CNC with Truespace? Help please. 2004-04-05 - By Rob Mitchell
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Hi,
CNC wouldn't be my first choice for this type of work, by the nature of
complex 3d milling, things can't be too small due to material clamping needs
and machine head sizes. Although nothing is impossible.
For a start, you'll have to find someone with a 5 axis CNC, certainly not
cheap machines and as a result not cheap to use. Prices could be well over
�?00/hour plus programming time if necessary.
We have a 3000 x 1300mm bed, 3 axis CNC router. I can probably work down to
sizes of 200x200mm, which more than covers our needs of furniture
production.
The other route is possibly the STL prototyping route, patterns can be made
for low-melt metals. STL prices are getting very competitive now I think
www.materialise.com offer online quoting for parts. These guys send me
regular newsletters, and seem very good. There are plenty of rapid
prototypers about now though.
All these options assume you need complex 3d forms. Simpler 2d parts might
be easily made on a more traditional 2D CNC milling bed, suitable for
profiling and surface machining.
Without seeing what components you need making, it's hard to point you in
one direction.
As for file formats from tS, there is an STL option in the conversion pack.
Personally I use DXF, I can import this format into my CNC software and with
minimum programming , can get perfect results.
Good luck.
Rob.
www.trebledee.com
First a quick apology if this has been covered in the past.
I am interested in making physical part from TS models which I have
build. The parts will be made out of plastic or metal and will be
relatively small - a few inches. I would like to ask the experts out
there who might have experience with this for some advice. First, is
this possible, second, are CNC machines the way to go. Third, any
recommendations?
Thanks ahead of time.
Ed
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