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CNC Milling with MACH 3 - Part 1

CNC Milling with MACH 3 - Part 1

An introduction to CNC - The basics

Ruud Pollen20/05/2009 13:24:03
1 forum posts
Dear ....,
 
I have made a file of X,Y points
If connecting each pont to the next point I have a real good
descriotion of my product and I can draw it by some macro''s in EXCEL
 
The question is when I like to make use of   one of the CNC programs
What I have to do when the mill diameter is for instance 3 mm?
Can I generate a G plot file direct from my X,Y pony file and will do the
CNC program the recalculation with the known mill diameter or
should I do the recalculation by makeing an adapted G file?
 
Ruud Pollen
Mark Fraser22/05/2009 20:47:52
4 forum posts
The trick will be the offset of points along non-orthogonal lines, or arcs.
You'll have to create another path one radius outside of the object's
outline.  Make sure the path goes in the desired direction - normal or
climb milling.  I'd guess that the spreadsheet would be better as you can
at least do math and geometrical calcs there, perhaps even trig.
On the other hand, there are lots of free cad programs around, and 
lots of .dfx to gcode (my fave is ace.convertor) freebies as well.  
But the excel exercise is good as a basic learning tool...
Sort of appropriate for MEs - spend more time making the tools
than the object to be created therewith <grin> /mark fraser

Maarten van Veen03/06/2009 19:57:18
1 forum posts
If you really want to indulge yourselve in mathematics, you can work it out as Mark suggests. However, if you want to produce the part, try to create a *.dxf file and from there, use a CAD program. I use Cut2D to full satisfaction (usual disclaimer) . The program calculates the new path, taking into account the diameter of the endmill. Watch out, the program does not protest if you endmill has too large a diameter !
I also use a program called involute.exe which creates the Gcode.
regards, Maarten

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