gcode for milling mendel parts

Has anyone produced gcode for milling the mendel parts? I have a 4 axis mill and a quick glance at all the parts seems to indicate they could be milled out of HDPE.

Not to my knowledge.

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Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

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I have been trying to convert aoi or stl files to dxf files so my post (program) can tool path it for about 16 hours now. If you come up with something please post (allow others to read) it. I have used blender to convert it over to dxf but stl... it is made of triangles and all you get is lines in dxf. I had the same idea. I will try alphacam tomorrow.

KaiBackman Wrote:
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> Has anyone produced gcode for milling the mendel
> parts? I have a 4 axis mill and a quick glance at
> all the parts seems to indicate they could be
> milled out of HDPE.

From looking at the parts, no you cannot mill these on a 4 axis CNC, assuming of course that the forth axis is an X axis turntable, a Y axis turntable, then it can be done. However a 5 axis is much more fun to watch ><
[www.youtube.com]



Essentially you need a program like MasterCam that can produce G-Code for 4 or 5 axis CNC, and I doubt anyone here can afford such a software package, or maybe even know how to use it to produce that G-Code.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2009 04:03AM by Grogyan.

I created the gcode for 1 of the parts. I don't think I will do the rest.

1- Convert the stl to dxf using stl2dxf.exe
2- Change from mm to inches using autocad
3- Overlay the dxf triangle images with the correct circles, lines....using bobcad
4- create the tool path in bobcad
5- create the gcode in bobcad

If you are going to mill a set of custom parts to create a Mendel, rather than using the original RP parts designs, it might be worth starting from a design that is intended to be CNCed, such as the Fleming brothers' Isaac Mendel-based redesign. See the Isaac wiki page.

The source CAD files for Isaac files seem to be only available in a closed proprietary file format used by Alibre, unfortunately, but hopefully that file conversion task is easier for a real 3D CAD person (I am not such a person!) than CNCing parts which were designed to be RPed

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Jonathan

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The source CAD files for Isaac files seem to be only available in a closed proprietary file format used by Alibre

These files might be the result of some work in Alibre, but the files I can find are all in STEP (.stp) format. Many CAD software packages, including free ones, can read STEP.


P.S.: That said, Alibre obviously includes sophisticated stuff in it's STEP files another software can't read. The bill of material, for example.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2010 08:23PM by Traumflug.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

Traumflug: Thanks, you are correct. FreeCAD can import these files .

OpenSCAD does not offer STEP import, and I was unable to get HeeksCAD to import Isaac-2010-04-14.stp , it just hangs, or is incredibly slow to do anything with it (on a quad-core desktop with 6GB RAM... not usually a slow machine). I saw the proprietary stuff in the file, so it seemed to me the file was in itself closed. My mistake.

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Jonathan

Here's the G-Code that I did for most of the parts, here's the deal though. It's 3 axis and some of the parts neet to be layered. Most of my material thickness was 18mm so I had to work within those limits. Also, we didn't have dnc capability at the time so the files are split into smaller chunks (A, B, C). This will probably be worthless but I figured I'd offer it.

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-J

True wisdom lies in knowing that you know nothing

I would be very hesitant to use gcode produced from someone else. There are so many variables... Speeds/feeds, endmill diameter, post processor, etc. Crashing a mill is no fun and I think I'd be doing you a disservice by sending the gcode I used to make my Mendel.

With that said, I can send you the solid model files used to create the gcode. I have redesigned many of the parts to be easier to machine. I am on vacation and away from my workstation so it will be another week and a half until I can act. But do let me know if you are interested.

I'm home now and had a request for my solidworks files so I'd like to edit a wiki page and upload the files somewhere but haven't contributed in the past so I don't really know how to do this. Would it be best to edit the metal mendel page? Where should I upload the files to?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2010 12:06PM by Thorp.

I have made gcode for milling most mendel parts on a 3 axis (with a tiny bit of 4 axis) but it all needs tidying up before it's fit to distribute, because it's all tuned to my machine and mostly it has had compensation for a 3mm endmill hard coded into the toolpaths because I hadn't mastered emc2's compensation at the time. I'll organise it and get it online Real Soon Now and hopefully improve it all. I had to make some custom jigs to handle things like the Y axis bearings and I also needed to do a fair amount of handwork so it needs quite a lot of documentation to be useful.

It is certainly possible though. I used a blender script to export gcode from toolpaths drawn mostly manually around the STL imports.