DeskProto

Tutorial
Including Installation, Quick Start and nine Lessons.

Desktop Prototyping software,

to quickly create parts using a (desktop) CNC milling machine.

Version 7.1
Copyright © 1995-2021, Delft Spline Systems.

Delft Spline Systems

Utrecht, The Netherlands.
www.deskproto.com
 Tutorial

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Tutorial

Table of Contents
Disclaimer...............................................................................5
Licenses and Copyrights........................................................6
Essentials................................................................................7
Installation..............................................................................9
Windows: Setup file................................................................9
MacOS: DMG file.................................................................10
Linux: AppImage file.............................................................11
Running DeskProto...............................................................13
Files and Folders (Windows).................................................15
Files and Folders (MacOS)....................................................17
Files and Folders (Linux).......................................................18
Quick Start...........................................................................21
1. Beer Tray (basic vector)....................................................25
The Beer tray, wizard interface..............................................28
The Beer tray, dialog based interface......................................35
2. Picture Frame (basic geometry).......................................45
The Picture Frame, wizard interface.......................................47
The Picture Frame, dialog-based interface..............................51
3. XYZ logo (basic bitmap)...................................................65
The XYZ logo, wizard interface.............................................67
The XYZ logo, dialog based interface....................................71
4. Bottle (geometry: two halves)...........................................75
5. Venus (geometry: rotary axis)...........................................89
6. Cellphone (geom: two-sided)..........................................103
7. DP bottle (vector: advanced)...........................................113
8. Lithophane (bitmap: advanced).....................................121
9: Dice (five-axis machining)..............................................133
Index...................................................................................147

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Tutorial Disclaimer

Disclaimer

All milling devices (whether or not Numerically Controlled) are dangerous

devices: when working with a milling machine it is possible to damage either
the workpiece or the machine, or even to injure yourself. So do take care, and
always check your toolpaths before sending them to the machine - in case you
are a novice user have an experienced colleague check them.

Delft Spline Systems, the software distributor, the dealer or any other
intermediate party are in no way responsible for any damage or injury, direct or
consequential, relating to the use of this software.

DeskProto ® is a registered trademark of Delft Spline Systems.

Windows ® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
MacOS ® is a registered trademark of Apple Inc.
Linux ® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners.

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Licenses and Copyrights

DeskProto is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction or
distribution of this program is prohibited.
Copyright © 1995-2021, Delft Spline Systems

DeskProto uses the following external libraries:

The Boost C++ libraries.

Copyright © 1998-2005, Beman Dawes, David Abrahams,
Copyright © 2004-2007, Rene Rivera.
Used and distributed under the Boost Software License V1.0.
www.boost.org

The Clipper library for clipping and offsetting lines and polygons
Copyright © 1995-2013, Angus Johnson
Used and distributed under the Boost Software License V1.0.
http://www.angusj.com/delphi/clipper.php

The Crypto++ library of cryptographic algorithms

Copyright © 2010-2013, Wei Dai
Used and distributed under the Boost Software License V1.0.
www.cryptopp.com

The HIDAPI library for communication with HID devices.

Copyright © 2009, Alan Ott, Signal 11 Software,
used and distributed under the HIDAPI license.
github.com/signal11/hidapi

The Minizip library for reading and writing ZIP archives.

Copyright © 2017, Nathan Moinvaziri
used and distributed under the Minizip license.
github.com/nmoinvaz/minizip

The QT cross-platform application framework.

Copyright © 2016, The QT Company Ltd. and other contributors
used and distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPLv3).
www.qt.io

The complete license texts for all these libraries can be found in the DeskProto
About box.

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Tutorial Essentials

Essentials

What does DeskProto offer

DeskProto is a CAM program (Computer Aided Manufacturing) for 3-axis, 4-

axis and 5-axis CNC milling machines, offering Desktop Prototyping.
DeskProto will allow you to machine 2D vector drawings, 3D geometries and
3D reliefs based on photos. It can be used for product design, jewelry,
woodworking, medical applications, arts, education, hobby, etc. DeskProto can
be combined with any CAD program, and with any CNC milling machine.

