MiKro

All are welcome. they are not perfect. and the LP top carve is questionable to be a 59 LOL!!( that's what was listed when I got them) They are usable though to get you close and hand finish. I was blasted on the OLF for posting these as "THEY ARE NOT Cyclodial" are some kind of crap to that effect and whatever BS standards some there hold, because they have the financial means to get the software worth 1000s of dollars and model it perfectly while looking down on those of us that just try to get by. whatever floats a boat? Enjoy, and do what you can with it. MK

Here's a couple of STL files I have worked on. They are not perfect but will get you close. They are carve top sections only, no cutouts. These started out as IGS files and needed some work. Not sure who to give credit to for the original work in IGS format? I added a profile dxf file for the PRS with PU, neck cutout and control layouts. LP top and PRS top. Enjoy! Large file Link MK

Are you radiusing the frets first? mk

You're welcome. MK

PM sent, Link to Neck pocket Pdf. Mike

I always leave a gap. it resides in the neck PU pocket. It's an end grain joint at that point and adds no strength but it does allow a method to inject steam for neck removal if needed. Also if you look at furniture and the proper way to make a tenon type joint you are to leave a gap at the end for expansion. A time tested method of traditional wood working Just my .02cents

Vinny if I'm not mistaken CoCreate is a 3D Cad program only. It would need to export to some compatible Cam program that has the ability to define your Tools and Tool paths. Or if it can Export your model in say an STL file then Cut3D could be used to gen the toolpaths to be used by M3 or another Post Processor. Yes cut2d is really more a milling program as you described. Mike

First is yes it will leave some radius. Now depending on the the diameter of the cutter and the stepover used, this radius can be very minimal. For instance using say 1/16" endmill for a finish pass with a 0.010 step over and a 1* angle, the cupping will be approx 0.0004. So if you want a 3* angle you are looking at maybe 0.0015. This is well within gluing specs for wood So it is not a problem in my opinion. Even if you use a 1/4" endmill and stepover say 12% the chord length is minimal and the cupping will be less than 0.005 still within gluing specs. Just my .02cents worth MK

That's cool. Just wanted to make sure you were on the right path MK

>snip< Other costs for me that may be helpful to others who want to know what CNC will cost: I will purchase a CAD program such as Vectric's Cut2D $149 I will also purchase a CAM program: Mach 3 $175 The above programs come at a cost, Realize that there are similar FREEWARE programs that will also get the job done. Thanks, Vinny >snip< Vinny, Just an FYI, Mach3 is not a CAM program, it is the controller program. Just wanted you to make sure you understand that? Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) Now what A Cam program does is allow you generate Gcode or tool paths for your controller software to use to make the CNC work. Cut2d is a very limited Cad/Cam program. It will only allow you to make Shapes,(circles, ellipses, rectangles and squares) It will not draw a line. In order to draw a line you must first draw a rectangle or square and delete 3 of the spans. It will not draw arcs, again you must draw a circle and place points and remove spans. It only allows you to profile a vector,(on, inside or outside), pocket and drill. It will also generate tool paths for those options. If you need complex 2D shapes you will need at minimum, a CAD program to generate a DXF file to import into Cut2D. Then you still have the limits of Cut2D for tool paths. Adding Cut3D will only allow you to use STL and a few other 3D files to setup Tool paths. IT does not allow any modeling. If that is what you want then you will need something like RhinoCad/Cam, ArtCam or it's lesser versions as examples. There are many more. Just wanted to give you some insight into this. Mike

AH HA! I found my Phantom RF spike. I was getting a static discharge from the vacuum hose when it touched the frame usually somewhere in mid table area. The hose may touch the upper gantry at various stages of XYZ location. The ground wire was broken for this hose. I'll leave the caps on though. Mike

No it's outside interference. I have shielded cable, a good case and I know it's clean power as the power filter I have is one I used in networks for a large company It's an anomaly that does effect some as I have found others that have this problem since finding reference on the Mach forum, CncZone as well as the manufacturer of my boards. It's not as uncommon as one would think. I happened to be blessed with this additional problem which is now gone See ya. MK

