Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Bobcad Rhino, etc. from Digest Number 416

Fred,

I just spent two days in Denver getting trained on a product called Model
Mill (www.modelmill.com). For those who are a step above the home hobbyist
level and plan to use their cnc machines as a business or to make money I
would recommend that they look at Model Mill. Model Mill was designed to
provide users of 3-axis routers and milling machines with an affordable and
easy-to-use alternative to traditional CAD/CAM programs. Industries such as
sign making, jewelry, mold making and woodworking, among others can benefit
from Model Mill's strength in creative milling. The current price is
$2,995.

Bob Campbell

----- Original Message -----
From: Fred Smith <imserv@...>
To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@onelist.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2000 7:25 AM
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Bobcad Rhino, etc. from Digest Number 416


> From: "Fred Smith" <imserv@...>
>
> First off I apologize for my inconsistent sigs & e-mail, we have been on
the
> road & our ISP has messed up many months of carefully crafted web work.
> ( Also for poor topic control to digest responses. Hopefully this one
will
> be a little better.
>
> > Message: 19
> > Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 05:00:46 EST
> > From: ptengin@...
> > Subject: Re: Bobcad And RHino?
>
> > Can I throw one at you since you mentioned Rhino? I'd like to know
if
> > there is a way to save a Rhino drawing to a DXF file that Bobcad will
> > understand. I tried various ways but always get the triangular facets
> that
> > make cutting the resulting file very tough. Is there a program similar
to
> > IGES2DXF for the .3DM files? Though I have done little with Rhino, it
is
> > very easy to use. Now if only I could cut from it.
>
> 3D faces are a problem for Bobcad. These are very similar to the files
> generated by the Picza, 3D scanner. I worked with a jewelry company about
a
> year & 1/2 ago to develop an interface between the Picza and either Bobcad
> or Vector. This consisted of simplifying and rationalizing the scanned
> output DXF file (3D faces) to contain ONLY the X-Z plane cross-sections.
> Bobcad could then use these for Skin surfaces (at that time V17 was not
> available so the problem was beyond Bobcad, as it requires equal numbers
of
> entities in V16.1). The additional problem with these kinds of files in
> Bobcad, is that the skin function will not check for gouging, between the
> cutter and the adjacent cross sections, or between the cutter and
> concavities. ( not to be passing out rumors, but I heard that that might
be
> improved in an upcoming version :-). Since the passes were planar, an
> offset surve was generated in the plus Z direction, and a passable surface
> could then be machined. The process was not really cost effective & took
> anywhere from 1-5 hours of careful, pains-taking, clicking and selecting.
>
> As far as I know there is no other program (especially in the same price
> range) that will make the cross-sectional slices that IGES2DXF makes.
This
> program was custom written to our specs to fullfill the geometry
> requirements for the skin function in both Bobcad and Vector. It works
best
> with wavy surfaces, and may not properly create cross-sections across
> multiple adjacent surfaces which have not been blended into a single
entity.
>
> I am not a rabid Rhino fan, but then I dislike the Autocad interface too.
> In my opinion both are far too complex for use in most industrial
machining
> applications, and especially for Home/Hobby use. (Who has 3-6 months to
> spend on learning curve & what kind of personal rewards can I get for a
home
> use CAD system?) That being said, I could not resist the early
development
> process, and was a very active beta tester. I found that the most
> productive method for me was to produce 2D or 3D, wireframe drawings (and
in
> some cases 3D cross sections) in Bobcad or Vector, import these as the
basis
> of a model in Rhino, then either extrude, rotate, or otherwise modify the
> original to produce the needed solid or surface. I was very disappointed
> that they did not support a better 3D DXF wire frame file capability.
>
> At the present time I have to agree with Andrew that DeskProto and Visual
> Mill appear to be the best bet for interfacing with Rhino. At $1500 USD
and
> $3500 USD plus $800 USD price of Rhino (all list), they are a bit pricey
for
> the average HSM, especially when you add in the long learning curve of
Rhino
> and very limited 2 axis capabilities . There are a few new products
coming
> out within the next 2-3 months however that may change these economics.
>
> > Message: 20
> > Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 19:01:13 -0000
> > From: "Ian Wright" <Ian@...>
> > Subject: Re: home brew rapid prototype machines
> >
> > Hi Andrew,
> >
> > You've touched on something here which has been puzzling me for a while.
> > Just how would you go about deriving the g-code for a slice of a 3D
model
> in
> > Rhino. I can see how you could fairly easily get a perimeter cut but how
> do
> > you do the fill-in?
>
> Make your slices horizontal in the X-Y planes, and then process as a
pocket,
> using either the spiral out from the center or zigzag methods in Bobcad.
> You could even leave large voids as islands inside the part to reduce
> machining, er ... uh..., creation time, and to use less raw material for a
> finished part (like honeycomb).
>
> Because Rhino is programmable, it should be possible to generate
horizontal
> 3D cross sections as splines. I have not attempted to do this, but with
all
> the users out there, someone probably has a routine to generate these, and
> then save them to an IGES file.
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Fred Smith
> IMService
>
> imserv@...
> Phone: 248-486-3600 or 800-386-1670
> Fax:248-486-3698
>
>
>
>
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