Scribe.

[Kenneth Potter]

Ive been using Type3 for sometime & IMHO its the best in surface controls. But it gonna cost ya some bucks

 

In Mastercam create a rectangular surface & use control points plainer in sliced horizontal or vertical sections to get a topo surface on the cheap. There you can grab a single c-point at a time & pull it vertically realitive to each contruction plain

 

Kenneth Potter

[ 11-24-2001: Message edited by: Kenneth Potter ]

[Eric S.]

I took a look at the rhino pgm. it seems perfect, if I can figure out how to use it. The drape surface feature looks like it would work well, I only have a bunch of contours on diferent z planes, and I can not figure out how to put a mesh over it so I can drape a surface. Any help here would be greatly apreciated.

[BernieT]

Eric, try the 'Patch' surface command. It's better than 'drape' for your application. Try it with and without 'start surf'. (for start surf, create a rectangular flat surf above or below your contours, 'rebuild' it with more control points and degree 3, then select it in the options window). Don't forget the F1 key for help.

When translating out to Mastercam, use IGES and look for 'Mastercam' setting.

Good luck, BerTau

[Glenn Bouman]

Kenneth's method is what was used for this mountain a number of years ago.

Mountain

After the surfaces where made. Used Multi-surface contour to slice it at every 2 inch.

Each slice was a separate program and cut on a waterjet out of 2" thick aluminum plate.

Over 20 feet high.

It is located in downtown Toronto at Nathan Phillips Square.

[ 11-23-2001: Message edited by: Glenn Bouman from In-House ]

[Kenneth Potter]

In Rhino you can import a free tool called Organic.

There you can turn on control points , move & delete knots, & Pull c-points with greater control with a another tool called nudge. It real sweet to use on the cheap. Alias Wave front i just simply give each control point a Z vector value in U V row & column By way of Ecell & Scripting

 

Kenneth Potter

[BernieT]

Cadcam - Jay are you there?

I tried to load a file for eric into your MC8 files, TaosNewMexico_surf.mc8. It seemed to load OK but when I looked the file size is 0. I've tried to load it again but all I get is 'Access denied to MC8' - BerTau

--Forget it, Jay, I messed up but now I think I have it. Can you please delete 3 files for me from the FTP site: in MC8 files - "TaosNewMexico_surf.mc8" & "MC8 files"

in MC7 files delete "MC7 files"

Thanks, BerTau

Thanks, BerTau

[ 11-25-2001: Message edited by: BerTau ]

[BernieT]

OK I think I've got it figured out now.

Eric, look on Jay's FTP site in MC8 files, TaosNewMexico_surf1.mc8 has a surface made in Rhino that should be what you need. It is a single surface so you can machine it with Mcam level 2.

BerTau

[ProductDevelopmentGuy]

In my humble opinion, I don't see the need to create one or more surfaces to do this. In fact, I can envision a pretty scary looking surface (and one that's a real bear to cut) if you try to fit it precisely to the topo lines of the map.

Why not just use 2D toolpaths (pocket & contour) since what you've really got are closed 2D curves at different heights?

Yes, I'll acknowledge that Rhino does have the tools to do this, whereas we don't, but I don't know if it's really necessary.

 

PDG

[cadcam]

Took care of Bertu.

Have a grand day.