The lithophane feature should be more obvious since it is something that adds a lot of value to the program. Its just difficult to keep track of where to find everything. Links to the videos could be included in hover dialog boxes that they relate to.
#Meshcam art lithophane manual
When I have to watch 10 videos and visit 5 different web pages to put it all together its too much and I lose motivation.IMO, the manual should be in the help section of the program and all of the buttons/settings should be explained there. We are all overloaded with trying to learn 50 different things. I love the ease of use… at least after I received the Mark Bellon crash course over the phone. Robert at MeshCam has been great about answering my questions whenever I email. It makes the kind of milling I want to do very easy. MeshCam is the reason I was willing to take the CNC plunge. MeshCam is for the most part very easy to use with the Nomad, especially using the Carbide3D toolpath settings. Let me preface the following comments by saying… Have you visited the MeshCAM site and seen how they describe all of the features?ĭo see a tutorial on lithophanes in the forum: Lithophanes are done in MeshCAM via a technique, not a specific button. This is an awesome feature and it should have a dedicated GUI button, IMO. You find out only if you are curious and decide to try to load a. You don’t find anything in the menus that indicate this.
#Meshcam art lithophane full
One pass around using the full length of the flutes reduces or removes all signs of the waterline.Īlso, if you bought a Nomad then you have the ability to make lithopanes from black and white picture images. Pencil is used to clean up edges that were waterlined (which is necessary since the bite of the end mill cannot go all the way through a stock). Pencil is drawing around the object with a pencil… just like how one would make an outline on a piece of paper. Waterline comes from what the side looks like when you’re done - think of an evaporating reservoir. These are the traditional names for the techniques.
#Meshcam art lithophane how to
I get some idea about how they work from seeing the simulation but are there any good tutorials on how to use these settings most effectively? If it can use it, the G code file is much smaller (if there a lot of circles).Ĥ Waterline and Pencil are ambiguous terms. Otherwise, MeshCAM emits a great many G01 (linear cut) commands to approximate the circle. If MeshCAM can find a circle, it will use G02/G03 - the CNC machine does the circle as one or two arc commands. Depending on the shape one is milling, one chooses to obtain the nicest finish and tightest cutting (since these are approximations). Look at the pictures and shapes and I think your questions will be answered we can help with what’s left. Here is a great article that should help: Climb milling is often the correct answer (despite the “conventional”). It depends a great deal on what you’re doing and stock. This is more advanced knowledge of machining. I wouldn’t mind if the tools database value was entered, but show it to me and let me change it.Ģ When is it best to use parallel path and when should conventional or climb milling be used? There is always room for better documentation!