[cismontguy]

I have a project where I want to engrave a 3/4" thick, flat piece of MDF with letters in an arch that is 18" in diameter. The letter follow the curve of the circle, so they are not going to be within the limits of the tormach's X and Y movements.

Has anyone had any experience machining a project in sections with Pathpilot? Is there a way to rotate the work in Pathpilot after you have generated the G-code or will I have to create G code (I am using Fusion 360) for each word and then carefully align the piece of flat MDF on the mill, to machine?

I can upload some pictures a bit later for clarity... Just thought I would post this to see if there were any ideas?

Thanks,

Cismontguy.

[Steve Seebold]

If you had a 4th axis rotary table it would be a piece of cake. You could do it in quadrants.

Do some, rotate 90 degrees, do some more and so on.

[cismontguy]

Hello Steve. We do have a rotary table for the Brindgeport. Not sure how I would attach a 18" diameter circle to a 12" rotary table ? Could take some doing? Right now I am pursuing doing it in sections like you suggested with different O,O, called out in Fushion 360 for the different sections. I found it helped a great deal to print the sign out on paper and then play with that on the Tormach to see how I should place the MDF in order to get the best possible coverage of the Tormach's work area. I guess, since I am new to the tormach, I did not realize how limited its movement was in the Y axis. More later, as soon as I run an Air Cut on the part.

Thanks,

Cismontguy

[Steve Seebold]

You can hold the board on your rotary table with double back tape.

[Louis_Cannell]

if it has t slots thread bars in that extend past table and screw to back of MDF.

[jcposada]

Another suggestion if you expect to be many jobs that exceed the work envelope is to get a tooling plate such as the ones tosatool sells. It has precisely aligned holes that enable you to index the work. I am not affiliated with them in any way and I think the opinions on Tosa on this forum are mixed, but it has worked well for me.

[Jon.N.CNC]

If you start with a rectangular piece of stock, assuring the letter is centered in both stocks length and width. Make up a frame for the stock on bed, when you cut the letter use tabs, cut one half, spin and place back in the frame. Flip origin to opposite corner in cam similarly.

[AUSTINMACHINING]

I have a project where I want to engrave a 3/4" thick, flat piece of MDF with letters in an arch that is 18" in diameter. The letter follow the curve of the circle, so they are not going to be within the limits of the tormach's X and Y movements.

Has anyone had any experience machining a project in sections with Pathpilot? Is there a way to rotate the work in Pathpilot after you have generated the G-code or will I have to create G code (I am using Fusion 360) for each word and then carefully align the piece of flat MDF on the mill, to machine?

I can upload some pictures a bit later for clarity... Just thought I would post this to see if there were any ideas?

Thanks,

Cismontguy.

Here's a thread I started specifically for doing large flat parts like polycarbonate and mdf. Flat cheap sacrificial work holding table. Machine 1/2, rotate 180,indicate and machine the second half.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attach...4&d=1457792339

[CadRhino]

I am going to attempt to do this as well but I have an adjustable rotary table and it is really talk in the flat position. I have to limit how tall my tools can be which sucks.

If you had a 4th axis rotary table it would be a piece of cake. You could do it in quadrants.

Do some, rotate 90 degrees, do some more and so on.