1. Hey guyz. Welcome to the All New Phlatforum!



    Sign Up and take a look around. There are so many awesome new features.

    The Phlatforum is a place we can all hang out and

    have fun sharing our RC adventures!

  2. Dismiss Notice

Sketchup to STL file plug in

Discussion in 'Other Sketchup related softwares/plugins' started by RC of the North, Jan 10, 2009.

  1. RC of the North

    RC of the North Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    37
    Trophy Points:
    6
  2. theothers

    theothers Administrator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    761
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    New Jersey
    Mach3 will not import stl files. Mach3 is a control software that open gcodes (tool path files) What you are looking for is a CAM program that will import stl files and will create a toolpath or gcode of your file that you can open in Mach3 to run.
    I use meshCAM
    Mesh cam is a cool program, I bought my Mach3 with meshcam as a bundle pack.
    I have used it but it is kinda hard to learn at first, the hard part is getting the scaling right.
    Once you have that then you just set up your stock and your gcogde settings and output.
    I have searched all over the net and could not find one tutorial on MeshCAM!? Not sure why, but I emailed the guy who wrote the software and asked him if he knows of any or if he has made any himself. I will let you know what I find out.

    The free program that comes with mach and is in the same directory is called lazy cam and although it will open a lot of file types, stl is not one of them.
    So mesh CAM or maybe even the free version of CamBam would be worth looking into, there is also ArtCAM which is very nice but expensive.

    You can get a plugin for sketchup that will output stl files just for future reference.

    Hope this info helps you out
    Mark
     
  3. RC of the North

    RC of the North Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    37
    Trophy Points:
    6
    I have MeshCam, registered.Have the plugin for Sketchup to stl file.
    What I'm trying to do is:
    1 Make a foam sign for my wife's photography biz, make a 2.5D sign.
    "pulled up" letters with here logo,a flower she took and make it 2.5D,
    Print it on the PhlatPrinter and paint it.
    2 the other thing I want to do is take her pics and pull into 2.5D and print in 2" bluefoam.
    These are my main goals right now!
    any info, tuts,links, input whatso ever would really help right now!
    Much thanks!
     
  4. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    6,311
    Trophy Points:
    13
    Location:
    NJ
    One of the ways you can do this to open the pics in LazyCAM and setup your cut path there.
    I have cut photos like you are saying, and I have found that no mater the thickness of the the material the best looking out come is when I set it for 1/4" cutting depth. They just seem to come out better.
    I know that Lazy CAM will allow you to do photos but it a little hard to learn, there are other programs out there like ArtCAM but that is expensive.
    Check out google for picture to cnc
    Heres a small one I came up with just doing a quick search. http://www.safesite.com/product.php%5Bi ... %5Ddigibuy
    This one seems to use greyscale as a heightmap. Might work?
    There are a lot of picture to gcode programs out there once you start looking.
    Remember that lazycam will do this and its located in your C:/Mach3 folder.

    Mark
     
  5. ssmeier

    ssmeier New Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    10
    Trophy Points:
    1
  6. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    6,311
    Trophy Points:
    13
    Location:
    NJ
    Great find ssmeier thanks for posting!
    Mark
     
  7. janbjorn

    janbjorn Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    130
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Sweden
    That is a great plugin. I have just converted a couple of Sketchup plans to .stl and created G-code for Phlatprinter cutting with CamBam+ I will test cut as soon as I can find some time (hopefully this weekend)
    /Jan
     
  8. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    6,311
    Trophy Points:
    13
    Location:
    NJ
    janbjorn,
    Thats a good idea! can't wait to hear how it works out
    Mark
     
  9. rcav8r

    rcav8r Moderator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,193
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Anyone know of a plug in that will import STL files to SU?
    I ran some 2D cad drawings through my PP for a proof of concept for a project here at work, and now the engineers are modeling the item in Inventor to send away to one of those 3D printing places, and they need a STL file We would like to look at it in something other than Inventor to see how changing the resolution of the STL file will look.
    Thanks in advance.
     
