Indexer Capital

[wooddr]

Here is an update to an indexer project I am working on. This is a sample of a capital I cut with foam using artcam 2008, that I will be cutting out of wood later after I get some more bugs figured out with my toolpaths. This has just one quick coat of latex based primer on it to seal the foam.

Dirk


1801


1802

[paco]

Pretty cool Man!

I guess you could use better 4 axis CAM capability than what AC as to offer... MeshCAM can do multi sides (more than 4) indexing. There's Visual mill and DeskProto to look at for "true" continuous 4th axis capabilities.

Keep us post!

[phil_o]

That is a beautiful piece of work Dirk.

[Brady Watson]

Looks great Dirk. Keep up the good work.

People - notice that Dirk is proofing his toolpath in foam to make sure that there aren't any crashes or problems before moving on to denser material...hint...hint...

-B

[jhicks]

Way COOL!! Keep it up.

[wooddr]

Brady,

It's a good thing I did, because the foam flexes as the bottom of the router collect rubs it!
This is a final shot of the foam after two coats of latex primer and one coat of a spray can of a hammered finish.

Dirk


1803

[myxpykalix]

Dirk,
Never having worked in foam i don't know the flexing problems associated however having done some hollow spirals here is something you could probably do to help with flexing.

In doing the hollow spirals the problem you encounter when cutting to the center the only thing you have holding the wood horizontally is the spirals.
To keep the pressure tight horizontally I hollow out the center (usually of a bigger spiral, but didn't have a good pic) and insert a dowel down the center. That gives me strength to keep it tight horizontally. I thought that might help you if you put a spine down the center of your foam. Or is it dense enough not to have to bother?
How long did it take you to cut that? Did you have to do a roughing/finishing pass? Is foam soft enough to not have to do a roughing pass?
That looks really neat!


1804

[wooddr]

Jack,

I did put a center spline of wood in between the laminations down the center for strength. The problem I had was on the finish pass on both round parts of the end. I did do a roughing pass with a 1/2 inch endmill, but when I did my finish pass I forgot to have the finish pass do the basic model and not by the 3" round section by the wood end parts. The 1/8" finish bit was only 3" long so I basically could only get 2-1/2 " of plunge. That is why the router bit collet was rubbing on the detailed end of the foam to the left in the picture. The total machine time was about four hours. The foam is a four pound density type of material.

Dirk

[Brady Watson]

Generally when you do barley twists on an indexer, you use a barley shaped cutter to get the twists, leaving the center solid. Then you do the thru cut with a straight bit. If you do it the other way around, then you have to monkey with putting a dowel thru the center.

-B

[myxpykalix]

Here is a better example of what i meant. I used the first pic to illustrate what i was describing but this better illustrates it. This is a reject piece but larger to insert the dowel in the center. My original point was just to offer a way to ease the lateral pressure on the material but dirk already had thought of that.


1805

[myxpykalix]

Oh also dirk you should contact the guys at centurion tools they could make you a longer tool probably for a reasonable price that would eliminate your rubbing problem.