Four different editions of DeskProto are available: Free, Entry, Expert and
Multi-Axis, offering different (sub)sets of DeskProto’s functionality. An
edition comparison table can be found on www.deskproto.com

How does it work

The starting point for DeskProto is a CAD file (it is not possible to design in
DeskProto: CAM is about calculating toolpaths). Three types of CAD data are
supported, each with a slightly different work-flow:
Vector-data: 2D drawing containing lines and arcs, stored as DXF, AI, EPS or
SVG file.
Geometry-data: 3D geometry defined as a collection of triangles (facets) that
describe its outer surface (polygon data), stored as STL or DXF file.
Bitmap-data: 2D image containing colored pixels, stored as BMP, JPG, GIF,
PNG or TIF file.
So in fact DeskProto offers three CAM programs for the price of one !

DeskProto will load the CAD file and display its contents. It is possible to load
more than one file. At this point you can scale, translate, rotate etc. After
entering some milling parameters (cutting tool, required accuracy, etc)
DeskProto will calculate the toolpaths and save them in an NC file. Send this
NC file to your CNC milling machine and you will have your part ready within
a short time.

What hardware/software is needed

DeskProto V7.1 is available for Microsoft Windows, for Apple MacOS and for
Linux.

For Windows it needs Win7, Win8, Win10 or newer. On 64 bits Windows

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versions a 64 bits DeskProto will be installed, otherwise a 32 bits version.

Minimum required hardware is a Pentium PC with 1 GB RAM and 100 GB
free disk space: faster/more is better. The graphics card needs to support
OpenGL V2.1 or newer.
A special build for Win XP (SP3, 32 bits) is available on request.

For MacOS (Apple) it needs Sierra (10.12) High Sierra (10.13), Mojave
(10.14), Catalina (10.15), Big Sur (11) or newer. DeskProto for MacOS always
is 64 bits. Here as well minimum hardware requirement is 1 GB RAM and 100
GB free disk space: faster/more is better.

For Linux it has been developed and tested using Ubuntu 18.04 (64 bits), still
it will also work on most other popular Linux distributions. Only the 64 bits
versions are supported. Here as well minimum hardware requirement is 1 GB
RAM and 100 GB free disk space: faster/more is better.

The screenshots in this Tutorial have been made using Windows, still for
MacOS users and for Linux users these images will be completely clear as all
screens are very similar for all three operating systems.

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Tutorial Installation

Installation
Windows: Setup file

DeskProto Version 7.1 runs in MS Windows 7, 8, 10 or newer. Email us to

obtain a Setup for Win XP (SP3, 32 bits). Minimum required hardware is a
Pentium PC with 1 GB RAM: faster/more is better. The use of an OpenGL
(V2.1 or better) compatible 3D graphics card is required. For installation you
need about 150 Mb of free disk space, to use DeskProto you need much more
for the NC program files that you will create.

You can download the DeskProto Setup file from www.deskproto.com and
start that file. Or, in case you have a CD, insert the CD and the Install Menu
will be automatically displayed: choose “Install DeskProto” to start Setup.

After pressing Yes on the security warning (or after entering an admin
password), the Setup will first ask you which language you want to use for the
Setup. That same language will be set for DeskProto (which can later be
changed in the Preferences). After selecting a language the Setup will start:

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Now just follow the instructions given:

• accept the license agreement
• read the welcome information
• confirm the installation folder
• confirm the start menu folder
• select which icons you want
• and Install.

A new shortcut called DeskProto will be created on the desktop (unless of

course you unchecked that option), and the necessary files will automatically
be copied to your hard disk. Also the commands DeskProto, DeskProto help-
file and DeskProto uninstall will be added to the list of Programs that can be
accessed via the Windows Start menu.

When downloading DeskProto from the DeskProto website some browsers will
start installing immediately, while other browsers will first save the Setup file
on your hard disk. The DeskProto Setup program is called “DeskProto71.exe”.
It can be started just as any other Windows program.

