3d Model of Opel GT

[Tru-Craft]

Drew a 3D picture of a 1/2 Coke bottle shaped thing last night.
Then produced a 3 axis program for my CNC mill.
The program has 42 pages of G code, and as you can see the shape is very rough.
To make the shape surface smoother, I would have to reduce the step over distance by 10x.
Of course that would increase the program length by 10x also, 420 pages of code!
Not sure how large of a file my machine can hold.
My daughter and I had fun cutting it from a block of wood.
I used a 5/16 diameter ball endmill.
It would be cool to do a 1/2 a GT shape in a block of wood.
Lyle

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by Tru-Craft Drew a 3D picture of a 1/2 Coke bottle shaped thing last night. Then produced a 3 axis program for my CNC mill. The program has 42 pages of G code, and as you can see the shape is very rough. To make the shape surface smoother, I would have to reduce the step over distance by 10x. Of course that would increase the program length by 10x also, 420 pages of code! Not sure how large of a file my machine can hold. My daughter and I had fun cutting it from a block of wood. I used a 5/16 diameter ball endmill. It would be cool to do a 1/2 a GT shape in a block of wood. Lyle

O_o the downside of proprietary cnc controllers… RAM is extremely expensive and oftentimes very limited. If you run out of RAM for the program have you considered breaking the program up into pieces? How many lines per page? My 3d programs usually run in excess of 10k lines… sometimes 5 to 10 times that number to get an acceptable surface finish (scallop height) on more complex 3d shapes but I use a PC based controller so RAM is in no shortage.

[Tru-Craft]

Originally Posted by Gumby O_o the downside of proprietary cnc controllers… RAM is extremely expensive and oftentimes very limited. If you run out of RAM for the program have you considered breaking the program up into pieces? How many lines per page? My 3d programs usually run in excess of 10k lines… sometimes 5 to 10 times that number to get an acceptable surface finish (scallop height) on more complex 3d shapes but I use a PC based controller so RAM is in no shortage.

The program I used to rough out the Coke Bottle shape was only about 2,500 lines of code. Doing the cutter path and producing the code is pretty quick, but a lot of code.
I like the idea of splitting the program into multiple progams.
I have heard another way to load large programs to a CNC is to trickle the program from a lap top to the CNC.
The biggest problem is cycle time, takes a long time/$ to wittle out a shape with a 5/16 dia ball mill.
I would rather run the coke bottle on my lathe, just split it in half and bolt it to a block. But..............

Most of my mill work is 2-1/2 axis contouring.
I do have a 4th axis on my Haas, but have only used it for doing cross holes, no 4th axis milling yet.

I don't make molds anymore and there are so many small prototyping machines out there, but I don't want to limit myself!
Lyle

[Tru-Craft]

This is a really interesting thread, not my trade but it could open doors to something else for me.
Every movie or TV show has some computer generated effect or animation.
Lots of new 3D software and scanners available today.

We have at least 3 Opel people into 3D animation; ddustin, gtzero and Opelmister.
Sounds like ddustin has the 3D Opel GT on it's way!
What we can do with the information will be fun.

I saw a few Laser scanners last year at a trade show.
Lots of uses.
Laser Design - 3D Laser Scanning / Digitizing Systems and Services
muellerr.ch - homemade 3d laser scanner
This site sure has some interesting people.
Lyle