Hi Guys,
I'm trying to make a D shape tube out of pine or hardwood, and would like to get some advice from the experts and home users on what you think may work best.
The Tube Dimensions are approximately 70x70mm with a D on one of side approximately 30 high ( Total witch approx 100 incliding D ) and tubelength 700 - 800mm.
I have the Stepcraft2 840, and 4th Axis Circular chuck / laithe setup, with Vetric and Fusion360 software.
What I imagined doing, was getting a solid piece of wood, maybe 100x100x800, placing it on the circular chuck (raised off the table so that it rotates clearly), and then End Milling a side flat, rotating the chuck 90 degrees, repeating x 2, and then doing the curved top last with a 6mm end mill for roughing, then the 3 or 1mm to finish the D curve off.
Is it possible to use the Vetric software or Fuision 360, to write a toolpath that will wo this automatically, or do I have to write 4 separate tool paths and manually rotate the chuck 90 degrees ?
I am using a 3D file and then importing that into the material workspace to generate the tube shape.
..
Plan B, was to not use the rotatry axis, and instead just lay the block on the plate, Flatten 2 sides, then align the flattened 2 sides to flatten the bottom of the tube at 90 degrees, then place the tube with D facing upright, and rough and flatten the top. Obviously there is a lot more room for error in this as it relies on many piece modifications, instead of the rotary axis rotating
What do guys think ?