re:re:Re: 5-axis cnc

Thanks, Rab.
This process sounds ideal for putting a shallow pattern on a surface whose
normal does not change direction very rapidly, ie, decorating surfaces.
Looks like it does a beautiful job.

Would it be applicable to a different sort of multi axis problem, for
example, carving out the interior of a curved hole? Or a simpler problem,
milling a conical hole by rotation around a tilted axis?

I suspect that these are much more difficult problems to solve. Even
visualizing them is difficult.
What I'm thinking about is lightweighting structures by making funny shaped
pockets in them.

regards-
Elliot B.

>It's a three stage process;

>1) Create the lines that describe the toolpath, for 3D objects by
>projecting the design or roughing pattern onto the object or
>by 'waterlining' the object.
>A design can be imported from a CAD program or from the likes of
>Corel Draw or as G-Code.

>2) Determine the cutting angle at each point along the toolpath by
>getting the surface normal vector of the object at that point or by
>taking the angle from an arbitrary point, control spline, etc. A
>vector indicator is produced at each point.

>3) Determine where all the axes have to be positioned for each point
>of the toolpath and output the G-Code. This process is machine
>specific, but it's relatively straightforward to modify for
>accommodating different machines and axis arrangements (even
>Hexapods).
>In a way, this stage does what a post processor would often do,
>translating the toolpath to the machine. In fact, the whole plugin
>could be treated as a 5-axis post-processor if you wanted to use
>another CAM program to do your toolpaths.

>Drop me an email off list if you want to use it.

>Regards,
>Rab

> Is there any way you could give us some idea about how your five

axis

> software works?
>
> Are the 3DS Max designs described as 5 axis solids, or is there

some magic

> way the plugin fits them to the capability of the machine?
>
> Thanks for the inspiration.
>

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