Anyone know of another cnc router forum?

[dray]

Im looking to further my knowledge on what can be done with a cnc router and which software to use etc to do mild architectual stuff like this:

http://www.becausewecan.org/recent_work

and also detailed 3d work...

Anyone know of any good forums? Thx

[jeffreymcgrew]

Dude. That's my site. And this forum is what taught me to do that.

(Well, that and years and years of working in various Architectural and furniture design offices and with Autodesk Revit and other 3D software).

And I didn't think this project 'mild'. Guess I'll have to find some crazier clients next time. ;-)

Seriously though, what do you want to know? We use Autodesk Revit to model the existing space, which we then add our custom elements to. We model them in Revit, sometimes live in front of the client, and then we export views from Revit to Artcam Insignia to feed to the 'bot. We also sometimes draw things up in Adobe Illustrator, and use some Blender for more 3D stuff (which this job so far hasn't had a lot of). We came at this whole 'bot thing from the opposite side it looks like you did from looking at your website. We're designers with heavy computer chops that got a 'bot so that we could directly fabricate stuff, instead of cabinet makers / millworkers who picked up a 'bot. I bet you'd be horrified at the quality of our finishing and such... your stuff looks great!

[tomasz]

Hey Danny,

Try WOODWEB.COM. "Cnc Forum" and or "Architectural Forum". They have it all !
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[dray]

Heya Jeff, heh by mild I meant non structural...Cosmetic type stuff.

Im still winding my way through your site as I write this. Your stuff is EXACTLY what I was looking for.

I started flipping through the forums here saw a few too many moose heads and got the downs.

I do alot of custom stuff in Orange County, just south of you 500 miles =).

Whats revit?
My email and website is on my shopbot page, do you frequent any forums or?

[myxpykalix]

Try this site:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/index.php
or
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/ (very good one)

[dray]

Whoa thx for the input all of you.. Im excited again lol.. But my PRS wont be here until Monday!! But I can still draw =)

[jeffreymcgrew]

Revit is a tool made by Autodesk. It's kinda like Pro-E, Inventor, or Solidworks but for the construction industry, i.e. Architects and Engineers. It's really really good at certain things, and really bad at others. So I'd have to hear more about the work you wanna do to be able to recommend it. It's also expensive, for it's really meant for whole buildings. Which is what someday we hope to scale up to. It's not good at complex "organic" curvy models, which is where Blender comes in for us.

I frequent AUGI, which is a CAD forum for Autodesk products. www.augi.com (http://www.augi.com). But it's not really about CNC at all.

Oh, one more thing: if you get a project and need some design / modeling help we can totally do so. We can deliver ready-to-go shopbot files even so you can cut it there and stuff...

[myxpykalix]

Jeffrey,
I went to your site (Had seen it before) but never knew who's it was. I even had taken the picture of the beautiful desk you made and put it a folder of things someday i hope to be able to emulate. The wings design is really really COOL! How did you create the file, as it looks like it has several cutting levels in it? What would you charge for the file of the wings? Beautiful work.

[dray]

Yeah.. I often get "themed" room requests and custom piece requests. Which is why I bought the PRS. Once in a great while I get requests for hidden spaces.

I pass alot of the theme stuff up just because I dont have decent design software. I have access, just no time to learn it all. drawing a room up in "paint" just doesnt look right lol..

I use KCDW for my cabinetry but im at a loss for the rest of it so it usually gets dumped.

I just dont know what software to check into for the majority of this stuff.

[jeffreymcgrew]

Jack: Those wings were modeled in Blender and then exported to Millwizard for carving. Next time we do some 3D we'll use Cut3D, it's way better IMHO.

Danny: You can download a free 30-day trial of Revit from the Autodesk website. Get the 'Building' (soon to be called Architecture) one, not the Structures or Systems one. Run through the basic 'getting started' tutorial and that should give you a taste for the software. It's really meant to do whole projects mind you, but it really, really shines at certain things.

Revit is a tool for putting buildings and/or interior spaces together. So it may not be as smart as purpose-built cabinet software is, but it well let you model spaces very quickly and at a high level of detail, and then export views of those models (and whole models) to toolpathing software.

However, with that said, Revit is very much a 'kit of parts' kind of modeler. Like I said before, it's Inventor for Architects more or less. So if you don't have the parts you need for what you're doing you've got to model them. This is both good and bad, it's good because those parts can be parametric, so that you can change them very, very quickly. It's bad because these parts can be hard to make. Takes a while to learn. Think of it as intelligent building software, kinda of like your cabinet software but for whole buildings. It's actually called Building Information Modeling, a kinda intelligent CAD. For example, when I model up a space, I get a BOM for free out of it, for everything, even the areas of paint. Might not be your bag of tea tho as while it's easy to get started on it's a very robust program with a lot more features then you might use. But check it out.

Another really great package to try is Sketchup! It's a really nice little modeler. Basic version is free, but you'll need the full version for exporting to CAM software. It's not as robust as A friend of mine has written his own plug-ins for toolpathing in it too, he posts here as well so maybe he'll chime in more about it.

[dray]

I have sketchup..
I started using it about a year or two ago. I liked the way it modeled it was easy but the finite details werent there and I didnt want to go back and forth between software. So I uninstalled it.

Gonna try Revit and see how it feels.

[jeffreymcgrew]

You should try Rhino as well while you're at it. Revit's no good for complex 'organic' curvy 3D shapes, while Rhino is. Rhino's also pretty cheap for what it is. I'm not crazy about it, but many folks swear by it and it's pretty AutoCAD-like so some folks take to it quickly...

[Towersonline]

To many moose heads!! That’s my stuff. Some of us are hobby users of the machine. What is great is this forum caters to all disciplines of users of Shopbot equipment. I participate when I can, and so do many others. I owe most of what I have learned about the BOT right here. If you find it a downer reading about our work I suggest to you there may be another forum that may cater better to your needs.
Bill Thorpe

[srwtlc]

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[jeffreymcgrew]

Bill: don't take it personally. I, too, when I first started researching the Shopbot and this forum was a little bit put off by some of the work. It's not that the work is bad at all, most of it is really good. It's just not what I was interested in doing. As you say, there all types here, and that includes folks me who aren't wood workers and have different tastes when it comes to what we want to make. However, I think we all share in the excitement and potential of it when we look at each other's work, even if it's not style-wise what we are into...

[myxpykalix]

I've been called worse things than a "Moosehead".
Still not sure if i should be offended or not?
Signed,
Bullwinkle

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[rick_woodward]

Well, i guess i shouldnt post this type of work here then ? Even though i think shopbot is one of the best companies in the world and their support is outstanding. I have been thinking i SHOULD post some of the things i do to show others what is possible and to help show the work this fine machine can do. Artcam Pro 8


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[jeffreymcgrew]

I grew up in Wyoming. I have no fear of moose, donkeys, burros, mules, or any other hoofed beast. Well maybe Buffalo, but only in person.

Look, I love seeing other folk's work. Just because I personally don't wanna carve out moose doesn't mean I don't like seeing other people's work! It's very inspiring and gives everyone great ideas. So please no one feel like anyone here is trying to have folks not post their work. I know most of these posts are jokes and such, but still...

[zeykr]

Very nice Rick!

[dray]

Thats nice!!