When you have ordered DeskProto on CD you can simply insert the CD into
your PC: a program called the DeskProto Install Menu will automatically start.
In case that does not happen you can locate the file Setup.exe on the CD and
manually start it. Note that the name of the Setup program on CD is not the
same as the name of the downloaded program.

MacOS: DMG file

DeskProto Version 7 runs in MacOS Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur or

newer (for Windows users: MacOS is the software that runs on Apple
computers). DeskProto for MacOS always is 64 bits. Minimum hardware
requirement is 1 GB RAM and 100 GB free disk space: faster/more is better.

The file to download is a DMG file. This is an Apple Disk Image file: a read-
only file that can be mounted as a disk. You can see it as a ‘virtual CD’. It is a
standard way to distribute MacOS apps. The file that you download is called
“DeskProto71.dmg“.

You can mount the DMG by double-clicking it. The dialog that then will pop
up shows the license agreement for DeskProto. When you agree with the
terms of this license you can click on button Agree and proceed. Now the
DMG file will be verified and opened. It will show the DeskProto71Installer
dialog:

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Tutorial Installation

Installing DeskProto can be done by simply dragging the DeskProto icon (the
file DeskProto.app, in some MacOS versions just called DeskProto) into your
Applications folder. That is all: you can now start DeskProto from Launchpad,
like you would any other app.

The first time that you start DeskProto a dialog will pop up that asks if you are
sure, as the app has been downloaded from the Internet. It confirms that the file
has been downloaded from www.deskproto.com, and that a valid Apple
Developer ID certificate has been found (if not a warning message would have
been shown).

The next dialog will also only be shown the first time that you start DeskProto:
here you can select which language DeskProto has to use.

Linux: AppImage file

DeskProto Version 7 has been developed and tested using Ubuntu 18.04 (64
bits), still it will also work on most other popular Linux distributions. Only the
64 bits versions are supported. Here as well minimum hardware requirement is
1 GB RAM and 100 GB free disk space: faster/more is better.

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The file to download is an AppImage file. This format is widely used for
distributing Linux software as it is very easy to use: simply double-click this
file to start the application. What happens (invisible for the user) is that the
AppImage will be unpacked to a temporary location, from where the
application is started. Similar to mounting a disk. The file that you download
is called “DeskProto71.AppImage“.

Important is that starting the application is possible only after you have
changed the file’s properties (right-click the file and select “Properties” to open
a dialog like shown above). On tab Permissions of this dialog you need to
check the option to Allow executing the file as a program.

In Linux the Language Selection dialog, where you can choose which
language to use, will be shown next when you first start DeskProto, just as in
MacOS.

After selecting the license DeskProto will show the license agreement: you
need to check “I accept the agreement” before you can press OK to proceed.

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Tutorial Installation

Running DeskProto

The first time that you start DeskProto it will complete the installation by
asking you which CNC milling machine you will be using, which units and
which type of projects.

Select the correct machine (the one you have) in the drop-down list: it will be
the default machine that DeskProto will use for all your projects. If needed this
setting can later be changed in the default Project parameters (Options menu).

If your machine is not listed, in most cases the machine called “ISO plain G-
codes” (-inch or -mm) will be the best choice. You may later define your own
Machine in the Library of machines (Options menu). Press the Help button for
more information on which machine to select (or read the Reference Manual).

The units that you select here will be used for the CAD-data file import and
for the user-interface. These are the units as set in the Preferences.
Units can be set on a second location as well: the units in the NC files that
DeskProto writes are set in the postprocessor for that machine (the
postprocessor is the software module that translates the output to the format
needed by your machine, so a sort of Driver). Check the Help file for more
information about the Units settings in DeskProto.

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For each type of CAD-data (Vector, Geometry and Bitmap) different settings
are required, so DeskProto features vector operations, geometry operations and
bitmap operations. The default project type defines which operation will be
loaded when creating a new project. As you can add and delete operations any
time this is not a critical decision. If needed this setting can later be changed in
the default Part parameters (Options menu).

