My suggestion would be to limit the number of fronts you are simultaneously learning on and stick to one CAD / CAM pairing with the machine until you become familiar with feeds, speeds, workholding, CAM strategies etc.
Once you’ve got the hang of using the machine, what CAM strategies work well for the materials and pieces you’re making, how not to machine through the clamps etc. you’ll be in a good position to transfer that knowledge to another CAD / CAM tool which may have advantages for specific types of model or work.
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WillAdams
(William Adams (Carbide 3D))
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This is totally a valid way to go. I’ve barely touched Carbide Create and have done everything I would consider useful and productive in F360.
You will still need to use Carbide Motion or some other program to directly control the S5. While F360 can create g-code it doesn’t do any of the direct communication with a CNC. Really all you’ll be doing with Carbide Motion is setting your zero, then selecting the file that F360 has created to run. Think of Carbide Motion as what you would do on the LCD screen of your 3D FDM or SLA printer.
One of the positives of using F360 that I’ve found is that I can design something, then pick CNC or FDM or SLA based on my needs at the time. No doubling of work if you find out later that it would be much easier to print this than to cut this. Or I’ve printed some designs first for quick prototyping, then later cut them out of a harder plastic or aluminum.
I use F360 myself for almost all projects, but I’ve never come up with a successful technique for inlaying. If you decide to do a writeup on your method I’m sure a lot of folks here would be interested.
There is a great write up and method posted by @neilferreri
I had to read it a few times to wrap my head around it, but once I attempted this on my own design it was a perfect fit on the first go! I have only used this method, and had nothing but success.
I have since adjusted Neil’s parameters to suit my machine and comfort level with regards to speeds. Whenever I need to do a inlay I copy the setups from that project and paste it into the current project, select the geometry of the new project and hit play.
I have never thanked you for this @neilferreri ! But thank you very much for that writeup/ method! You are a fantastic contributor to this community!
I think CC is fine for Letter type sign work, simple scroll designs. They have a lot of free Designs in their library.
I have paid Fusion solely for the 3D CAM work. The Design metaphor in F360 is not my cup of tea ( I come from a SolidWork house. I have free Onshape for 2D/3D design work.
Starting with CC is a good move in my opinion. It limits the mental gyrations in the beginning ( which I am still in)
So. Update. I have now successfully performed a few tool paths using CC and CM. It looks like I’ll continue to use CM as this seems to be more-or-less required to operate the machine.
CC was friendly enough to do some basic stuff. Since I was working with arbitrary scrap from around my shop for the first couple of cutting operations, I thought it’d be a good idea to surface the stock (it was just a random pine 2x4). I noticed a couple of things that gave me pause:
There was no surface operation you could select in CC. There was “texture”, but that seemed like a predetermined “effect”. So, I ended up using a pocket operation for 1/8" across my part.
The pocket operation left a thin strip of wood in the center with the default options. The overlap was supposed to be 1/8" for my 1/4" end mill, but the initial operation from the center doesn’t overlap at all, leaving the thin strip of wood remaining. I think CC’s auto-generated tool path may need some tweaking.
But, a pocket operation isn’t really what I want, I wanted a surfacing. Did I miss that somewhere in CC?
I also had it do some lettering (with the 1/4" end mill). Came out nice. I look forward to doing it with a V-groove end mill.
There is no surfacing tool path. The pocket is the thing to do. When I surface my spoilboard I make the material about 1/2" wider than my spoilboard so all of it is surfaced. I use a Whiteside 6210 1" fly bit. With really big bits you want shallow depth of cut, mine is 0.010" and you want to go relatively fast. The big bits tend to burn the surface on material like cherry and some others.
The little chard in the middle seems to be a bug in the program. I have been using CC for about 5 years and it used to not do that. However in the last several revs it always to be a small sliver of wood left. I just use a chisel to knock it off. Stepover may have something to do with it but it could also be slop in the mechanics of my SO3. I regularly do maintenance and check my v-wheels and belts and lubricate my HDZ Z assembly. So I discount the machine slop. The SO5 does not have v-wheels and/or belts so that is not likely the problem. If I remember your machine is brand new but it does not hurt to put some Mobil Vactra #2 oil on the rails with a rag on a regular basis. They have a maintenance guide for major oiling of the rails and bearings. Just keep the rails cleaned and oiled to keep the machine running smooth. Using a 1/4" bit to surface larger pieces takes forever and if you reduce step over it takes even longer. Consider a fly bit to surface your work. If your spoilboard is flat it also helps especially on vcarves because the vcarve is very sensitive to surface height variations. Most vcarvings are relatively shallow and if your spoilboard has hills and dips that is translated into the vcarve.
From my Incra instruction for my I-Box “No project will be successful without square and flat material”. That is a maxim for woodworking. Everything has to be square and aligned to get good results.
C3D sells the McFly surfacing bit that has replaceable carbide inserts. Plus I think you can use it with the BitSetter. My Whiteside 6210 has a hollow in the center and cannot be used with the BitSetter. So consider that if you buy a surfacing bit. Working without the BitSetter is the old way I started with my Shapeoko before they introduced the BitSetter. You use the paper method to set your Z zero.
There is no specialty toolpath for surfacing, folks either use pockets, or set the grid to the desired tool spacing and draw up a toolpath which can be used with a no-offset contour toolpath.
Whether or no a pocket will leave a sliver is a function of how the stepover maps to the dimensions of the pocket — if you have a big gap in the center, then change the stepover so as to get more even spacing of the lines.
FYI, any CNC interface that works with grbl can drive your SO5. There is CNCjs, Universal Gcode Sender, ioSender, bCNC and many more. I personally use gSender.
So, I’ve challenged myself to design and manufacture a small, 75mm x 75mm x 36mm lidded box. I did it all in Fusion 360, the box and lid, then build the tool paths to fit a typical 2"x4" (I have a few scrap pieces left over from building the CNC table). Post-processed it to an NC file to load into CM. Easy-peasy.
Anyway, came out great! It’s nothing you guys/gals would be impressed by, but the whole process was very educational. I learned a ton. Messed up a work-holding piece, “crashed” a couple times (plunged too deep, forgot to set the multiple-passes options on one of the tool paths) but fortunately, nothing broke as I was Johnny-on-the-spot with that big red button! I Learned better how to zero better (before I had assumed the center of my mill bit was the zero point, apparently it’s the X and Y edges facing the stock?). And, of course, I’m getting to know my machine and my end mill better.
I’m only posting this photo for posterity. One day I’ll look back at this box and feel the same way you guys do about it . It’s pretty simple, but the lid fits perfectly, there’s no play and not tight in there at all (I used a 0.25mm tolerance/offset). I need to get some additional end mills so I can surface the bottom of the box and the lid nicer, and maybe add some chamfers.
But, I think next weekend (or two), will be cutting a self-standing shelving unit I’ve been planning to make from a 4’x4’ sheet of 1/2" birch plywood.
Yeah, I was just looking at it on your post. Nice work and I’m jealous of your stock! I’ve planned a trip next Saturday morning to a hardwood specialist shop near Burlington, NC… plan to load up ;).
. It’s pretty simple, but the lid fits perfectly, there’s no play and not tight in there at all (I used a 0.25mm tolerance/offset). I need to get some additional end mills so I can surface the bottom of the box and the lid nicer, and maybe add some chamfers.
