Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Digest Number 1111
Posted by
Andrew Werby
on 2001-02-06 09:45:18 UTC
Message: 18
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2001 21:27:22 -0000
From: conural@...
Subject: (unknown)
Hi all
I am new in this list and unexperienced with the the group's
interests...
I have been designing jewellery for the last 2 years for
manufacturers...
I like to start manufacturing of my own.
But I am not experienced with the CAD programs or CNC machines.
I must find a best(and economical) set of 3d scanner-CNC engraver for
a start up. I like to make models or negatives for lost wax casting-
or any new prototyping methods- for jewellery making.
[If all you need to machine is wax, you might look into the Roland Digital
series of scanner/mills, like the MDX-15. These have a scanner head that is
removable, so it can be replaced with their small milling spindle. I found
it makes excellent scans of small items, provided they are such as would be
removable from a rigid mold. The milling function of these machines is not
as impressive, but it's adequate to the task of carving wax, if you're not
in a hurry. The software is well-integrated, so you can translate a scanned
part (from "Dr. Picza") to a toolpath (using "Modela Player") without
having to buy extra programs. If you have a CAD program, you can export DXF
or STL files to Modela Player and generate a toolpath that way. They also
include "Dr. Engrave" software to translate text and vector graphics, as
well as bitmaps, into engraving toolpaths which the machine can run. The
size envelope of these machines is limited, but sufficient for
jewelry-scale parts. I've got more information about them on my website:
www.computersculpture.com.]
Also I am interested in sculpturing in stone...Turkey is full of
ancient-archeological items and I want to create reproductions of the
ancient sculptures, may be with a touch of jewellery...
I wonder if you can help me to find suitable machinary of my needs ?
Or lead me to the right direction...
[Machining stone with CNC is a more difficult problem, as is capturing the
surface information from valuable ancient carvings, especially if they are
in situ. To take the last problem first, you'd probably need some kind of
non-contact digitizing process. The simplest thing to do is take a photo,
then use a "heightfield" program like Cybermesh to construct a mesh using
the pixel density as a guideline- generally the lightest pixels become the
high spots, while the dark ones are low. Depending on the image, this can
yield acceptable -or weird- results. There are more sophisticated
photogrammetric programs which attempt to use multiple photos to construct
3d meshes, but I've never been convinced this works well on organic sorts
of forms. There are also optical scanning systems that use lasers or
"structured light" to derive meshes from objects; these work much better,
but they range from about $5,000 up into the hundreds of thousands of
dollars. For leads on these devices, check the links page on my site.
Carving stone on a mill requires flood coolant and good protection of the
screws and ways, since the grit produced is abrasive and will get in
everywhere, destroying any metal sliding parts it can. Oil can stain the
stone, but water can corrode the machinery. Soft stones like marble are, of
course, easier to deal with than hard ones like granite, but even the soft
ones are fairly obdurate, difficult to hold onto, and slow to cut. Diamond
tooling can help, but it's expensive. Doing jewelry-scale carvings might be
a way to get started with this, since the problems are the same in
miniature, but the time and expense is less.]
Andrew Werby - United Artworks
Sculpture, Jewelry, and Other Art Stuff
http://unitedartworks.com
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2001 21:27:22 -0000
From: conural@...
Subject: (unknown)
Hi all
I am new in this list and unexperienced with the the group's
interests...
I have been designing jewellery for the last 2 years for
manufacturers...
I like to start manufacturing of my own.
But I am not experienced with the CAD programs or CNC machines.
I must find a best(and economical) set of 3d scanner-CNC engraver for
a start up. I like to make models or negatives for lost wax casting-
or any new prototyping methods- for jewellery making.
[If all you need to machine is wax, you might look into the Roland Digital
series of scanner/mills, like the MDX-15. These have a scanner head that is
removable, so it can be replaced with their small milling spindle. I found
it makes excellent scans of small items, provided they are such as would be
removable from a rigid mold. The milling function of these machines is not
as impressive, but it's adequate to the task of carving wax, if you're not
in a hurry. The software is well-integrated, so you can translate a scanned
part (from "Dr. Picza") to a toolpath (using "Modela Player") without
having to buy extra programs. If you have a CAD program, you can export DXF
or STL files to Modela Player and generate a toolpath that way. They also
include "Dr. Engrave" software to translate text and vector graphics, as
well as bitmaps, into engraving toolpaths which the machine can run. The
size envelope of these machines is limited, but sufficient for
jewelry-scale parts. I've got more information about them on my website:
www.computersculpture.com.]
Also I am interested in sculpturing in stone...Turkey is full of
ancient-archeological items and I want to create reproductions of the
ancient sculptures, may be with a touch of jewellery...
I wonder if you can help me to find suitable machinary of my needs ?
Or lead me to the right direction...
[Machining stone with CNC is a more difficult problem, as is capturing the
surface information from valuable ancient carvings, especially if they are
in situ. To take the last problem first, you'd probably need some kind of
non-contact digitizing process. The simplest thing to do is take a photo,
then use a "heightfield" program like Cybermesh to construct a mesh using
the pixel density as a guideline- generally the lightest pixels become the
high spots, while the dark ones are low. Depending on the image, this can
yield acceptable -or weird- results. There are more sophisticated
photogrammetric programs which attempt to use multiple photos to construct
3d meshes, but I've never been convinced this works well on organic sorts
of forms. There are also optical scanning systems that use lasers or
"structured light" to derive meshes from objects; these work much better,
but they range from about $5,000 up into the hundreds of thousands of
dollars. For leads on these devices, check the links page on my site.
Carving stone on a mill requires flood coolant and good protection of the
screws and ways, since the grit produced is abrasive and will get in
everywhere, destroying any metal sliding parts it can. Oil can stain the
stone, but water can corrode the machinery. Soft stones like marble are, of
course, easier to deal with than hard ones like granite, but even the soft
ones are fairly obdurate, difficult to hold onto, and slow to cut. Diamond
tooling can help, but it's expensive. Doing jewelry-scale carvings might be
a way to get started with this, since the problems are the same in
miniature, but the time and expense is less.]
Andrew Werby - United Artworks
Sculpture, Jewelry, and Other Art Stuff
http://unitedartworks.com