Carving a 3D into foam.

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jrsteurer
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Carving a 3D into foam.

Post by jrsteurer »

I am carving a 3D object into foam. I did my roughing pass on entire surface. This reduced my start Z-axis zeroing point. My question is how to set the Z-axis when using my final finishing bit. I am zeroing off bottom left corner. Any help appreciated..

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Bob Jr
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Re: Carving a 3D into foam.

Post by Bob Jr »

Jr.
If you have any leftover foam, place a piece onto the spoilboard, near your old zero area, and set your zero from the surface of the leftover foam. This has saved me before.
Bob
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TReischl
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Re: Carving a 3D into foam.

Post by TReischl »

Sounds like you have already carved away the original zero point surface?

If you have already removed the roughing tool the only suggestion I have is to place a piece of material the same thickness as the foam was off to one side and set Z zero from it.
"If you see a good fight, get in it." Dr. Vernon Johns

garylmast
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Re: Carving a 3D into foam.

Post by garylmast »

I haven't done too many foam jobs, but when I did, most places, I didn't need a roughing pass. When I did, I used the same ball mill which didn't require resetting the zero position.

Gary

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dealguy11
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Re: Carving a 3D into foam.

Post by dealguy11 »

This is one reason to consider always zeroing from the table.
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Rcnewcomb
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Re: Carving a 3D into foam.

Post by Rcnewcomb »

This is one reason to consider always zeroing from the table.
+1 :!:
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TReischl
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Re: Carving a 3D into foam.

Post by TReischl »

For some odd reason I have yet to zero from the table. . . .has just never come up. Could be cause I do not do a lot of sheet type work I suppose. One of these days I will have to and then I will need to pay attention to what is what!

Edit: Ahhh! I think I don't mostly because my z zeroing routine has a preset value that it retracts the tool after zeroing. Usually 1.5 inches above the surface so if I move the machine around I do not run into clamps. I do a lot of different thicknesses so it is not practical to keep changing that value.

Another Edit: And then there are the vises that I use a lot. Not practical to set zero on the table with them.

But some day, I am going to hafta, I just know it!
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SteveNelson46
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Re: Carving a 3D into foam.

Post by SteveNelson46 »

I don't know how other control systems like Mach3 work but I use WinCNC. X0 Y0 is always at the home position. If you manually set the X0Y0 all you are actually doing is setting a temporary offset. The same with Z. Z0 is always at the spoil board and manual settings are actually using temporary offsets. This takes a little getting accustomed to but makes everything easier in the long run. All settings are remembered even if the computer is shut down and the machine is re-initialized. Z0 only needs to be reset if the spoilboard is resurfaced.
Steve

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Jim_in_PA
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Re: Carving a 3D into foam.

Post by Jim_in_PA »

garylmast wrote:
Mon Mar 16, 2020 11:16 pm
I haven't done too many foam jobs, but when I did, most places, I didn't need a roughing pass. When I did, I used the same ball mill which didn't require resetting the zero position.
This is my method...when I cut HDU, I never use a roughing pass...it's not really necessary unless there's something really deep and you just want to have a cleaner shot at it.

But the advise to use scrap of the same material to measure your tool is spot on if you are using "top of material" as your reference. I work from machine bed 100% of the time rather than material top. Yea, I gotta measure the material before putting it down, but that's what works best with my particular machine setup.

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