I say Jimi it. Hold it firmly by the headstock, holding the body high above your head, swing smartly towards the floor smashing the body as hard as you can. This should break the neck from the body and maybe other fractures as well. I'm positive this will fix the problem as you will need to buy a new one. Seriously, I would seek out a tech. mk

I added a breakout box before the controller and ran all my limit switches too that.. I Still need to put in a stop switch..its been 3 years..LOL What no Estop? I think my RF problems arise from the fact that I am in the flight path of Southwest Airlines passing over at 2000ft. I'm about 6 miles out from the North end of Love Field. Not much noise, but I believe it is the source of RF interference I get. Then again I am also close to a major highway and we do get our share of the truckers with linear amps on the CB blasting away as well. mk

Some info for any of you using limit switches and Estop switches with Mach3. After I added the switches I started experiencing problems with them triggering out of the blue while cutting. Setting the debounce in M3 did not help. I am using well shielded cables also. I put a scope on it and found intermittent spikes. Solution is to add an individual 0.1 Uf / mfd film type capacitor on each set of wires, bridging as close to the breakout board as possible. This acts as an Rf filter and the problem should be resolved. I have since run a few million lines of code and have had no problems at all. Note: DO NOT USE AN ELECTROLYTIC Cap for this Just some advice while you are building. Happy CNC Mike

Yep, that Rhino will poke at you. Chris, may I suggest posting this at the Olf many there use Rhino. Mike

Not as easy as you think. trust me. In order to do the radius you must first understand the YZ or XZ plane in relation to the XY plane using either a G18 or G19 vs a G17, as well as G90 absolute and G91 incremental for arcs. Then you must understand that from G17 to either G18 or G19 that the IJK changes as well. Then add subroutines to this. That's just to do the radius. This does include cutout of the fretboard at the correct taper, in a given length, as well as using a 0.025 end mill to make the fret slots. Now when you get there you should have some fair amount of knowledge at that point and still be learning. Mike Or you could just use a CAM program like everyone else. Yes and then you cannot troubleshoot the 40000+ lines of code when it screws up, whereas learning and using it as pure Gcode will only use maybe 100 lines of code vs a Cam Modeling software. I use Cam as well but I will say if you take the time to learn Gcode when all hell breaks loose you will be able to find it and correct it. Just my observation so far, I have used Cut2D, Cut3d, VCarve Pro, ArtCam Pro, RhinoCad/Cam, BobCad/Cam, just to name a few, which I either own or have at my disposal through my machinists friends as well and I will say they don't work flawlessly. MK I agree completely Mike. I was just being a wiseass. I program and operate a 5'x12' Onsure router and have been using MasterCam for almost 5 years now. I couldn't count the number of times I've been able to quickly track down a program issue by being able to scan through the Gcode and find the problem. It's generaly much faster then going back to the CAM program and tring to find the one little box you forgot to check off or that funky number you put in by acident. I understand JD. Like I said though as you are well aware learning to use Gcode will make things easier. I have a link to a text file that shows the G code I generated from Artcam for a 7" radius sanding block 3" wide and 8" long. it is somewhere around 1754 lines, at the bottom of that text file is a hand written Gcode version that I wrote that is 33 lines of code that is for a 3.25" wide 7" radius and 12" long. It also has the ability to alter width, length and radius with a few minor numeric changes. one other thing as well is that the Cam version is based on X0,Y0 being the bottom left hand corner, whereas the the Hand written code is based on X0, Y0 being X is the left edge and Y is the center of the left edge. Had the cam program been set this way the code generated would have been much longer. link to gcode enjoy Mike

Yes you are correct most do have a simulation of the modeled product, and yes there is a difference between what you see and what you get. It also depends on the tool type you choose as well as the specs for depth of cut, step over and feed rate. All of these combined change the real world. As well as settings in your controller software, such as settings like, Exact stop vs, constant velocity. Then you have the problem of step resolution and what your setup can handle as well as the accuracy of the equipment. Backlash, or flex in an axis can be a problem. Also you should measure each Bit or tool. As a 1/4" bit can range from .240 to .255 or more or less. These affect the overall outcome as well. So if I'm doing an inlay,and I know that a specific tool is a 0.124 diameter. I will set up 2 tool paths, one for the pocket using that exact diameter to get the tool offset and remove the inside. Now for the inlay I will edit the tool specs and tell it(the software) that the tool is 0.120 this will give me a 0.004 interference cut and the inlay will be a thumb press fit, since I will profile the outside of the inlay thus removing and extra 0.004. MK

