Cut 3D / Touch Probe

[pjmartin8]

Question: I used a touch probe to scan an antique door panel and imported the file into Cut 3D. After running the finishing toolpath with an 1/8 inch ballnose bit I still had perferations requiring substantial sanding. Is there a method of smoothing out the finish with the CNC Pro Shark HD before final sanding? Thanks, PJ

[mezalick]

PJ,
I’m not sure I completely understand your question.
You state that you have “perferations”,,,do you mean perforations ?? which are small holes ?
Or do you have spots or areas that are not perfect?

Anyway, you may want to check your step over. The smaller the step over ( 8-10%) the better the finish pass.
Also, depending where the sanding is needed will require different approaches to fix the problem or suggest an alterative solution.
Can you post the file or at least so pictures res of where the sanding issue is?
Michael

[pjmartin8]

Michael:

Thanks for your suggestion. I will try the stepover and see if it works.

Cheers,

PJ

[pjmartin8]

Michael:

Greetings; hope all is well. Unfortunately, a reduced stepover change did not solve the problem. The result looks like honey comb pitting. Do you think this could be from the touch probe used to scan the panel? I used a .04 stepover on the probe, would using a .02 for instance help the problem? By the way, I am a rookey at this so sorry if the questions sound basic.

All the best,

PJ

[Greolt]

I have not done 3D probing,

but presumably you have produced a point cloud with the probe and converted that to an STL or similar.

I think you may need to look carefully at that 3D file. It might need some repair or smoothing within the program that produced it.

Greolt

[pjmartin8]

Greolt:

Thanks, I will go back and check it out.

Cheers,

Pat

[Ms Wolffie]

I have not done 3D probing,

but presumably you have produced a point cloud with the probe and converted that to an STL or similar.

Greolt

Ignoramus here
What is a point cloud?
Axtually, what is a cloud apart from something in the sky?
Cheers
Wolffie

[JMD]

[quote="pjmartin8"]Michael:

Greetings; hope all is well. Unfortunately, a reduced stepover change did not solve the problem. The result looks like honey comb pitting. Do you think this could be from the touch probe used to scan the panel? I used a .04 stepover on the probe, would using a .02 for instance help the problem? By the way, I am a rookey at this so sorry if the questions sound basic.

All the best,

I use the probe a lot. I always use a .010" step over and 40" IPM speed and get good results. The only real problem with this is that it takes a long time to do. Would like to see what you have. Can you post a photo?
John

[pjmartin8]

Thanks John, the settings are very helpful. When importing the file into Cut3D it appears to accept it only as a TAP file. Is this your experience?

PJ

[JamesB]

If the scanned file has marks in before you create the toolpath then they are going to be there as Cut3D will cut whatever you give it. If the marks appear in the preview but not in the part before that then as Michael suggested step-over or other parameter changes may help. Can you post a screen shot of what the model looks like in Cut3D when you import it and/or the toolpath preview?

For Wolfie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_cloud
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_(disambiguation)

Cheers,
James

[JMD]

Thanks John, the settings are very helpful. When importing the file into Cut3D it appears to accept it only as a TAP file. Is this your experience?

PJ

Yes

[Jo_Dy]

PJ,
Hopefully you have come up with a solution to your problem. I have just started using a Shark probe and ran into the same pitting problem. I was scanning a tote handle for my plane which had fairly steep contours. I think the problem is caused by the probe being bi directional, on the first pass over the contour the probe is fighting up-hill and the next pass the probe is sliding down hill. The software doesn’t appear to be averaging between the two passes. When I looked at the file in Cut3D I could see how jagged the edges were. I loaded the file into a program called Mesh Lab and ran it thru a few of its basic filters and smoothed the surfaces. This helped a lot. Mesh Lab is a free open source, but very intimidating graphics program meant for hard core graphic artist. There are enough on line videos tutorials that show how to navigate around the program, simplify the model by cleaning up points (including cloud points) and then using a smoothing filter.

[WoodEraser]

When I use the probe with my Shark Pro Plus I set it to touch down every .010" then move .010" to next touch then at the end of set length move over .010 and repeat process until done. A 6.5" x 6.5" x .75" probe project took 16 hrs to map (set up in evening and was done when I got up in AM. Very little sanding to be done and it was a complex piece.

[motoxy]

I have not done 3D probing,

but presumably you have produced a point cloud with the probe and converted that to an STL or similar.

Greolt

Ignoramus here
What is a point cloud?
Axtually, what is a cloud apart from something in the sky?
Cheers
Wolffie

Wolffie

When you use a touch probe to find the xyz positions of points all over the surface of an object the resulting file is known as a point cloud as when these co-ordinates are put into a suitable program to view it then it has the appearance of a cloud that looks like your object. You then have to 'join the dots' and smooth the resulting surface and convert into a suitable 3d file for your machine.

The car on this page - http://www.shapecapture.com/SC_Poly.htm - will gve you the idea.

Bruce

[Ms Wolffie]

Thank you very much Bruce.
Another CNC mystery solved
Cheers
Wolffie