Here we are 2 years later and we’ve had a couple of years of working with RhinoCAM, and working with MecSoft support. I couldn’t be more pleased. We never moved to madCAM once we went to Rhino 6. I appreciate all the years working with Joakim behind the scenes with madCAM development, and I hope he continues to do well with it. Unfortunately for that arrangement, we needed features added at a faster pace than Joakim could deliver, so we had to move on.
FWIW, a few months ago I ran into the same problem as you were experiencing with 3D milling in Vcarve (not clean edges) and managed to get it solved by a super unclear hidden feature in Vcarve.
Oops, of course @Dan_Rocha . I could have just explained straight away back then.
So what actually determines the precision of your 3D model in vcarve is depending on the “modeling resolution” you choose when you make a new file. Normally you have 3 options: Standard, High & Very High. But apparently there’s a hidden way to get 2 extra options:
After you’ve created a new file in vcarve, before importing your 3dmodel, you should go back into your “Job Setup” WHILE holding shift. Then you get 2 extra options of which one is “Maximum”. I always end up going for maximum. It makes a huge difference vs working with very high resolution but there will still be some tiny artifacts visible, depending on which material you are milling.
Now, the modeling resolution is calculated according to the area you are working with, unfortunately. So that means that if you use the maximum resolution on a 50x25cm work area you’ll get a better result than if you use the maximum resolution on 200x100cm work area.
I’m not on my work computer right now so I can’t provide screenshots but let me know if this explains it.
What kind of machine are you using and what are you cutting?
In most cases, you can just set your z-zero at .005-.010 lower than the spoilboard. For wood and plastic work, having a pocket or dado that’s .005 to .01 too deep won’t matter. So draw everything in rhino with the z plane as zero and then lie to the robot a little.
Hi @Dan_Rocha,
What you could do is import your 3d model into rhino and place a surface below the bottom of your 3D model. The distance between that surface and the bottom of your 3D model should be the radius of your milling bit. Then you can export both your 3d model and the surface together into 1 stl and when you then import the 3D model into Vcarve it will go all the way to the depth of that bottom surface. Hope this helps.
I’m doing the free trial of Madcam and am having a problem with the “Project Curve” toolpath.
I don’t know how to make this work.
I want to flow a curve along the surface of the model, just a profile curve, and cut to a specific depth. There doesn’t seem to be a way to specify the depth of the cut. Only “Stock To Leave.”
If I set it to 0.020, the toolpath is 0.020 above the model.
If I set it to 0, the toolpath is on the surface of the model.
If I set it to -0.020, the toolpath is 0.020 below the BOTTOM of the model.
If I want to cut along the curve, onto the surface of the model 0.020. how do I do that?