That looks great!
I design everything in F360 but not ready to jump for tool paths.
That is on my list but until I get my groove back I’m sticking with VCarve Pro.
Can you share how you set up F360 so I can dig in and start getting a better handle on how a SOPro and F360 play together?
I used my Revopoint POP, worked great to get the exact contour of the side of the car so the oil cap matches perfectly
Fusion is the only way to do CAM IMHO for aluminum, it does such a great job with adaptive paths and you can also slow down the speeds when it gets to a complex area. I was using meshcam which was great, but the control in fusion is amazing
I might dive in this weekend and learn F360’s cam system. I’t looks to be the best choice, and i’m already designing everything in there.
Can you point to any tutorials that helped you (there are a ton on YouTube but I’m asking here)?
I’d like to clear the clutter and get working rather than watching countless worthless videos and crash.
I found Autodesks CAM pretty intuitive. Like F360 design, there is a variety of paths available to the same result. I recommend simply playing with it. Create a setup for your part, then throw some tool paths at it. You can simulate the program and identify the effects of various changes and what not. When you hit a wall on something, give your question a search on YouTube. I think you’ll ultimately find the Autodesk CAM easier to use than anything else, though not necessarily faster.
I think you’re right. My VCarve Pro 8.5 doesn’t have nearly the capability F360 has. The adaptive milling is what I’ve wanted for awhile but Vectric hasn’t added that in (as far as I know).
The way F30 handles multi-sided jobs are calling out to me.
I’ve found NYC CNC stuff helped me a lot and as said above playing with the paths and testing,
@Brasch How do you like the Revopoint POP? I have been looking at a few different scanners and the Revopoint is on my radar, I just have only found two real reviews of it, of those two only one was a “good” review. Do you use the turntable at all with it? My primary usage for it would be scanning pistols to expedite mold design for when we develop new Kydex holsters.
Here is my POV. There are some great scanners out there in the high $$$$ range for professional use. They require skill, knowledge and patience to use (watch some videos on scanning cars it takes hours) The skills needed to take advantage of a 3D scanner are many and most of the people using the POP are doing so for fun and want it easy and simple to use to get amazing results, which is possible with the POP but you need to know more to make it amazing for you.
1: do you understand the concept of a point cloud and how much detail you need to capture to get the level of detail you want
2: understand mesh editing tools and concepts. No scan will be perfect, but can you use the tools to clean up or combine the aspects of the scan you need to make it work (mesh lab, mesh mixer, etc)
3: do you know how to verify and convert the scan to an accurate size mesh to use to make parts. I’ve found on body scanning 10% of the scan size gets me close. For large parts like genders, etc I have not done many small parts
4: you need to know a tool like Fusiom 360 so you can use the scan as a base to then create parts from. Areas like sketch from mesh, solid modeling and the likes will be your friend
So the long answer is, it’s a great tool if you have patience and are willing to know it’s not a plug in, scan and it’s perfect solution. I’ve used many high end scanners and I’d love one for my business. But this is the one I recommend now to all small shops because it’s a great scanner (with patience) and can get us to prototypes quickly that are great. For the price it’s amazing
@Brasch I have a FARO arm at my day job that I have used some, unfortunately we have company policies that prevent me from just being able to use it for the projects that have me looking for a personal scanner. There will very likely be some sort of learning curve with one (as there is any time you get a new piece of equipment) so that doesn’t concern me too much, my primary concern is the resolution of the scan & whether the materials I intend to scan will work with this style of scanner. From my understanding darker materials have issues being picked up by IR scanners due to the nature of IR light.
One of the two videos I was able to find stated that this scanner struggled with browns and blacks, which is my main cause for concern as the parts I intend to scan will all be primarily black or dark grey.
Yes like all scanners it struggles with dark colors, But if you get some Aesub spray or magniflux spray it works really well! White out the dark or shiny items and it’s great. I don’t use it for really small intricate parts yet so I’m only able to say for car panels/parts it’s been great with the spray
