[Samyueru]

Hello,

I'm a beginner in cnc, and my question is, how to get a smooth and polished surface on a complex curved model form of wood or metal,
on a 3 axis cnc machine?

Does a 3 axis cnc machine does the job? Or do I need a 4 or 5 axis cnc machine to do it?

And do I need a specific software to do it also?

Regards


Sam

[servtech]

Hello,

I'm a beginner in cnc, and my question is, how to get a smooth and polished surface on a complex curved model form of wood or metal,
on a 3 axis cnc machine?

Does a 3 axis cnc machine does the job? Or do I need a 4 or 5 axis cnc machine to do it?

And do I need a specific software to do it also?

Regards


Sam

Definitely 5 axis work. 3/4 axis would not have the ability to cut 3D shapes smoothly.

4 axis tends to be indexer type of work. It really does depend on the component complexity.

[peteeng]

Hi Sam - We'd need to see what you mean by "complex curved" and a polished surface is usually achieved after machining. There are machines that can produced "polished" surfaces but they are some millions of $$$ to buy. And since you mentioned metal the game gets even harder... So publish what you are trying to do and the members can better help. Peter

[awerby]

Like Pete says, "polished" implies another operation after the machining is done. But your surfaces will be smoother if the finishing tool passes are closer together. So the strategy you choose for a given area has to take its steepness into account. If you're cutting a surface that's approaching the vertical, parallel cuts that looked fine on shallower areas become further apart vertically, leaving a "stairstep" appearance. A "waterline"strategy will work better in that case, since you can specify a vertical distance between each cut. If you're looking for a way to cut the whole thing evenly, then a 5+ axis machine works best, since the tool can be kept tangent to the surface however it's laid out.