La Femme Rocketeer

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johnchristensen
Vectric Apprentice
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2010 5:48 pm

Re: La Femme Rocketeer

Post by johnchristensen »

That is awesome! Well Done! I'd be curious to learn a bit more about your modeling. How long did it take to model? Did you have any experience with Silo before? What did you use to fill your seems? Thanks, and congratulations on an amazing project!

BILL J
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Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2006 2:08 pm
Location: OHIO
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Re: La Femme Rocketeer

Post by BILL J »

Awesome stuff. Im curious...does this software/book teach you how to alter or edit an existing 3d obj file. I have a 3d laser scanner (first virsion Next Engine) and I can scan existing 3d objects but alway couldnt fugure out a clean way to cut those objects up to put them on the flatbed cnc. For example...If I scanned the statue of liberty I would need to remove the arms from the wiremesh digital model and make seperate cut files in order to actually mill them.

also I need a good way to patch holes on the digital model that the scanner may have missed.

If this is the way to go and it works then I will move forward with educating myself.

snowgrains
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2011 2:50 pm
Model of CNC Machine: Home made 8020/MDF 3'x2' cuttable

Re: La Femme Rocketeer

Post by snowgrains »

johnchristensen wrote:That is awesome! Well Done! I'd be curious to learn a bit more about your modeling. How long did it take to model? Did you have any experience with Silo before? What did you use to fill your seems? Thanks, and congratulations on an amazing project!
The tutorial took me several weeks of fairly dedicated effort to get through. Although I didn't have any previous experience with Silo, I have quite a bit of experience with 3D modeling packages such as 3D Studio.

The seams were filled with ordinary spackle for patching drywall. I wanted something that dried fast and sanded easily and that worked pretty well.

Thanks for your compliments!

snowgrains
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2011 2:50 pm
Model of CNC Machine: Home made 8020/MDF 3'x2' cuttable

Re: La Femme Rocketeer

Post by snowgrains »

BILL J wrote:Awesome stuff. Im curious...does this software/book teach you how to alter or edit an existing 3d obj file. I have a 3d laser scanner (first virsion Next Engine) and I can scan existing 3d objects but alway couldnt fugure out a clean way to cut those objects up to put them on the flatbed cnc. For example...If I scanned the statue of liberty I would need to remove the arms from the wiremesh digital model and make seperate cut files in order to actually mill them.

also I need a good way to patch holes on the digital model that the scanner may have missed.

If this is the way to go and it works then I will move forward with educating myself.
Although I went through the tutorial, I'm certainly no expert on Silo. That being said, yes - you can import 3D objects and edit them within Silo to achieve what you want to do.

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jonquilmusic
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2010 11:15 pm

Re: La Femme Rocketeer

Post by jonquilmusic »

Hey Snow, how would you describe styrospray? Does it build up quick or thick layers? How would you rate it's durability?

I'm doing prototypes in discarded MDF, and I'm looking for a quick build up that can be smoothed and look photo-worthy when done, and I don't want to spend more time that I absolutely have to, because I've got at least 5 others I want to cut now!

snowgrains
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2011 2:50 pm
Model of CNC Machine: Home made 8020/MDF 3'x2' cuttable

Re: La Femme Rocketeer

Post by snowgrains »

jonquilmusic wrote:Hey Snow, how would you describe styrospray? Does it build up quick or thick layers? How would you rate it's durability?

I'm doing prototypes in discarded MDF, and I'm looking for a quick build up that can be smoothed and look photo-worthy when done, and I don't want to spend more time that I absolutely have to, because I've got at least 5 others I want to cut now!
Styrospray is a love/hate affair for me. It seems to build at about 1/32" per coat and does better in a slightly humid environment. I would coat my parts and then put them in a bathroom after running a hot shower for a few minutes in order to build a little humidity.

I have used it on a couple of bas relief's machined from wood rather than spending a lot of time to sand off the tooling marks. Worked pretty well. Since I was going to coat them with a faux metal finish, it didn't matter that the top layer was plastic.

Good luck with your project!

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dansfoundry
Vectric Craftsman
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Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:11 am
Location: New Mexico
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Re: La Femme Rocketeer

Post by dansfoundry »

You can mix styrospray with cab-o-sil (fumed slica, fine glass powder used to thicken resin for fiberglass) to thicken. Also you can mix in a couple of drops of water to help cure . Here in New Mexico the humidity is so low it is necessary. Hope this helps, Dan

adamfritzsche
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:54 am

Re: La Femme Rocketeer

Post by adamfritzsche »

First off, very inspiring work! I am trying to wrap my head around how the cuts are accomplished. You mentioned that they were done in 4" thick slices, but my question is, how would you get the detail on the sides? Is 4 sided machining somehow used here along with slices or is there some manual detailing on those parts? Or am I just overthinking this alltogether?

snowgrains
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2011 2:50 pm
Model of CNC Machine: Home made 8020/MDF 3'x2' cuttable

Re: La Femme Rocketeer

Post by snowgrains »

adamfritzsche wrote:First off, very inspiring work! I am trying to wrap my head around how the cuts are accomplished. You mentioned that they were done in 4" thick slices, but my question is, how would you get the detail on the sides? Is 4 sided machining somehow used here along with slices or is there some manual detailing on those parts? Or am I just overthinking this alltogether?

A good question.

Almost everything was split in half and machined with good fidelity. The arms and hands were split top and bottom. Head was split down the nose to a left and right side. Boots were also split left and right side. Each leg (including crotch and buttocks) was split left and right to preserve the subtle seam detailing of the jeans. Torso was split front and back.

Using that approach, I really only lost the detailing of the back pockets and the cloth folds in the area of the crotch. Also didn't have any detail for the sole of the boots.

I then re-oriented her lower half so that it faced up and machined just her butt and crotch. Also did this for the soles of the boots. Then I used a hot wire bow to slice off the previously assembled butt, crotch and boot soles - followed by a transplant of the new, more detailed sections and a healthy serving of spackle.

The nice thing is that at the end of it all, the Styrospray coating unifies all the foam, spackle and transplants.

A particular challenge was the hair. I ended up dividing it into a couple of sections and then cutting each of those in half. Even so, at the point where it was all coming together, I needed to resort to sculpting putty to fill in some areas around the head, make belt loops, etc.

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