[turmite]

Hi Michael,

I can tell you for a fact you do not have to do 2d drawings to make 3d objects like you want it Rhino, and I can tell you this because I went through the same problem you are going through. I can nearly bet you, that you haven't gone through the tutorials from front to back. I say this, because that is exactly what I did.

If you want a cylinder from x0 to x10 that is 3 inches in diam, turn on your snap, ortho. Use all four views and snap to x0y0z0, type in the diam. Use the front or right view to get the diam set correctly then move the mouse to the positive x and type 10. That is all there is to it, and it only took 4 years for me to learn that! The reason....I did not do all the tutorials. Now I search for video tuts on the web!

Hope this helps.

Mike

[spoiledbrat]

Mike, hate to do this to you, but I voted all of the above!

I have been goofing around with Rhino for 11 years, and running a CNC with it for 5 years.

I import nextengine scans, ZBrush models, etc. for machining using RhinoCam. I made a really cool mahogany pattern for a casting. Definitely love the pattern, and the 500 lbs casting made from it.

I do work for friends in the industry. I used it to design my new CNC router. I use it for problem solving, layout work, angular backlash computations, etc.

Love this program. I get the strange feeling that I should have been forced to pay 3 times what I did for it.

Cheers!!!

Rob

[Tom Siler]

I went through the tutorials about three times, as painful as it was in a three week period a couple of years ago. I was a 3D noob then and had trouble making a simple line from here to there. It was tough repeating it but I'm very glad I did. My proficiency built quickly and I can draw just about anything I can imagine now. What the tutorials didn't teach me well enough was joining solids together and closing edges, etc. It all looks good in Rhino but when you start to export, you'd better have your ducks in a row.

Now when I draw something, I have a primary focus of being extremely aware of all three dimensions and I have none of the problems I did initially.

I use it for 3D work prior to machining on the Joe's CNC I built last winter. Now if I could only find a CAM package that allowed finish machining in my price range

I too feel like I should have paid more.

[Dan B]

Now if I could only find a CAM package that allowed finish machining in my price range

Have you looked at madCAM? You should!

Dan

[Harpye]

I use Rhino to model - to rework models into molds - to get G Code from Rhino cam but also to script my own sw tools and macros e.g. a machine bound CAM for HWC or 2Dcutting+ tabbing etc....

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xov9uQ8c90"]YouTube - Self Scripted Rhino Cam Module[/nomedia]

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZwlJ-XPOHw"]YouTube - 4 Axis Simultaneous Crank Shaft Cutting with Rhino 3D[/nomedia]

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBVmhUwKifM"]YouTube - ME 410 CAD Model[/nomedia]

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w07yOWsflEE"]YouTube - DIY Hot Wire Cut[/nomedia]

[Ron Paul]

Does anyone use Rhino with laser cutting? I've been using Rhino for years, but in the past have exported a dxf to proprietary program that is the only program that will work with the industrial laser I used.

Recently I've been playing with an Epilog laser, which has a print function instead, so I'm able to print from any program. I nest a lot of small parts and recently bought (and still learning) Rhino Nest. I'm interested to hear if there are functions of Rhino that people have used that directly relates to laser cutting lots of parts and possibly makes functions easier, i.e. offsetting multiple paths, etc.

I also use Illustrator and am becoming familiar with Inventor software.

Here's a recent project:
Ron Paul - Laser Marquetry from a photograph

[chmillman]

I have an Epilog that I drive directly out of Rhino (V5). As we're a school, we are not in production work and seldom need to do nesting - although I have used RhinoNest and it works pretty well.

I have dozens of custom made scripted tools for working with the laser and other stuff (such as offsetting multiple profiles). As virtually all of the files we cut are student-made, my import script corrects the common bugs they produce and cleans the file of line weights, blocks etc. (all of which can cause problems with the cutting). We also cut by color (cut order) so I have shortcuts for detecting bad colors and attributing the right ones, etc.

Let me know if you are looking for something specific, if I don't already have a script in my library, if it's not be too hard to do, I can make something for you.

--ch

[Ron Paul]

chmillman, you are my new best friend. I have been reading about custom scripts but am not that advanced in that department, so I would greatly appreciate any scripts you could give me and instructions on how to install them. Offsetting multiple paths and cleanup would solve my biggest headaches right now. Anything other scripts that you think would be helpful? I work mainly in 2D, I do a lot of copy/paste, array, selecting duplicates, rotate, mirror... pretty basic functions for creating decorative patterns for laser cutting.

One problem though, I'm running v4...

[Harpye]

Ron if you are - at least a bit used to VB Script the strategy can be pretty easy!

you need the newest service pack of Rhino .... Draw a line in Cad get the object discretizise in as many points as you need ... but dot touch the newly created points as rhino creates them in the order of the curve / Spline ... afterwards write a short filecreator and a fix header dependent on your machine code and modify the x and y coords to movement code and the Z code ( at the beginning and the end of each curve) to switch code for the laser) if you want to go for tabs in between you can also do this.... I'm rather new to VBS as to Rhino Script but it seems to pay...

Here is about the first attempts they are not "bullet proof" but it seems to work!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZwlJ-XPOHw]4 Axis Simultaneous Crank Shaft Cutting with Rhino 3D - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xov9uQ8c90]Self Scripted Rhino Cam Module - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CnoyE7CPW4]Testrun of DIY Rhinoceros CAD 2D CAM Script - YouTube[/ame]

[Ron Paul]

Sorry man, that was mostly greek to me... I will have to do some more research.