After this Setup you will have DeskProto running on your PC. In the Edition
select dialog (shown above) you can choose which edition you want to start.
You can immediately start using the Free Edition, which offers basic CAM
functionality, without having to buy a license.

More functionality is available in the other three editions, for which a paid
license is required. On the DeskProto website you can find a Comparison table
that shows the exact capabilities of each Edition. For users without a license
these higher editions are available in Trial mode: this means that both on the
screen and in the NC toolpaths the Trial cross watermark will be visible.

When you have bought a DeskProto license you will have an unlocking code
that you can use to remove this trial cross. In the dialog Activate License
(Windows and Linux: Help menu, MacOS: DeskProto menu) you need to enter
the Name and the Key on the license. Exactly as specified: enter the Name
with capitals, spaces and comma as shown on the license.

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Files and Folders (Windows)

Long time ago DeskProto used to store all files within one directory structure,
clearly sorted in sub-folders. Unfortunately in current versions of Windows
that is no longer possible, due to the severe security rules by the User Account
Control (UAC). Drivers and user data no longer may be stored on the same
file-location as the program file.

By default DeskProto V7.1 stores its files in the these directories (folders):

\Program Files\

\Program Files\DeskProto 7.1

This folder contains the file of DeskProto.exe and a large number of DLL files
(program components) and other files that are used by DeskProto: see the
image above.
\Program Files\DeskProto 7.1\Bin
More program components that DeskProto needs
\Program Files\DeskProto 7.1\Language
This folder is used for all elements in the user interface that can be translated
(resources, help, license, readme), and thus contains a sub-folder for each
language.
A language needs one main resource file to be present in this folder, after
which in the DeskProto Preferences the new language can be selected. For
instance for German a folder de is needed with resource file file
DeskProto_de.qm (a qm file is a Qt resource file). All other files in this folder
are optional, as for these DeskProto will default to English in case not found.
\Program Files\DeskProto 7.1\Licenses

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This folder contains the licenses for all external libraries that DeskProto uses.
\Program Files\DeskProto 7.1\Scripts
This folder contains all Scripts, see the Reference manual (on your CD and on
the DeskProto website) for more information.
\Program Files\DeskProto 7.1\SpaceMouse
Files needed for the 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse.
\Program Files\DeskProto 7.1\Supports
This folder contains STL files for the Geometry support tabs, see the Reference
manual (on your CD and on the DeskProto website) for more information.
\Program Files\DeskProto 7.1\Wizards
This folder contains all files for the Custom Wizards, see the Reference manual
(on your CD and on the DeskProto website) for more information. The
‘normal’ wizards are included in the main program.

\ProgramData\

\ProgramData\DeskProto 7.1\Drivers
For making an NC program that is suitable for your milling machine,
DeskProto needs information about the correct machine, the postprocessor and
the available cutters. This information is present in the driver files (*.MCH for
the machines, *.PPR for the postprocessors and *.CTR for the cutters), stored
in this drivers folder.
\ProgramData\DeskProto 7.1\Samples
For novice users each DeskProto comes with a number of sample files, also
used for the lessons in this Tutorial. This concerns DeskProto Project files
(*.DPJ), 3D Geometry files (*.STL), 2D and 3D Vector files (*.DXF) and a
few sample bitmap files.

The folder \ProgramData\ also is located in the root (so as C:\ProgramData\).

Strangely this folder is invisible as default. To make the folder visible you need
to select an option in File Explorer:
Win8, Win 10: in the View ribbon, section Show/hide, check “Hidden items”
Win7: button Organize >> Folder and search options >> tab View >> select
“Show hidden files, folders and drives”.
WinXP: Tools >> Folder options >> tab View >> select “Show hidden files
and directories”. In WinXP the folder has a different name and location:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\

Documents
This is the default DeskProto Data folder: it will be used for all CAD-data
Load and Save commands and also for project files and the NC program files
that you produce (in WinXP this folder is called My Documents). It is advised
to create a folder structure here, for instance with a new folder for each new
client or for each new project.

