help with the extruder

[2006prt]

I am having trouble with the extruder in sb3. I tried calling shopbot and they did not seem familiar with the tool. I am trying to cut an arched casing from a sheet of MDF. I will attach the I saved. I was unable to post the vcarve file so I will include a pic of my screen. In the extruder i am using a .125 ballnose bit. The x and y radi are 67.355 degrees. I was centering the x axis at 48" and the Y at-50 inches and cutting from 320 degrees through 40 degrees. I think the arch is correct I just cant get the profile correct. I have been zeroing to the top of the material.

Thanks for any help

Todd

[steve_g]

Todd

Have you read the pdf help file that's available from within the tool?
From what I can tell from your screenshot... you should only use the profile and not the cross section. I hope this gets you going... if not I'll have more time this evening for a more complete answer.

SG

[2006prt]

Thanks steve I tried just the top profile instead of the cross section and I am getting closer. If I just cut the profile how am I going to accurately cut out the piece after it is shaped.

[steve_g]

Todd

OK... I haven't used this tool since Part Wizard days. Some things seem to have changed or at least my memory is flaky! I finally got it working but it's going to take awhile to document it all... coming soon!

SG

[steve_g]

Todd

OK, here it is... quick and dirty! I made my comments on the screen shots. Let me know if this is the information that gets you going... If not I'll try again!

SG

[rb99]

^^^ Nice work!

Thanks

[2006prt]

Steve

Thanks for all your help the documentation is very nice. I think I have done everything as you have as far as I can tell and I am still not getting it. I thought I had it and it plunged my 1/8" bit to full depth and broke my bit. I will keep trying to learn how to use this tool but on this simple molding I am going to make it with a router.

thanks for all your help

todd

[steve_g]

" it plunged my 1/8" bit to full depth and broke my bit"... Makes sense, we drew the legs through the material. By closely watching the animated preview I see it's doing the same thing even though I had max depth of cut set at .25". I guess we'll need to Z zero progressively lower or draw multiple profiles to control the depth of cut.

My suspicion is that most folk are using Aspire and two rail sweeps for this type of project today... in the past I have used this tool to make the most wonderful oval and round picture frames! I'll be messing with this some more as I'm getting tired of looking at the poor craftsmanship in the sheetrock of my round top window openings... they are screaming "hide me in casework".

SG

[2006prt]

Steve

I also had my bit depth set to .125 per pass and I zeroed to the material and it still seems to plunge full depth in one pass. If anyone knows why this is going on I would greatly appreciate the help.

Thanks
Todd

[bill.young]

Hey Todd,

There's a fix for that that will be in the new software. Send me an email if you want to try it out before then.

Bill