On 20/09/2020 08:47, Gene Heskett wrote:
Type in the filename, select the directory where you want it (defaults
to the current location), and select STL from the list of many export
options.
And that part works fine. BUT I NEED A SOLID METAL PART! >
Going back 15 or or years, creating gcode to produce a solid metal part
needed substantial help from the machinist. And not much has changed
today. A few years back I was given a very nice STL model of a train
wheel with the request to cut one. Bottom line ... totally pointless
exercise. What I needed was the original objects that were used to
create the model, and the ability to select both faces and construction
lines which can THEN be used to build a set of gcode. At that time I was
using tools like vcarve and cut3d and feeding in 2D drawings which
provided the various profiles to be cut. Now I have FreeCAD in the
toolkit, essentially I'm following the same process but in the one
package of tools. Certainly the older packages are much better at some
elements of the process such as say 'engraving text around the curve of
the wheel', but FreeCAD has a growing library of tools that take
elements of the object and produce the relevant gcode.
At some point in the future we may well be able to tell a machining
suite 'I have an XYZ mill and here is the part I need to machine'. It
spews out a list of tools to use, cutting feed rates, and either
individual gcode files for each tool change, although if you have one of
those million pound machining centres with an unlimited tool changer
then it could be a single file. At the moment we still need to provide
the intelligence to decide - appropriate to our available tooling - just
what order of machining is appropriate, and FreeCAD today does allow me
to create parts from a scrap of paper with a sketch on to a finished part.
Personally I find the drafting side of FreeCAD cumbersome coming from
some 30 years of Autocad style drawing and THAT side needs some more
intuitive developments especially when taking existing drawings as a
starting point. However as a framework to build on it is doing a good
job and with more people working on niche areas it can only improve? In
much the same way that LinuxCNC has ...
--
Lester Caine - G8HFL
-----------------------------
Contact - https://lsces.uk/wiki/Contact
L.S.Caine Electronic Services - https://lsces.uk
Model Engineers Digital Workshop - https://medw.uk
Rainbow Digital Media - https://rainbowdigitalmedia.uk
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