Category Archives: CNC

First Look at OpenSCAD

Posted by on May 11, 2013 No comments
openscad-sphere

“Disco sphere” made with 1 line of OpenSCAD code

After my review of Meshcam, it was suggested that OpenSCAD (available on various OS versions, or here’s the Ubuntu install instructions) could be used to turn 2D DXF files into solid parts for cutting on my CNC router.  After trying it out, this solid modelling package is really like nothing I’ve ever seen.  Instead of the mouse-driven interface that you see on ProE or Solidworks, you instead have a text editor where you can enter commands that are used to form a solid part.

Oddly, it felt very intuitive to me to use it, and the fact that you can copy-and-paste text into a drawing makes an example extremely easy to follow along with. With professional 3D CAD packages, you may have to poke through 5 menus to get what you need, in OpenSCAD you just type the needed command in.

AutoCAD (or Draftsight – my review) has a text interface that can optionally be used, but it’s interesting to think about what would have happened if other professional CAD packages evolved this way.  My feeling is that it might have made things harder to use initially, but once the interface is learned it would have been incredibly fast.  Fixing a poorly-programmed design or initially visualizing what you wanted might be harder, however.

Hypothetical thoughts aside, OpenSCAD is really a lot of fun to play with.  To draw a sphere, for example, all you have to do is type in “sphere(30);” and press F5.  A 3D sphere pops up on your screen.  As shown in the video after the “read more” thing, Read more »

Shop Vac Noise Reduction Panneling (From Scraps)

Posted by on May 8, 2013 2 comments

shop-vac-noise-enclosure-openEven with a foam muffler on my Shop Vac, (‘Vac available from Amazon) it was still louder than I wanted without hearing protection.  I tried putting a piece of acrylic over the front of it, but when I had a few pieces of scrap wood available I decided to box in two of the sides as shown in the photos below.  I attached scrap packaging material to the inside of them to act as noise-insulation.

I could probably box it in even more, Read more »

A Review of MeshCAM

Posted by on May 1, 2013 1 comment

meshcam engraving screenshotI’ve been able to use and review several CAM programs with my CNC router, and was happy to try out another when I was offered a license of MeshCAM Art from GRZ Software.  My first impression when booted up was that it had a polished interface that seemed better than the other programs I’d tried so far.

Before I go into my full review, here’s a quick summary of my first impressions of this package:

The Good:

meshcam-engraved

First try cutting with MeshCAM-generated Gcode. No disasters, so I would consider this a success!

  • Hands down, the most polished looking CAM package that I have tried so far
  • Easy learning curve
  • Easy machining setup
  • Free updates
  • Will translate picture files into Gcode

The Bad:

  • 2D DXF functionality is somewhat limited
  • More expensive than some other hobby-level CAM programs
  • With ease-of-use seems to come some loss of control

Visual polish isn’t everything, Read more »

Setting up a New Zen Toolworks CNC Router from 0 to Gcode

Posted by on April 17, 2013 No comments

I’ll go into the why later, but I’ve now set up three computers to run my Zen Toolworks CNC router. This time I carefully documented what I did, so if you want to set one up yourself, just follow along!

lenovo-computer-in-router-shelf

More details on the CNC router shelving unit here.

CNC Router Computer Setup from start to Gcode

Physical Setup:

Software Setup:

  • Install Mach3 or other CAM software, including parallel port driver (further steps assume Mach3).  If purchased, (here) register by putting the key in the root Mach3 directory
  • Restart computer and Mach3.  Under config => ports and pins change the inputs and outputs as described here. – Once this is done, you should be able to move all your axes, but the tuning will be off.
  • If you installed Read more »

More “Pixel Machining” AKA Halftoning Experiments

Posted by on April 10, 2013 No comments

I first featured an older version of my “Halftoning” or “Pixel-Machining” routine here, then made a pretty successful stencil using this technique.  Lately I’ve been doing some experimentation with varying the diameter of the circle and engraving tiles with it.  See the following video for a time-lapse of me machining a tiger head with a 1 mm endmill.

Besides this tile, I’ve also experimented with some scrap MDF, and have engraved several other tiles after the “Read More.”  Several have been pictures of Err from ATHF, although I did try to do a human portrait with it originally.  This turned out very poorly (I don’t have a picture of it).  Fortunately, Read more »