Conical Frustum

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CaduCues
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:46 pm
Model of CNC Machine: Poor Man's Chinese Import 6090

Conical Frustum

Post by CaduCues »

Hello,

Is there anyway to create a tapered cylinder (conical frustum) in V-Carve Pro for the purpose of designing engravings across the entire workpiece?

Some of the pieces I have been working on taper to a point over anywhere from .25 to 5 feet. Right now I simply divide the work space out into parts that are close enough in diameter to not make errors, but I am finding it a little too tedious for 4th axis cuts that are meant to happen over a long distance.

For instance, I would like to engrave a curved line around the cylinder over 2 feet. The taper on this cylinder goes from 2 inches to .8 inches. I currently draw a tapered line down the document properties and keep my engravings within those lines so that it can make a more accurate cut. Sadly, I find that I still have inaccuracies in lining up the cut.

I would like to be able to display the entirety of my cutpaths in one .crv file if possible, but I am having trouble conceptualizing how to procede. I hope my question is clear enough, if not I'll just sum it up as this: I am trying to engraving across a tapered cylinder using the fourth axis, and I am finding the Wrapped Job Setup to only allow for cylinders with no taper. I've tried to adapt but am looking for a way to make the dimensions of the job properties to match the tapered cylinder I am working on.

Thank you,
Jake

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martin54
Vectric Archimage
Posts: 7339
Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2012 2:12 pm
Model of CNC Machine: Gerber 48, Triac PC, Isel fixed gantry
Location: Kirkcaldy, Scotland

Re: Conical Frustum

Post by martin54 »

I don't do rotary work not having a 4th Axis & with very little gantry clearance on my machine there is no way to have one so this might not be possible for you but is there any way you can offset the tailstock so you aren't engraving on a tapper ?

Pictures will help people better understand what you would like to accomplish :lol: :lol:

4DThinker
Vectric Wizard
Posts: 1701
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2012 12:14 pm
Model of CNC Machine: CNC Shark Pro, Probotix Meteor 25" x 50"

Re: Conical Frustum

Post by 4DThinker »

If all you want is a single line that spirals down the tapered cylinder, then the fluting toolpath should be able to handle that. I make tapered legs using the moulding toolpath or using a parallel row of lines with the fluting toolpath. Once cut a single diagonal line that goes across the material blank, or across 2x or 3x the width of the blank can cut an even depth spiraling line using the fluting toolpath if the start depth and cut depth (start depth +.6" in your case) are set properly.
Tapered leg with spiraling parallel grooves.jpg
If what you want is to do a more complicated engraving that spirals down the taper then you'll need to start with a wedge 3D model, then if VCarve 9 has "map to the 3D surface you should be able to have the CNC cut it into the spiral. Lay it out so it is parallel to the diagonal lines.

4D
Attachments
tapered leg with spiraling grooves.crv3d
(257.5 KiB) Downloaded 98 times
tapered leg with spiraling grooves.crv
(252.5 KiB) Downloaded 88 times

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