I have a project that involves engraving the dome top of some automobile knobs. The part has been modeled in Alibre and I need to generate GCode for a Bantam Mills 'OtherMill'.
Bantam suggests a workflow of exporting an STP file from Alibre into Fusion 360 Personal, then using that to generate the GCode. The export/import process in Fusion creates some issues with the usability of the model and the text to be engraved. Looking for a different solution, I found 'Mesh Cam' on the Alibre site & forum.
I downloaded the demo ( I am using Alibre Pro) but when I start to run the package, it seems pretty basic. It will mill but I don't see the features I would expect to run an engraving tool and trace the letters of the part. The letters are .093" tall and the 'legs' are about .015 wide x .015 deep. Way too small for a mini end mill.
Looking at the Mesh Cam info, the training videos on the Alibre site won't run. The 2nd video does run but the first and last will not produce the video file to view. I can't find them on YouTube, so I am left to try and interpret whether it will work. Is anyone familiar with Mesh Cam and can you offer comments on its usability for this purpose?
My first impression, it is pretty basic, but I am a newbie to CAM so don't know what is normal. Am I better served to try to work out the bugs with import/export and use Fusion for the CAM part of the project? Bantam says their post-processor for Fusion works well.
Thanks
Paul
Bantam suggests a workflow of exporting an STP file from Alibre into Fusion 360 Personal, then using that to generate the GCode. The export/import process in Fusion creates some issues with the usability of the model and the text to be engraved. Looking for a different solution, I found 'Mesh Cam' on the Alibre site & forum.
I downloaded the demo ( I am using Alibre Pro) but when I start to run the package, it seems pretty basic. It will mill but I don't see the features I would expect to run an engraving tool and trace the letters of the part. The letters are .093" tall and the 'legs' are about .015 wide x .015 deep. Way too small for a mini end mill.
Looking at the Mesh Cam info, the training videos on the Alibre site won't run. The 2nd video does run but the first and last will not produce the video file to view. I can't find them on YouTube, so I am left to try and interpret whether it will work. Is anyone familiar with Mesh Cam and can you offer comments on its usability for this purpose?
My first impression, it is pretty basic, but I am a newbie to CAM so don't know what is normal. Am I better served to try to work out the bugs with import/export and use Fusion for the CAM part of the project? Bantam says their post-processor for Fusion works well.
Thanks
Paul