Found Dreaming

How does one go about transferring a drawing to a format that a CNC will use to cut material? I have autocad but I'm not sure that's any help. I want to transfer pen and ink drawings into circular shaped 1/2" thick, 3/8" depth reverse cut cavities w/ reverse art image cut relief on the interior cavity face (roughly 6 to 7 inches diameter of the overall pattern). These will be used to make cast iron reproduction molds in which other material will be cast into. I would pay in advance for the patterns to be cut out of something rigid, like HD Fiberboard, acrylic, or whatever equally durable. I want 3 patterns, Knucklehead, Panhead, Shovelhead. Is this anything one of you fellas here might be able to do? Speak'n of pay, Jammer I owe you a debt. Will be remedying that shortly.

This would be like the coasters I was trying to make for Mike. You want to make a mold?

If you look close at the picture or enlarge it some, you can see the little black shadows that are all around the dark areas. these cause a lot of headaches because they show up on the code and mess things up. I just downloaded the picture and flipped it with the Paint program, that probably makes the shadows.

something like that would probably be easier to just draw it up in a can program, then create the g code to cut the pattern with.

Need to know what type of line code your CNC recognizes. I can provide a black and white ink drawing (digital copy or original hand drawn) that is precise and to scale for you to scan & transfer into CNC code. Or, if I knew what your CNC recognizes as line work my AutoCAD may very well have it and I could possibly do the drawing entirely by CAD and send you the file. I can do some 3D AutoCAD work but I'm still quite the novice. Or, if you have a surface scanner I could create the positive 3D version and send you that to scan and turn into a negative relief carving to make the hollowed out mold pattern I'll use to make iron cast duplicates from.

Try to imagine using your CNC to create a 7" round diameter, 3/8" deep, cavity mold with a raised 1/8" negative relief detail of your hand in the center cut into the material being cut. So, when you pour some material into that mold the product is that 3/8" relief positive of that cavity with the top raised 1/8" of that thickness the relief of your hand.

The motor details I'm wanting are not deep reliefs only shallow 1/8" simple flat reliefs in addition to the bulk cavity they are a part of. The product produced from this mold will have an overall 3/8" thickness, 7" dia, the top 1/8" of that product's surface will be a uniform raised relief cut of the motor detail itself in the center of the overall product. Like cutting a pattern for a mold that will cast oversize coins or emblems with shallow relief detail.

Liken to the flathead maltase cross drawing of yours above. Imagine that cross image cut as a negative down into a 1/2" thick piece of fiberboard to a depth of only 1/4". The white interior border and the lettering would be slightly deeper at another 1/8" depth. Overall the entire cavity created would have a depth of 3/8" and produce an exact reverse 3D positive duplicate of that cross 3/8" thick with raised border and lettering.

Is this something you're able to do? The above project is the most complicated project I'll be needing done.

Another project entails a simple flat relief carving of conjoined images of two hawk feathers roughly 8 inches in length, 3 - 4 inches wide with a word on each side of the two feathers (connected to the feather base as a whole single cast unit) written in calligraphy script. The entire product as cast would be 3/8" thick. The picture attached depicts the concept but not necessarily the exact image I'm trying to make as a cast. Imagine the two feathers and a word on each side of them in similar script as what's shown. Just the feathers and letters as a combined single pattern of with as little background necessary to tie it all together as possible. I want them cut as a pattern out of 3/8" HD fiberboard so I can make duplicates in cast aluminum, power coat and paint.

If you need a sketch I can provide a rough sketch for you to assess.

F.c.

I'm using Mach 3 and it takes G-code. Simple black and white drawings aren't bad. The feather pic is complicated by the shading and gray areas. I've been looking at picture type programs but I haven't wanted to spend the money yet.
You want to do an actual motor casting in shallow relief?
Looks complicated but it depends on how the code comes out. I don't write the code, there's a program in Mach 3 that writes it for you. Usually it's ok but sometimes it's a mess. This would be fun if I had 3D capabilities.

That motor dwg is spot on with what I'm wanting to create as a shallow relief as previously described except my dwgs wouldn't show linkages, foot pedal, exhaust pipe, nor lines... just the motor.

The feather picture above was intended to be just the concept I was trying to explain. I'd provide an actual drawing in stark black and white (just like that engine drawing) to be used to CNC the pattern of what I have in mind. Once the feather and lettering combination is cut into fiberboard or plastic stock I can then finish the feather detailing by hand to create the more finer grooves to mimic the finer thin bits of feather strands and thereby mimic shading and depth when black paint is applied to a finished metal cast then wiped off leaving black in the finer grooves.

We sure have been quiet on here. Our weather hasn't been cooperating, snow this morning and now it's cold and raining. Supposed to be in the 70's next week. I've got a couple projects that I need to get done. Cast a few things to put out for the Cornbread Festival the end on April and to CNC a couple little wooden plaques for my son. He makes a lot of patriotic things and sells them at a little farm market they go to. They need to be done next week.

Here's what I'm working on. I need to put the big router back on the CNC, this little dc motor just isn't fast enough RPM.

there hasn't been anything happening around my place to tell lies about and the weather has just been screwed up..

I've been playing with the CNC and made a few projects. I've been working on some belt buckle patterns but they are coming along too slow. Cut a few larger things for the grandkids and some for myself.

looks good, you going to cast them?