Question New Introduction

Hi Everyone

My name is Joe, I'm 63 years old and live on the outskirts of the city of Southampton in the south of England.

I'm very much new to CNC and still learning my way around.

My system comprises:

Stepcraft 840
HP Spindle
UCCNC

I've only recently finished assembling my Stepcraft and now I'm teaching myself to use Fusion 360 but, in truth, I have struggled with the tools menu and creating toolpaths.

Any users in the Southampton or Portsmouth area (or even the south of England) who may be willing to get me over the present hurdles?

Best regards

Joe C

Welcome Joe! I'm not from the UK, but I have an idea: there's software that is less complex, but you'd be quicker to produce something - and you can focus on getting the machine running.

For drawing "2D CAD", I recommend Inkscape (foc); for creating toolpaths, you'd use Estlcam (testing is free; licence is €49). Estlcam will generate the Gcode, which you'd then open with UCCNC, and control the machine.

Inkscape is open source, and developed by a community for at least ten years now. It's a powerful object-oriented vector graphic application, which will give you quick results. Basic operations are similar to MS powerpoint.

Estlcam is a capable CAM software to generate toolpaths, which is optimised for hobby CNC machines and quick results. Christian Knuell, the developer of Estlcam, is also a member in this forum, who gives good attention for support and constant updates to the software. Christian has a Youtube channel (many videos in English) for tutorials and to demonstrate features.

Dear Bodo

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. Whilst I am aware of Inkscape and use it to create vector ship models, I was not ware of Estlcam and will check it out (as well as looking at the YouTube videos). My main problem is being overwhelmed with the number of additional stages of getting from the sketch stage, through the CAM stage, creating the gcode and finally getting the Stepcraft to mill the part. In between all of this I'm still trying to fully understand the "speeds and feeds" settings.

Your assistance is appreciated.

Joe

Dear Joe,

only some months ago I was in the same situation you are now. New to CNC, CAD and CAM. I decided to go with Fusion and Mach3. Only some weeks later I was very familar with the workflow. Fusion is so powerful and for free, that it is the way to go in my opinion. If you decide to get familar with other software, it will be the same effort. Go with Fusion. I will help you, if you ask for support.

Best regards,
Ronald

Ronald

I replied to your message on Saturday but I'm now unsure if my response ever reached you. Can you let me know? Otherwise I will reply again.

Best regards

Joe

Hey Joe,

I didn´t get any message. No private one, no reply here in your threat.
Please try it again.

Best regards,
Ronald

Hello Ronald

Not sure what happened to the message I sent you on Saturday in response to your reply to my post.

Since the start of the year I have been teaching myself to use Fusion 360 - thanks mainly to some excellent tutorial videos on YouTube - and I have master the basic CAD functions. But I'm struggling with the CAM side of things; in particular the generation of toolpaths, the selection of appropriate tools and the issues of speeds and feeds.

I originally bought my Stepcraft 840 to design and make sundials but so far I haven't (yet) managed to mill one.

I'm also interested in making some custom wooden items to use in my motorhome - a cover for the sink and another cover to place in the shower tray when not being used (to start off with).

I would be most appreciative of any assistance you could give me - particularly in creating a suitable NC file to try out with the UCCNC controller and my Stepcraft.

Would you be happy for me to send you a file of the sketch for, for example, the sink cover? The design is fairly simple but I want to mill a recess on the underside to allow the cover to stay in place over the sink when the motorhome is moving.

Best regards

Joe

Dear Joe,
if I understand you right, you would like to send me your Fusion360 file of the sink cover to do the CAM? One problem will be, that you need the right postprocessor in Fusion for your UCCNC. I use Mach3, and therefore installed the post for Mach3. But I could make the CAM part for you and you will do the postprocessing on your PC. To share Fusion files it´s the easiest way to have a joint project folder in the cloud. For that I would need your Fusion email address, but I think we should discuss that via private message.

Best regards,
Ronald

Ronald

Thank you for replying.

The offer to do the CAM side of the sink cover for me would be very helpful as this is the area I'm struggling with.

I have the Fusion 360 UCCNC post processor installed (or available to send you). To start off with I'm limiting myself to a single flat end mill (1/4" diameter).

My email address is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please go ahead and set up the shared cloud project folder

Best wishes

Joe

I have sent you an invitation via Fusion. Put your project in there and please remove your email address in your last post to safe you from spam mails.

BR,
Ronald

Ronald

I wasn't too sure how to upload my project to the shared project folder (mainly because I was unsure where my project was being stored) so I exported it to my desktop and then dragged that file into the shared folder. I hope this is sufficient to allow you to see my sketch.

As well - I tried without success to delete my email from the previous post.

Thanks for your ongoing assistance - I think I'm making progress.

Joe

Hey, Joe.
You can edit your post with the drop-down menue in the bottom left corner below your post.
I had to download your file via web-browser and stored it in the common folder.

You nearly made the CAM. There was only a little mistake with the contour. With the red arrow, you can decide if it shall be milled on the inner or on the outer side. Now it´s fine. But there are some things I would change. I could check it maybe tommorow. Than you should be able to postprocess and mill it.

Please give me some information about your workpiece. Does it have the 600x400mm and 18mm thickness? You have a SC840, right? The y-axis is for the 840s also along the long axis, isn´t it? How about your speeds and feeds? Are they ok, or should I have a look on it, too?

Best regards,
Ronald

Ronald

This was the first time I came close to successfully creating toolpaths.

I can confirm that I have the SC840 and the stock size will be 600 x 400 x 18.

For speeds and feeds, at present I'm reliant on the values for the 1/4" end mill within the tool library. This is a subject that I have no experience of.

Regarding deletion of my email - when I click on the options box on the bottom left hand side below the post, there is no opportunity to edit the post and thereby delete my email address.

Hey, Joe.
I already changed some minor things on your CAM. Unfortunately, I will not be able to work on it today. Maybe I'll have a look on it at the weekend. If you want, you can try to finish it. In general you should have a look on the setup and the outer contour should be milled one or two tenths of a millimetre below the selected line.

Best regards,
Ronald

Hey, Joe.

I finished your CAM. Please have a look. Your stock is 400 x 600 mm. I made adaptive clearing with only radial offset. After that there will be the contour of the inner part before milling the outer contour 0.2mm below your stock to cut it out. Please make sure there is some kind of sacrificial layer underneath. Now you can right click on the setup and postprocess it wit the needed settings for your control software. Please try your speeds and feeds in advance. I think it should be fine, but never used a 1/4 mill in wood with 1000mm/min and depth of 4-6 mm.

Maybe somebody else can comment on it.

BR,
Ronald

Thank you Ronald

I'm now in the process of downloading the file from the shared folder and will let you know how things have worked out.

Best wishes

Joe