[Jewelry making - Article 00004] - Re: [Orchid] CNC Wax Masters

[Robert Hood]

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    It sounds to me as if the milling was set up too coarse. I use Rhino
    to create my designs and Desk Proto to generate the tool paths. If
    you choose very high resolution your tool paths can be as close as
    one hundredth of a millimeter. The milling would take a lot longer
    to do than with wider tool path separation. Time is money so I
    suppose the people who are doing your milling are setting the tool
    paths too coarse to save time in milling. With a ball mill you
    should be able to mill a surface which looks almost polished. 

    If you're looking for a reasonably priced system I would recommend
    the one I am using. I have a Taig mill with with the longer x-axis
    and a forth axis. The mill and controller plus controller software is
    around $2100, the forth axis was $650. This is a very rugged and
    dependable little rig. Desk Proto is awesome software and very easy
    to use. I use BobCad (an older version) for simple planimetric
    milling jobs. I've looked into the more expensive software like
    ArtCam and Matrix but didn't feel they were worth the money. Rhino
    takes some time to get on to but it is a very versatile program  and
    I believe I can produce  better designs with it than I could with
    these high end  programs. 

    If you're handy you could buy the motors and controller separately
    and save quite a bit of money. If you  think you need servo drivers,
    you can buy the whole set up for around $1300 minus the milling
    machine. 

    Check out Micro Proto Systems for the Taig setup. Any questions?
    e-mail me. 

Robert Hood 
hoods AT eastlink.ca


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