Not as easy as you think. trust me. In order to do the radius you must first understand the YZ or XZ plane in relation to the XY plane using either a G18 or G19 vs a G17, as well as G90 absolute and G91 incremental for arcs. Then you must understand that from G17 to either G18 or G19 that the IJK changes as well. Then add subroutines to this. That's just to do the radius. This does include cutout of the fretboard at the correct taper, in a given length, as well as using a 0.025 end mill to make the fret slots. Now when you get there you should have some fair amount of knowledge at that point and still be learning. Mike

Mike, I'm sorted now, but that seems like an excellent deal for someone who wants to avoid the beginners pitfall of using basic threaded rod - if anyone is starting out Stateside, they should take your hands off! It is a massive learning curve...it took me about a month of nights trialing & erroring to get my simple CNC machine built, but then the real time sump arrives - how do I drive this darned thing!! (which means learning a CAD program & the CNC s/w itself...eg Mach3). IMHO, that needs about the same amount of time again to get to a level where things start falling into place. In the beginning, I too was somewhat intimidated by something as basic as positioning a simple shape & gettting it located in a place that my CNC would know where to go! (I was cacking that my spindle would try to go flying off past one of the Axis extremeties, lol)..you need to start thinking in coordinates & 'origins'. Additionally, I couldn't get away at all with some CAD programs at all (I tried the AutoCad demo - euuugh). Wrt CAD, once you've got past the basic s/w familiarity hurdle (eg "I just want to create a semi-circle damnit!"), you'll soon realise you've got to start thinking 2.5D & creatively pondering how to achieve the end result in the most efficient (or do-able) way. For example - eg to knock up a proper pickup bobbin on a 3 axis machine - not possible, but if you get creative & start thinking in 2.5D you can use your CNC machine two make two separate identical parts & join them together in the middle (where the copper winding hides the joint!) - I'm now using bits of my grey matter that have lain dormant for years! In general, I think it's just one of those things where you have to go through the pain of giving yourself a simple intial goal & plodding away & being a pain asking simple questions until you get there...then setting the hurdle a little bit higher - the penny eventually drops & it all becomes real fun after that. (BTW the CNC Zone is good because there are so many targetted/focused sub forums - so you're almost sure to get an answer to a basic question there). But it's worth the effort - CNC machines....every man should own one! (it's a birthright ) Re a tutorial ....it would need someone who has your chosen CAD s/w & Cut2D to do that (have you tried the obvious place - youtube ? - there's normally someone gracious enough to take the trouble & upload a video to help others on there). I know Vetric software is considered very good, but I'd think there's a possibility that you might outgrow Cut2D quite quickly - it looks to be ideal for 'easing you in' wrt toolpaths etc, but personally I'd rather go with a more 'integrated' package (by this I mean CAD->Toolpaths->Gcode all in the one application) I agree with Hank on this one. The software learning curve is a Beach. My suggestion is not to think like a woodworker. Think like a machinist. you must wrap yourself around the decimal system instead of fractions if you are in the states. otherwise metric is much easier. Also you must clearly understand the X,Y,Z coordinate plotting or you are going to go nowhere fast. Except the wrong direction and a lot of broken bits and wasted wood. Just my .02cents. Mike

What cap value?

Most planers will go down to 1/8", take light passes when getting this thin though. also using a sled and GOOD double stick tape, thinner is possible, but again this requires very very light passes and if the planer has a finishing speed then use that setting as well. A drum sander would be preferable for anything under 1/8" MK

Been wondering when I might see that in a project sorry didn't meant to hijack this one.

AHH!! The Real Chris is back! Good to see ya, Been wondering where he was hiding?

Very Nice Chris, Hope all is well with you? Mike