CNC programme for Radius dish ?

[rusty999]

Hi Guys,
I am new to CNC but a friend does have a machine and has a basic knowledge of cnc work. Just wondering what he would need to build me a couple of radius dishes ?
I live in Europe and its very expensive for me to try purchase one in USA and ship it over so i thought about making my own.
If anyone has any advise about what software is needed I would be most greatful
Thanks
best regards
Rusty

[Ned Milburn]

Originally Posted by rusty999

Hi Guys,
I am new to CNC but a friend does have a machine and has a basic knowledge of cnc work. Just wondering what he would need to build me a couple of radius dishes ?
I live in Europe and its very expensive for me to try purchase one in USA and ship it over so i thought about making my own.
If anyone has any advise about what software is needed I would be most greatful
Thanks
best regards
Rusty

Who needs software...??

I made my own dishes with MDF (medium density fibre-board) and a hand scraper. The dish shape for my guitars is more egg-shaped than round.

[arie]

it's pretty easy. even easier with software. a lot of it depends upon what the controller is though. assuming a generic fanuc type box with g68 enabled, one generates an arc in a radial fashion in either the zy (g19), or zx (g18) plane from center to edge. or from edge to edge -your call. in the most basic form, you will be programming from the center of the ball so you'll have to offset your tool accordingly.

with your basic arc done, now with g68 you can rotate the program incrementally around the center point of the dish. starting at 0 deg and ending up at 360 (center to edge) or 0 to 180 (edge to edge). use a rather large ball tool as it will make the scallops smaller, the increments fewer, and clean-up with sand paper more easier. i suggest a minimum diameter of .75

this is just one way to get it done. were it mine and i had no software, i'd try this way and sub-routine all the indexing about center.

regarding software i'm pretty spoiled with access to the latest and greatest, but i'm going to assume that a lot of the basic entry level stuff should get it done -even the open source stuff should handle this work.

[LouieAtienza]

I have gcode for radius dishes, you can PM me and I will send to you. Pretty simple to generate when you have the CAM to do it. Most CAM will just do zig-zag, but I program mine to spiral out from the center so the contour is smoother with little cleanup. I also program to leave a consistent scallop, as opposed to consistent stepover. I don't even sand afterwards.

You could go radially as arie suggests, but you end up doing a lot of recutting in the middle and have heavier scallops to remove around the perimeter.

[arie]

Originally Posted by LouieAtienza

Most CAM will just do zig-zag,.

i'm comfortable with mastercam, gibbscam, surfcam, and camworks. not too much experience with more entry level stuff i'm afraid. are you saying that software below this tier won't do a spiral toolpath? or a spiral pocket? it's a real basic strategy...

[LouieAtienza]

Originally Posted by arie

i'm comfortable with mastercam, gibbscam, surfcam, and camworks. not too much experience with more entry level stuff i'm afraid. are you saying that software below this tier won't do a spiral toolpath? or a spiral pocket? it's a real basic strategy...

Most entrry level do not, at least a 3d spiral. 2.5D entry level programs do all day. I have experience with MasterCam and SurfCam but I own a seat of One lCNC XR4 Mill Expert....

[LouieAtienza]

I should add you could do this [3D spiral toolpath] with a simple subroutine, if you have some familiarity with trig. The program would actually be way shorter.

[Luke_S]

Originally Posted by LouieAtienza

I have gcode for radius dishes, you can PM me and I will send to you. Pretty simple to generate when you have the CAM to do it. Most CAM will just do zig-zag, but I program mine to spiral out from the center so the contour is smoother with little cleanup. I also program to leave a consistent scallop, as opposed to consistent stepover. I don't even sand afterwards.

You could go radially as arie suggests, but you end up doing a lot of recutting in the middle and have heavier scallops to remove around the perimeter.

Hi. Do you still have the gcode for these dishes?

[cwiscomb]

Originally Posted by LouieAtienza

I have gcode for radius dishes, you can PM me and I will send to you. Pretty simple to generate when you have the CAM to do it. Most CAM will just do zig-zag, but I program mine to spiral out from the center so the contour is smoother with little cleanup. I also program to leave a consistent scallop, as opposed to consistent stepover. I don't even sand afterwards.

You could go radially as arie suggests, but you end up doing a lot of recutting in the middle and have heavier scallops to remove around the perimeter.

Greetings Louie!!
I work at a school and have access to a CNC, but not the proper program to generate g-code for a 25' radius dish (our software can only do the curve in steps). Your plans sounds amazing... if you would be willing to share then it can help a whole bunch of students learn to build guitars and ukes!!!! Thanks for any help. Corey.

[Kerbie]

Originally Posted by cwiscomb

Greetings Louie!!
...if you would be willing to share then it can help a whole bunch of students learn to build guitars and ukes!!!!

Hi Corey, welcome to the AGF. This is a five-year old thread. You might have better luck contacting Louie by PM. Click on his user name and click "Send a private message to..."

Good luck!

[irvine]

Sorry, I just saw the original date of that thread. But If anyone in Europe is looking for radius dishes, Rall guitars in Germany have them.

https://shop.rall-online.net/epages/...36%2F171%2F163

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by irvine

Sorry, I just saw the original date of that thread. But If anyone in Europe is looking for radius dishes, Rall guitars in Germany have them]

If you have access to a local cnc machine, i have no problems sharing my cad files

Steve