Linear Pattern from sketch & Projecting to surface

[greevedogg]

Hi all,

I'm raltively new to F360 and I've reached my first speed-bump. Help me out here...

I need to mill a decorative pattern on a piece of wood trim that will be attached to the facade of a column. The pattern looks like this:

I have created a sketch of one section of it in Fusion, but I can't seem to figure out how to turn it into a pattern.

That's my first problem.

Then, I'd like to project that pattern to create a CAM toolpath to use a 1/8" ball end mill to project on the surface of the wood trim and carve out the design. I thnik I figured out this second problem by using a 3D project toolpath, correct? Just how to correctly orient the pattern onto the surface of the wood trim.

This is the correct profile of the trim piece. I used Fusion to create the profile toolpath and cut it out to produce a jig to make the knife.

So first thing's first. How do I repeat this pattern in a linear direction from this sketch?

[HughesTooling]

Can you upload the f3d file, I think I know a quite easy way but it would be a lot easier to test on your file. From the file menu select export and save as an f3d file the attach to this thread.

Thanks Mark

[greevedogg]

Here you go! Thanks for the help

[HughesTooling]

I decided it would be easier to copy your sketches to a new design and constrain them so they are symmetrical around the origin in the new file like this. I made 2 components to make working with the 2 sketches and bodies easier. You might find this link on components useful.

I've done a screencast to show a way to do the rest, see below. I've attached the file as well.

 Mark

[greevedogg]

Wow, thanks, Mark!

I like what you did there, but it wasn't exactly what I had in mind.

I was looking to do a Projected 3D milling toolpath to the surface of the rail, where I would cut on the curves,

not necessarily pocketing out the material, like you did there.

Although I might end up milling your way, it looks rather nice!

How would one go about using an open curve to use as a Projected 3D toolpath in Fusion?

[HughesTooling]

Here's an idea using Scallop it might take a while to machine, you could increase the step over so there are less cuts and speed it up.

I made 2 more components, one to use as a stock in the CAM setup and one I extruded the ends so the part is fully machine.

The component WithPackers is just to extend the toolpath past the end of the part. The simulation shows a couple of collisions, if you're machining something soft like wood they probably don't matter.

File attached.

Mark

[greevedogg]

Thanks for those, Mark!

But I still just wanted the curves projected and cut,

not pocketed out.

Here's what I ultimately figured out...

How to use the Project to Surface command in the Sketch dropdown menu, by following the webinar Advanced Sketching video on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfxm8irfEhc

This is the toolpath I was looking for:

Then in the CAM setup, I can select the projected curves, and use a 1/8" ball end mill to cut on the line with an axial offset of -.10 to acheive the desired result.

At least I think!

Side note: I still had to manually copy/paste/move the sketched curves. I still don't fully understand how to pattern correctly. At least when I tried to pattern the sketch curves, I can't.

[HughesTooling]

Making a 2d pattern should work and is quite easy, here's a screen grab. Note. I think patterns only work on 2d curves so if you tried to pattern the projected curves that could be a problem.

I don't know how easy you found selection in the CAM workspace but you might have found it easier to use a 3d model as the edge selecting in the CAM works well. Here's an example selecting the edges to use with trace.

Adding an axial offset and cut to the left gives this.

A bit different to yours but looks like the first picture you posted. File attached see setup2

Mark

[greevedogg]

What ended up working for me, I think, anyways, as I haven't tried to cut anything yet, is this:

-Copy/pasted the pattern curves in sketch mode the entire length of the rail.

-Projected curves to surface using a separate construction plane, because for some reason I was getting errors about not being able to project curves to a surface in the same sketch.

-In the CAM setup, created a Projection3d toolpath and used the projected curves, with an axial offest in the z-direction of -0.1" using a 1/8" ball end mill as my cutting tool.

I suppose I could have accomplished the task using your method as well, Mark. One thing that I noticed from your screengrabs, is that I don't want to include the straight lines connecting the curves, which is an easy fix, as I understand I just wouldn't select that edge when creating the toolpath.

At any rate, thanks for your help. I think I'm on my way here. One other question though...Why is the machining time estimate so far off? When I simulate, it's giving me a time of 44:29:38. I think I have my feeds and speeds set up about right, but something's off somewhere, obviously.  And it's tough for me trying to convert from feet per minute in Fusion when I'm so used to working in inches per sec on the ShopBot. I wish there was a way to change/convert the rates.