Enjoy, Happy carving
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How do you convert a picture to a 3D STL file?
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Well, simple method first: you can try this website converter.
https://3dp.rocks/lithophane/
IF (or rather 95% of the time WHEN) that doesn’t come out the way you want, there are other softwares to do manual manipulation where you can design and contour in 3d such as ZBrush, Aspire, Carveco Maker Plus, as the top 3…
It isn’t a super easy process to make your own highly detailed 3d models.
Thank you Seth
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What feed speeds are everyone using, roughing pass was at 3000 mm min using 3 tipped 6.0mm end mill and now using a .5 radius tapered ball end for finishing pass and ramped it up to 6000mm min and is still incredibly slow?
My first 3d carve
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@DavidJose
Forewarning: lots of technical info incoming…
The plunge rate has a major effect on finishing pass, for the duration of the carve that the z is also in Motion (usually most of the 3d carving finishing pass) the plunge overrides the feed…
So if plunge is set lower than feed (on a xcarve the plunge is limited by the grbl settings to 500mm/min and it won’t do faster without editing grbl settings) than the feed is also reduced.
So for example if i carve a simple wave file, constant up and down of the z… it doesn’t matter if i set feed to a million, the feed will go no faster than the plunge setting, up to 500mm/min. So if plunge is set lower than 500, then increase it. If 500 is still to slow (it is for me) you’ll need to look into editing the grbl setting for $112 which is the max plunge rate the cnc will govorn itself down to…
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Users need to be aware of full cut height of a vertical (Z axis) cut may result in broken bits very easily due to the speed of cutting. This characteristic of the 3D software in Easel. All passes in the finishing engrave are done at full depth, one pass and the same speed no matter how deep. A one inch deep cut at the suggested speed may require a design change to prevent broken bits.
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I have played with the new 3D feature. It is a great feature and there are LOTS of STL files out there. I am wondering if there is a way to create the “dish” style relief instead of the rectangle or model boundary relief? Or am I limited to finding an STL file that includes that feature?
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At the moment the easiest wat to accomplish making a dish like that is to use a software like Blender or MeshLab and get multiple models (one plain dish and the other the desired design) and you can import them both, align as desired and then export as a single STL, which can then be imported into Easel for toolpathing. These softwares do require more computing power than Easel, but as long as your computer can handle it, it’s a decent enough solution at the moment.
Theses softwares also allow the user to reduce the file size of larger STL’s, where myminifactory has issues with files over 225ish mb and I’ve come across many files that are much larger recently…
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I am getting very very bad tool paths being generated. Absolutely nothing like the 3d STL models I am uploading. Is anyone else having issues?
Can you share the project, or post photo of all of the settings.
Thanks
When the model size is larger than the material size, odd things occur. If you reduce the model to fit within the material the toolpath issue should resolve.
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hi!! I am new to Easel and a CNC router. In Easel I follow through with the steps of carving but the spindle is up in the air spinning and not on the wood. What am I doing wrong? thanks for any help
can you share your project
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Its just my name. I am trying to learn how to cut
@GlendaPrieve sharing your project will allow others to take a look at the settings you’ve used and why it may be air cutting.
Here’s some instructions on how to do this from @SethCNCHOW TO SHARE your Easel CNC Project with a SHARE LINK - YouTube
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