Need help with Interlam toolpath

[heritageglassllc]

Hi i am new to this forum and was hoping to get some help. I want to create panels like Interlam Design

http://www.interlam-design.com/

and have no idea how to create tool path. has anyone done this before? can someone can someone help me figure this out. thank you Brian Heritage

[heritage_studio]

sorry new to this forum
I am looking for something like COU001 in the art diffusion product category thick and thin undulating patterns. pretty tough to do?
Thanks again Brian

[robtown]

Well, yes and no... er, Pretty much yes...

There's a lot of variables involved. What is your machine setup and what software(s) do you have?

[heritage_studio]

I have a 46 x 96 alpha prt with columbo 3hp spindle & art cam pro, AI cs 4

I would purchase other software if needed, I thought using closed tapered shapes and v carving with a large ball bit but i cant seem to come close in simulations. love to see art and tool paths. any help is greatly appreciated.
B.

[robtown]

I don't know if the new PartWorks 3D has it, but V-Cut Pro has a texture function that will get you pretty close to what you want with some tweaking and a couple different sized ball nosed bits.

Your other option is to actually 3d model it and use it as a relief in ArtCam. I use 3d studio max for this.

[mims]

a couple thoughts. I can do this type of thing with Rhino/Rhinocam by drawing curves that go up and down in the Z. Something like EXM002-6 would look like a bunch of straight lines when viewed from above, but if you looked at the lines from the side, it would look like a wave, with every other line shifted forward 50%. Then use Engrave toolpath on Rhinocam and a big ballnose bit, and it will simply follow the toolpath you drew. At this point, in Rhino, you can warp and modify the lines, to pinch them together, etc, to get more effects.

I believe the new version of Enroute (enroute4 I think) has a 'texturing' tool that does exactly this type of wavy pattern textures, using the bit shape. At IWF last year, every program had texturing features, but only Enroute had this feature to do things like COU001 with a few clicks. It really stood out.

One other thing you might try is to find a Photoshop plugin that will create these patterns in high resolution greyscale. Then just import that into Artcam. But cutting one of these using a traditional raster toolpath would take forever I think.

[benchmench]

You could use any of the CAD or design software mentioned then VCarve the pattern using any version of Partworks. By varying the width of the vectors, the vbit will move up or down carving a narrow or wide path accordingly.

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[heritage_studio]

thanks for your help I will look at some of the software
B.

[robtown]

Ooooo... use the v-carve solution as explained above, but use a ball nose bit... That would probably get you pretty close...

[mims]

I was curious, so I ran a toolpath simulation in Rhinocam. Assuming you started with the profile shape on the right and made a vcarve toolpath (big 90degree bit), you will get the result on the left if you replace it at the machine with a 2" ball cutter. The ball cutter is following the exact same toolpath as the v-bit. So you can certainly try, but it might be difficult if you are trying to some exact design using this method.
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