Creative Stepover

[joe]

Creative Step Over


There's lots of opportunities to explore with the step over found in 3D. I haven't gotten to the bottom of all the possibilities yet but know that I've seen what can be done, there's going to be more experiments.


It's very simple. I've set the passes almost the width of the bit. One of the advantages is how fast the work gets done. Although these images letters were done with a 1/4” ball nose, I imagine a how a 1/2” would work out. Or perhaps bits which have some shape to them.

I've used Mica powders on the gold letters and Sculpt Nouveau on the Ding Bats.

[phil_o]

That's a very nice effect.

[powerlsc]

Really interesting Joe. I have Aspire will experiment now out with step overs. Thanks for the info on which bits you used, that helps us beginners.

[blackhawk]

Joe, I agree, that is very interesting. I have a new way of thinking now. We always think about how to take out the tool marks, but now maybe leave them in for effect.

What type of material is that on the large letters?

[jdervin]

Thanks for the idea. I've spent a lot of time trying to hide those things and never once thought how affective they could be if I simply hid them in plain sight.

[rcnewcomb]

Joe,
Once again you've shown us how to take a "problem" and turn it into a feature. All this time I thought stepover lines were bad!

Thanks!

[joe]

John,

My assistant wanted me to tell you, we charge extra for the Custom Step Over Technique and, you've been sanding off some of the profit. HeHeHe. He often makes fun of me too.

Wish I had more time to experiment with this technique. Perhaps the bit travel direction could be done on an angle. This would give a completely new look.

Brad,

The larger letters are HDU but the Ding Bat is plain old Extira. It's very fuzzy after routing but a flap wheel in a drill makes short work of smoothing it up.

A note to everyone: Don't be affrid to post your tests experiments. Fear is your greatest enemy. I see people, artist, inhibited all the time by selfconscious thoughts.

[bleeth]

Joe: As an Artcam owner if you wish to make that toolmark come out an an angle you have the option to enter an angle in the raster toolpath menu. You (as per usual) are right-It could be very cool. How about two paths, one with a positive angle (30 deg?) and one a negative (-30 deg).

[mims]

I've been making letters/signs for a local sign company. I had a big order of custom letters (large letters) and to save on time we used a course step-over to be sanded later.. instead, he loved the look as he thought from a distance they looked like wood grain..

[robtown]

I don't have any pics handy on my laptop. But recently I had a client who wanted a curved trim profile that looked like it would take some time to cut.

I tried it by taking a 2.5" raised panel bit, programming a ballnose bit at that radius, and cutting it in HDU foam.

The trim piece wasn't as "domed" as the original profile, but the resulting shape was a smashing success, and it cut in a few minutes each as opposed to 40+ minutes each it would've taken to do it with a 1/2" ball nose.

I'll add pics when I get to the shop.

Ok, I lied, I do have some of the site pics on my laptop.

The "clover" shapes are 8 symetrical shapes. The trim profile as designed in 3ds max is actually a dome shape, but using the raised panel bit as described above resulted in the shape you see here.

R