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Some of the file locations are user-configurable:

The file locations for Data and for Drivers can be defined in the DeskProto
Preferences (Options menu), see the illustration above. The button “Use
DeskProto Defaults” can be used to reset these locations.

Following Microsoft's guidelines DeskProto stores the Preferences in the

Registry.

Files and Folders (MacOS)

The file DeskProto.app that you have dragged to your Applications folder is in
fact a folder structure, containing both the program and a number of folders
(for drivers, samples and much more). As application files are read-only it is
needed to copy a number of these folders to a different location: DeskProto
will do this automatically for you.

DeskProto V7.1 stores its files in the these folders:

~/Library/Application Support/Delft Spline Systems/DeskProto/7.1/

Here you can find the folders Drivers, Languages, Licenses, Samples, Scripts
and Supports, the purpose of each folder has been explained in the Windows
section above. A folder ‘Wizards’ is not present as custom wizards are not
supported in the MacOS version.

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The DeskProto Preferences are stored in file

~/Library/Preferences/com.delft-spline-systems.DeskProto.plist

And the default folder for all user Data is

~/Documents/

The folder ~/Library/ (used in the first two locations just mentioned) is a
hidden folder in MacOS. So when you open Finder and show your Home
folder, the folder Library will not be present. To make it visible you need to
hold down three keyboard keys at the same time: Cmd + Shift + . (dot): then
all hidden files and folders will become visible.

The file locations for Data and for Drivers can be set in the DeskProto
Preferences (DeskProto menu), see the screenshot in the paragraph on
Windows. The button “Use DeskProto Defaults” can be used to reset these
locations.

In the above folder specifications “~/” stands for your home folder.
This is in fact folder /Users/username/ - for instance /Users/john/ for user
john. As a result changes that you make in these folders (like adding a new
cutter) can be seen only by the current user. The license activation as well
(stored in the Preferences) will only work for the current user. This is not a
problem, still it is good to know that here the MacOS version differs from the
Windows version.

Files and Folders (Linux)

As the AppImage file that you used to start DeskProto is read-only it is needed
to copy a number of files and folders to a different location, in order to store
your settings, Preferences, cutter definitions, etc. DeskProto will do this
automatically for you.

DeskProto V7.1 stores its files in the these folders:

~/.local/share/Delft Spline Systems/DeskProto/7.1/

Here you can find the folders Drivers, Languages, Licenses, Samples, Scripts
and Supports, the purpose of each folder has been explained in the Windows
section above. A folder ‘Wizards’ is not present as custom wizards are not
supported in the Linux version.

The DeskProto Preferences are stored in file

~/.config/Delft Spline Systems/DeskProto.conf

And the default folder for all user Data is

~/Documents/

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In Linux all files and folders start start with a . (like .local and .config above)
are hidden, so will not be visible when you view your Home folder in File
manager. They can be made visible by pressing Ctrl + H on your keyboard, or
by checking “Show hidden files” in the File manager menu.

The file locations for Data and for Drivers can be set in the DeskProto
Preferences (DeskProto menu), see the screenshot in the paragraph on
Windows. The button “Use DeskProto Defaults” can be used to reset these
locations.

In the above folder specifications “~/” stands for your home folder.
This is in fact folder /home/username/ - for instance /home/john/ for user
john. As a result changes that you make in these folders (like adding a new
cutter) can be seen only by the current user. The license activation as well
(stored in the Preferences) will only work for the current user. This is not a
problem, still it is good to know that here the Linux version differs from the
Windows version.

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Tutorial Quick Start

Quick Start
The function of this Tutorial is to step by step introduce you to the functions
that DeskProto offers. It is recommended to read and execute at least one of
the lessons 1 to 3 before starting to make models with your own CAD-data.

However, if you are not a great manual reader and want to start exploring
DeskProto at once, at least first read this Quick Start. It is meant to explain the
basic ideas of DeskProto, and you will need this information to be able to
understand what is happening.

