THANKS!

i was looking at some models designed in rhino.they said they were rendered in 3d studiomax.can a 3d studiomax file be read into mc as a solid ,surfaces or iges?

stl is all connected triangles i think.im wondering how "crisp" they are in that format. is there a mc art forum besides the woodworking one?

models like this can be bought in vector art (v carve)and stl formats for around 25 bux.i was just wondering if i could get this into mc.

if someone was to send me a mc art file or a vectric art file could i open it and surface machine it in mc9?

finally got to cut it this morning, came out great.finish looked like glass!

sweet i gotta get up to date w ver 10!

i put it on the ftp site under tierodtaper3.nuthin too fancy but it sure worked well for me!

forgot to add thaqt the leadin and out was also very easy with this method

ok so toyed with this on fri nite .creating a cone surface gave me very unsatisfactory code even though my post is set up for arcs with z movement instead of polylines.iw would have gotten it done ok but i could never get it dne in one continuous path like i wanted.same with 2 d contour with depth cuts and an angle.what i used was the thread mill option.this was very little input and gave me exactly what i wanted.there was a prompt for the angle and the depth.for pitch i just used .003 and it spiralled down just like i wanted.the output was g03 also like i wanted.i just said left hand thread from top to bottom. ill try to put a file up on the ftp site! thanks for all of the help!

thanks kelly!i like the idea of just plugging in the angle without having to draw anything up.can i get rid of the zipper line with this method?

thanks for the ideas.i was hoping the bore mill cycle would do it but i guess not.(maybe its circle mill i forget)i was hoping to just plug in the deg of 7.153 and let it go.i guess ill just do a spun surface and do it that way. this angle is also 1.5 in per ft so ill just draw it and trim it down. the taper is already there in the pitman arm i just have to open about .025 per side to make it bigger. thanks mark

do i create a helix 1st and then follow it?do i create a surface then drive off of that(thats how i did it in sc)do i use the bore mill cycle and add the taper angle? any suggestions?

i have a pitman arm from a jeep that has a taper in it for a tie rod.to upgrade to heavier steering you have to open the taper to a larger one for 1 ton chevy drag link ends.ive done this plenty of times before but i programmed it in smartcam a looooong time ago.this program would spiral once around and then feed down at an angle and then do another complete arc and so on till it got to the bottom.i used comp on it too.i would like to redo this in mc 9 but was wondering if i could get the toolpath to do a true helix without the "zipper"line going down to the bottom.i fooled around with it a bit last nite but didnt really get the results i wanted.the taper is 7.153 deg included angle and goes roughly from about .722 dia to 790 dia at the top. the easy way would be to just buy a reamer but this has always worked well for me before and automotive taper reamers are expensive. anyone ever do something like this?

i have to cut this into a pc of plastic that goes in the back of a firebird.im gonna pocket it thru.im doing the bird too but the bird will be big as possible which only leaves about 3 inches to squeeze this in between the wings.im going to clamp this pc down flat and try to constrain it (hopefully it wont break on me!)ill be using a .045 endmill.this should go fine but i think there will be a problem with the center of the "e" "b" and "d" ill try double sided tape but do any of you have any other suggestions?

hi phil! i thought i recognized that username! you helped me out way back with my multifixture post for the haas mill when u were still with prism.i assume u arent there anymore.

thanks iven could i please see a pic of some of the artwork youve done?can i still use my haas post im currently using?

i didnt see a seperate forum for this so i put it here.(maybe it should be under woodworking) im trying to decide if this will be useful to us.i do convert rasters to dxfs quite often but usually dont get the results i want without a lot of editing.is art like this?will i get very good results from jusy a scanned pic?or will there have to be lots of manipulating first to get good results?i wouldnt be doing anything in wood and most of this would be in aluminum custom parts such as valvecovers and motorcycle casecovers.do any of you using this get the amount of detail you thought you would? does anyone have any examples of something they have cut?will my current post im using for mc work with this on my haas machines? thank you for any info!

i was making up a plaque(sp?)for someone retiring here at work and i had to engrave an image and a buch of text.since it was all the same depth and tool i did what i always do just contour wo lead in out and just window in on everything.it worked fine as usual but i looked a little further and saw the engrave function.i really thought this just did what i had manually put in the contour page.(ver 9.1)i grouped a few of the letters and had to select a taper mill and man was that cool!i was not at all expecting that!i cut a sample at work today and was very impressed.the way this lifts to give square corners is awesome! no one had ever explained this function to me before. what beautiful work with so little input. just thought i would share. it may not even be news to any of you.

can u send it to me also? thanks

i sure would like to see a pic of this being done.any of you have any visual examples?

can this be done without "tracing" or rast to vect?

what he said is so true.i am so happy to finally be away from esprit. btw is this machine a nakamura? quote: quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd option get Espirit and be done with Mastercam when it comes to doing this type of work???? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gotta love this one! I hate Esprit ! I HATE IT, I HATE IT! I HATE IT! ROFL huh Hardmill? LMAO Forget everything you ever knew about programming before you even try to use it or you will fry your brain trying to figure out why you can't get a toolpath correct! They do make pretty pictures of the machine! It's a tough choice, keep struggling with Mcam or learn a new package that can do the job. Yes, it does work correctly and much better than Mcam for Multi-Spindle, Multi-Turret machines. What machine do you have?

thanks so much for all of the info! i knew there had to be more to it than what i was thinking!

i know this pic i have here is a raster because its not the original but it is from a vector art website.from what im gathering the original is a vector.