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Enroute

Discussion in 'CAD - 3D design Software' started by ToxicToast, Dec 2, 2009.

  1. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

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    Not sure if anyone has tried this before but I have a bit of experience with using Enroute on a large MultiCAM table before and found a really good program. It's pretty high dollar, I'm just lucky enough to have an NFR copy from a sales rep from a few years ago.

    http://www.enroute3.com/wood.html#ATPmovie

    I don't have a Phlatprinter yet but I intend to try it out when the time comes as it is really fast and generates very reliable g-code. Some users on the cnczone have used it with the easyCNC boards before and reported that you can generate gcode with the TechnoTC post-processor that is compatible.

    What I really loved about it was how everything was based on libraries. You created material, tool and path libraries that made code generation very easy, and the interactive tabbing is really rock solid. I used the libraries to set up for different foam thicknesses so when I imported my file (usually EPS from Illustrator, or DWGs from AutoCAD or Sketchup), I told it that I wanted to set the job up for 3.2mm Depron (Depron isn't always the same thickness!) using a .0625 bit. It was smart enough to let me mix and match unit types. Then selecting the closed lines I could choose to path it as a exterior or interior cut and whether I wanted it to auto tab based on distance, count or manually and the feed speeds could be tuned per cut. What was really nice about this was it would auto-weld or attempt to close loops if a path was not already closed and gave good visual cues to help isolate the problems. You could also do island fills and hatch fills, peck cuts, and ingrave cuts. Multipass on a per path basis was really nice.

    You could also move the start point and tabs interactively anywhere along a closed path which was great for tweaking a design for production to ensure the cut order didn't interfere with other cuts. And you could interactively control the cut order for the parts and change them easily. All of these settings could be saved as presets into the libraries so I could go and select from my library a "2 pass medium feed 6mm carbon channel engrave" from the library and get a perfect .125 channel at the right depth based on the medium for a carbon rod. Creating pockets was a simple as selecting a closed path, selecting either the island or hatch fill and a preset I had created removed 3.5 mm of material. Even that had options like whether the bit started from the inside out or vice versa as well the pattern the cut took.

    I'm hoping that I can get Enroute working with the phlatprinter for simper 2D work that I generate from Illustrator or even as a processor for Sketchup stuff. Even then, drawing tool inside of Enroute were pretty solid, if at times quirky in their implementation.

    I'll post some screenshots when I can figure out how to on this board!

    Anyone else had a chance to try Enroute on their phlatty?
     
  2. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

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    This is the Enroute software configuration I ran on a huge 10x6 gantry MultiCAM router system. Some of these features could be integrated into Phlatscript GUIs with a little bit of programming effort! I think all of the key variables are already a part of the scripting.

    Templates for material are stored in a drop down menu system. Things like material depth, feeds and speeds and sheet size are store-able in user created libraries.


    I've got outside and inside cut profile libraries. The MultiCAM is a 6 tool router so I could have it pull different tools out of the holder for things like chipper bits and a ballnose bit for milling pockets. The libraries could have different tabbing options such as auto placement based on distance or number. They could then be interactively edited.


    Here you can see a milled out island section on 6mm Depron. You could change the material even after paths were set, capping the tool depth of all active paths in a cutfile.
    Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  3. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

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    I'm not a very adept scripter, but I wouldnt be surprised if some of this would be possible in our phlatscript. It is already quite the awesome tool and it amazes me how you guys (Tim and his predecessors) have been able to take the script to awesome so quickly!

    Thanks for letting me share some of the features of this cool tool!
     
  4. kyyu

    kyyu Active Member

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    That pocketing tool is kind of interesting with those diagonal reference lines. Must be something useful there, we can imitate.
     
  5. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

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    Oh, forgot to show the cut order mode. This lets you set the auto parameters for cutting strategies with different methods. I always found for the slot intensive stuff it was best to do the inside out order. More tool movement and slightly longer cut times but it performed all inside cuts first then finished with all the outside cuts. By doing this, it helped to make sure a piece didn't break loose trying to mill out a slot or pocket AFTER it had already cut the main part of the shape.

    You could click and activate any one of the overlaid numbers and bump it up or down, or to the first or last in the machining order. Wicked cool IMO. Attached files [​IMG]
     
  6. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Nice post Toxic!
    Its rare for us(me) to get a chance to have a glimpse into these high end cam solutions so this was a treat. The ideas that you have shown here will definitely be taken into consideration. There are a lot of nice features of this software.
    I will post a link into the coders/code crunchers section and see what the other guys think as well.
    Thank you for sharing
    Mark
     
  7. xtremeRCpilot

    xtremeRCpilot Member

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    Hi Chris, I have been getting alot of use from this great program, I ran into a scenario that I was wondering if it could be done with this program!
    What I need to do is establish a spiral cut path as to get a smooth finished pocket from a large sized bit! I am using simple triangle shaped geometry, so it should be a simple task for the toolpath!! If you have any insight on where or how I could accomplish this please let me know!!
    Also it would need to cut from the center out if possible!! :p

    Thanks for any help!!
    John
     
  8. ToxicToast

    ToxicToast Down in the weeds. Staff Member

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    Not sure how to do it, but it may be an overstep setting that could be set in the tool setup. Shoot me your file and I'll give it a try. skyburners@gmail.com

    Then again, it might be easier to do this in sketchup manually....
     
  9. xtremeRCpilot

    xtremeRCpilot Member

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    Thanks Toxic!!! :) I am just using simple triangles with rounded corners. I can send you a template if you want but really it doesnt matter what shape as long as we can do a spiral cut that would be awesome!!! :D

    Thanks for your help!
    John
     

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