  10. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    6,311
    Trophy Points:
    13
    Location:
    NJ
    Here's a free plug in I found that you could try

    You files have to be ASCII for it to work
    I hope this helps, I have not tried this yet so please let us know if you have success with it. If not there are a few other stl to sketchup converters out there I just came across this one and thought why not give it a try as it's free :D Attached files su2stl.rb (9.6 KB)Â
     
  11. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    483
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Roseville, CA
    Pouring CPR into a dead-thread: Got the trial of meshcam today. Took a thrown together 3D model I made in modo, exported it as a collada file; brought it into sketchup, used the free cadspan stl exporter to go from sketchup to meshcam. I was able to set up a roughing tool path for the 1/8th bit. Generated the gcode and was surprised how easy it was.

    But.... (there is always one of these somewhere)....

    While it cut effectively, it was pretty obvious that there were problems with the tool path direction. Lots of scalloping and a bit of an assymetric wobble to one side.

    So, Mark, or anyone else: Have you figured out how to best deal with the MK1/MK2 gcode output from CAM apps that will solve the issue of toolpath direction?


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG] Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  12. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    6,311
    Trophy Points:
    13
    Location:
    NJ
    Nice :)
    I always rotate the tool path 90 from x so that the majority of the cutting is along the y axis with a step over of 12% of the bit radius to get a clean cut.
    Hope this helps
    Mark and Trish
     
  13. lasersafe1

    lasersafe1 New Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Hello all,

    First post here. I just joined so I could access Phlatscript. I notice you all are asking about stl to gcode. I wrote about this on the sketchup forum and mach forum back in 2007. You simply use the sketchup to stl ruby to get the stl, then you download freemill from Mecsoft which will import stl and create your gcode in 3D. I tried it and it worked well. It appears you can still get freemill for free. http://www.mecsoft.com/Mec/Products/FreeMill.shtml

    It certainly isn't as convienient as Phlatscript, but it gets the job done.
     
  14. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    6,311
    Trophy Points:
    13
    Location:
    NJ
    Hello lasersafe1 Welcome to the Phlatforum! :D
    Thanks for this awesome link! I had no idea that this was out there. Nice find
    Mark and Trish
     
  15. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,123
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Leesburg, Florida
    Great timing... I was just working up a cowl for the EO Cub today. I did just as you mentioned, converted to STL and used FreeMill to generate the gcode.

    Had to try a number of different post processes to find one that did not choke in the USB controller and ended up using MyTmill which gave one warning but still loaded okay.

    The biggest problem now is how to generate negative Z axis cuts for the MK1.5 since it is not an overhead gantry. I have not been able to figure out how to do that yet.



     
  16. rcav8r

    rcav8r Moderator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,193
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Could you just flip the soft reverse switch for the Z axis?
     
  17. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,123
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Leesburg, Florida
    Ahhh! I think I found it... In FreeMill, there is an option to set machine zero to either top or bottom of the material. I had picked bottom, but should have picked top. Cool! This just may work.


     
  18. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,123
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Leesburg, Florida
    ummm, no. On second thought, that won't work.

    The bit is plunging the full depth and cutting out the area around the part, but my bit has only a half inch of cutting area.

    Going to have to rethink this....
     
  19. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,123
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Leesburg, Florida
    May have to slice this into smaller sections?

    Attached files [​IMG]
     
  20. Anonymous

    Anonymous New Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,280
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Multipass?
     
  21. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,123
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Leesburg, Florida
    ummmm.... I think the solution is to spend some money and buy Vectric Cut3D.

    It has sooooo much more capability than FreeMill, but it is also sooooo much more expensive.

    With Cut3D, you can slice your model on the spot and it will generate separate cut files for each slice.

    When it does cut, it does so by milling out a small area at a time working down the model till it reaches the base whereas FreeMill just plunged to the full depth and started axis movement.

    You get what you pay for I guess.
     
  22. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,123
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Leesburg, Florida
    Here is the same cowl in Cut3D.... after slicing

    Attached files [​IMG]
     
  23. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    2,380
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Sebastian, Florida
    Meshcam is a nice program, and it's not too expensive.
     
  24. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,123
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Leesburg, Florida
    Yes, I looked at that one too. I think it was about half the cost of Cut3D. I'll have a second look at it, but I really like the ease of use of the Vectric software. Sort of hate to spend that kind of money for something to play around with as a hobby but what the heck, that's what hobbies do to wallets.

     
  25. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,123
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Leesburg, Florida
    ummm, certainly has possibilities. I see they have a slice option as well! I seem to remember reading some reviews on Meshcam that it might even have better finishing processing than Cut3D.


    Attached files [​IMG]
     

Share This Page