Hey guys new to the forums heres, looks like a bunch of nice guys on here which is very cool! I'm still on the fence as to if the platprinter is for me. Most of all my Epp kits I've been making are die stamped (quick and I have sharpe lines with I like). Only down fall is I can't really modify a design plus its costly to make a die never mind find a machine to stamp 25 tons. I'm wondering how others are making out milling 9mm EPP style planes out with the phlatprinters? How long does an average plane take (lets say 32" LF Yak 55) and how long does the cutter bits last? How accurate is the PhlatPrinter with this type of material also? Any help would be greatly appreciated before I puchase a printer since they hopefully will be re released soon. If I don't purchased one I'm thinking lazer or keep on die stamping.

Now the software questions, I use solid works 10 for all my drafting/designing. What programs are you guys using after you have your design with the phlatprinter? Is it as simple as converting the files or is there a lot of work involve to get the phlatprinter programs setup correctly?

Thanks in advanced, sorry if these questions have been asked already, I've been searching for answers with no luck.

Brad65

 

Welcome to the Forums Brad

Any Phlatprinter will cut EPP fine, you just need to run a piece of tape down both sides for the rollers to grip it properly, the stock MKI will cut a standard model in about 20-30 minutes.
A MKII will cut the same model in 7 minutes or less.
My bits last quite a long time and they are only around $10 for a new one.
Properly setup the PP will cut as accurate as any other CNC machine on the market.
We almost all use Google Sketchup to make our models, along with the Phlatscript (both are free)
I own a heavily modified MKI and the longest cut I have now is about 11 minutes.

You WILL NOT find a better value for foam/balsa/light ply than the PP.
Mark and Trish have designed a wonderful product and these boards are very active with people helping each other along the way.

If you are online tomorrow around 5pm EST make sure to watch Mark as he works on the new MKIII prototype, it really looks to be the end all of this series of CNC machines.

 

Brad,

I use solidworks to design my planes also, you simply have to make 2d drawings of your parts and then export them as DWG files for import into google sketchup where you can apply you tool paths, and tabs and then generate the cnc code to cut parts with mach3 or emc2 driving the phlat printer. It takes a little work to do, but in my opinion is a pretty simple work flow.

The newest version of google sketchup does not have dwg import by default, but we have a version here on the forums that has the dwg import feature in it.

 

Great help guys thank you!! I already downloading google sketchup, seems very easy to work with. Still not sure how to program with it yet. Looks like a lot of research and trail/error but do able. Does the Phlatprint work like a printer as in it just copys or you need gcode unlike a printer?

 

Download the Phlatscript here viewtopic.php?f=98&t=2
Follow the directions to install it into the Google directory and it gives you the tools to output G-Code right from Sketchup.

 

Hey Brad like Jeff and others say, Download the phlatscript. Real easy to install. Then it is a matter of knowing which of the 6 icon buttons to push for your particular plan on the Sketchup screen, hit the green arrow and boom...you have a cnc file.

 

Thanks again guys, can someone email me the files (program and pdf) My network wont let me download it :evil: