X of 1 Solar Car Project uses Shopbot to create full scale molds

[shawn_xof1]

If you read the latest release of shopbot's newsletter (EDGE) they featured our project. The Power of One Solar car project. So if anyone is looking to carve some very large scale molds on their shopbot we have a complete log of our most frusterating and most triumphant moments using my machine. Our largest mold was a total of 18' length by 6' width by 18" height. It took about 45 hours non stop to carve with about 300 000 lines of code. The final product was incredible to see. The accuracy after so many hours of non stop running was very impressive.... Now that's not to say everything was flawless, we were carving 2lb density EPS foam. the mess was huge! and the foam causes the machine to jam if it is not kept clean. In the end after many sleepless nights and my wife not so impressed with the foam tracked throughout the entire house we have created some pretty impressive molds. I'd like to invite all shopbotters to look at our website and click on news update. There you will find photos of our project and our very unique use of our shopbot.

As well I have a request....
I use various 3D programs for design including Solidworks Rhino and AutoCAD. what I am after is a 3D surface which looks hand carved or chipped, i would like to use the surface as a background for a sign which will give the sign a hand carved look. I use Visual Mill to generate toolpath so even a complex surface will be adequate. If anyone would be willing to share such files it would be appreciated.

And one last thing.....
We are still looking for sponsors for our car... If anyone has access to a 5 axis cnc capable of machining Aluminum we have many parts we need created for our car. Parts include Suspension components, Rims, steering linkages etc... If you are interested in joining our team drop me an e-mail and we'll see where you can help.

Cheers!
Shawn
sw@rwdi.com (mailto:sw@rwdi.com)
www.xof1.com

[gerald_d]

Shawn, what would you call a hand-carved look? Do you envisage cutting something with a ball-nose cutter and doing it in random (or precise) patterns?. Not that I can help you with your request, but I am often intrigued to what extent somebody wants to use a programmed machine to make it look as if it wasn't done by a programmed machine........

When we are faced with that problem of wanting a hand-carved backing to a sign, we cut (raise) the letters on the ShopBot and then give it to a hand carver who really hand carves the background. It is very cost-effective if we do all the hogging out for him. In fact, he brings us a large amount of work to rough out for him.

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

I did a "hand-carved" look sign, raised letter, with the ShopBot using a 2" diameter "ball-bit". I had problems with the 2" bit getting close enough to the letter without getting into the letters. Programing time was long too.

Later, I had several identical signs to make "raised letter, hand-carved look". I chose to do as Gerald said and roughed out the background. I then got out a large and small gouge. Each came out a little different. The customer actually said something to the effect, "I thought you were machine carving these".

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

I did a "hand-carved" look sign, raised letter, with the ShopBot using a 2" diameter "ball-bit". I had problems with the 2" bit getting close enough to the letter without getting into the letters. Programing time was long too.

Later, I had several identical signs to make "raised letter, hand-carved look". I chose to do as Gerald said and roughed out the background. I then got out a large and small gouge. Each came out a little different. The customer actually said something to the effect, "I thought you were machine carving these".

[gerald_d]

Having thought about this some more, I am eager to try my logic when I get back to the SB on Monday:

Using AutoCAD LT, it is easy to program a series of cutting moves in a staggered hatch pattern. A single stroke is drawn right to left for example, the left end is made a little deeper than the right, and then this stroke is copied multiple times (or arrayed) to give the desired overall pattern. Vector is used for all the vertical plunges and pull-ups (connect at Z).

Then, a board is cut all over with this pattern and a spherical cutter, pockets for the letters are sunk deeper in, and loose letters are glued into the pockets. Come one, spoil my theory, and tell me what I missed.

[shawn_xof1]

It definatly could be done with Autocad, however I think that would definatly give you a "Machined Look" the pattern would be too repiteve. My Ideal solution would be a 3D surface which as been generated from a 3D scanner of a hand chipped piece. then you would keep the random look. In fact I guarantee if you used a 1/4" ball nose to carve the surface with a generated toolpath you could recreate the exact same pattern.

Keep in mind this is just a general intrest question. I dont use my shopbot to make a living (Yet...) I only like trying to create things I am not capable of doing for lack of artistic skills!

With that said I must admit I even think you could generate a random cut with an Autocad drawing. I have not used Vector but I presume you are saying that you can create a 2D drawing in Autocad LT and raise and lower the Z values using Vector... An easier way (If autocad LT supports) would be to use 3D Polylines right in Autocad. there you can specify your Z values for the lines without the second step of using Vector. The shopbot DXF converter will recognize the z values and when you do your file conversion you can specify that this is a 3D DXF. I know autocad LT does not support all 3D commands but if it has 3D polylines you may want to try this.

Thanks for the input...
Shawn