So I took the plunge and figured out how to use jovian/kwok's Phlat3D plugin. Only took a few attempts at generating gcode to figure out how it has to be modeled. Of course Mark's pics in the Phlat3D thread would have been helpful if I had thought to look! Nah, I don't need no instructions

Originally I wanted to make a sign for the garage that said "BUSTED" in "Confidential" font, the one they use to make the mythbusters signs. but even at 5 inches tall and 20 inches wide, parts of the letters were just to thin (0.1") and I thought they would break easily. So I used some other font, "Impact," which is basically just a big, thick, bold font. I started the carving in 2" thick EPS foam (I'm amazed but it DOES fit in the MKIII) but Mach bugged out about 5 minutes in. Doh! I'll have to try it again later as soon as I know the garage will be vacant for at least an hour (the sign was my dad's idea, but he regretted it after he found out how long it would take).

FWIW I was cutting 2" EPS found at home depot with the stock 1/8" bit at 50 ipm and from what it did cut before mach crashed looks GREAT! I thought 50 IPM might be too slow and that it would melt the foam, but no, it's super smooth. The carving is 1 in deep.

I do have a question, though. I noticed that everytime the x axis stepped over to the next line, it would first retract the bit, step over on x, then plunge the bit again. Did I code something wrong in sketchup or is there a reason for retracting the bit before x steps over to the next line?

I've got some pics I'll upload as soon as I dig out the camera cables.



- Jeff

 

I deleted the other (duplicate) thread post. Sorry Jeff, but I haven't taken the time to load or try the 3D plugin yet, so I can't give any intelligent answers.

 

Results:


- Jeff

 

No, it shouldn't retract for every line. Maybe just the way you set up the 3d model?

The plugin is not perfect. It definitely has many small imperfections and sometimes the large major ones, like those 2 big gouges you have. You mentioned they didn't show up on a bigger model. Scaling can be done. I have a plugin where I scale up the model, do the calculations and then scale it back down again.

-Kwok

 

I think it retracted for every line because I had set the foam height in the phlatscript param's bigger than the the actually carving.

Here's the actual files I used to cut the sign (a little smaller than the original).

- Jeff

Attached files Busted 2.cnc (102.3 KB)Â Busted 2.skp (248 KB)Â

 

Jeff the only thing that I see being unusual/problematic is that the sketchup file is in version 8 which has an problem with on e of the apis central to the phlat3D plugin.

Edit.
I just converted the sign over to su7 and it still produced the gouge lines you showed.

 

I have limited the issue to something in the optimization routine. Sorry about this guys. Jeff I have ran your sign slightly off the 0,0 point with the optimization turned off. I don't think it makes a difference in run times its just the amount of memory it consumes when running the cnc file. Yours was small enough that everything should run fine.

Attached files Busted 3.cnc (1.4 MB)Â Busted3.skp (254.7 KB)Â

 

jkarnacki I made an update to the Phlat3D plugin that should fix those gouges you are seeing. Heres the link to the update http://www.phlatforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=185&t=2438

 

Awesome! Unfortunately I'm on my first extended period of time away from my MKIII (a week long family vacation ) so I can't try anything right now, but I will mess around with it and try to make a full fuse for a stryker project I'm working on. I'm trying to make it as close to the real thing as possible (it will have an airfoil, too!), and it would be awesome if I could carve a full, rounded fuse out for it!

- Jeff