The DeskProto screen contains standard items like the title bar (top line), menu
bar, toolbar (the row of buttons below the menu) and status bar (bottom line).
The center area is divided into three tiles: the large View window on the right,
and the windows Project Tree and NC files on the left. All these elements will
be explained later on in this Tutorial. You can always use the Help function for
extra information on any part of the screen.

The above screenshot shows the Windows version of DeskProto. The MacOS
version has an extra menu choice: the DeskProto menu, on the left side of File.
In MacOS the menu is visible on the top of the screen, so not in the DeskProto
window. This is conform the MacOS standard and won’t confuse any Apple
user.

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The DeskProto menu in Linux is identical to the menu in Windows, and in

most cases part of the DeskProto window. Though some Linux versions allow
the menu to be shown at the top of the screen.

For now it is important to know that in DeskProto two different user-interfaces

exist: the wizard-based interface and the dialog-based interface.

New users are advised to use the DeskProto Wizards, as these will guide them
through all the steps needed to generate an NC toolpath file using their own
CAD-data. The illustration above shows a typical wizard page.

A wizard will set the same parameters as available in the dialogs, only now
they are presented in a sequential series of screens, and only the most
important parameters are shown. You can find the wizards on the Start Screen
or via the File menu, for more information see lessons 1A, 2A and 3A.

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Tutorial Quick Start

When using the Dialog-based interface you need to know where to find the
parameters. In DeskProto you can define parameters on three levels:

1. Project parameters include the name of the CAD-data file(s), the machine
and the number of Parts that you want to use in this project.
2. Part parameters define What will be machined. They set the size,
orientation, position and alike. Within each Part you can define one or more
milling Operations.
3. Operation parameters define How it will be machined.
These are in fact the only real 'milling parameters'. Three different types of
operation are available: Vector Operation, Geometry Operation and Bitmap
Operation, as for these three types of data different settings are needed.

The Project is the central concept of DeskProto. All information about a

project is stored in a Project file (*.dpj), which is the file to be opened when
starting and to be saved when finishing. The project file contains all milling
parameters and viewing parameters, and also contains references to the CAD-
files (so the CAD-data is not included).

You can imagine the tree-like structure of a project, which is displayed in the
Project Tree at the left side of the DeskProto screen: see the figure above. This
sample Project “Bottle” consists of one Part called “Half bottle” and three
Geometry Operations called “Roughing”, “Finishing” and “Contour”. Each
operation line includes a lamp icon that you can switch on and off to make the
operation (in)visible. The project will be named when saving it for the first
time, until then the tree displays the name “untitled”.

Note 1: four different editions of DeskProto are available: Free, Entry, Expert
and Multi-axis. The editions Free, Entry and Expert contain subsets of the
available Part and Operation parameters. Free and Entry do not offer Custom
wizards and Scripts, and the Free edition is limited to using one part and one
operation in a project.

Note 2: to open a CAD-file in DeskProto you have to use "Load Vector file..."
"Load Geometry file..." or "Load Bitmap file…" in the File menu (if needed

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start a New project first). You cannot use File>Open, as you do not yet have a
DeskProto project file for this new project. The CAD-data that you load will be
available for all Parts and for all Operations in the project.

All functions in DeskProto can be reached using the menu or using the buttons
on the toolbar. The most important menus are described below:

* The View Menu offers the opportunity to change the way you look at the
geometry. Also try changing your view by rotating the six colored thumb-
wheels on the screen, and by using your mouse inside the view window. Most
of the functions in the View menu can also be activated using the toolbar.

* In the Parameters Menu you can edit all vector/geometry/bitmap

parameters and milling parameters. For a simple part it is sufficient to edit only
a few Tab pages for both Part and Operation parameters: the other Tabs can
come later (as all parameters have suitable default values).

* The Create Menu is the most important; this is where you can start the
milling calculations and write the NC program file.

The most important buttons for the DeskProto process are:

The first step is to Load CAD data,

Vector, Geometry or Bitmap
(or a combination).

After setting some parameters you can then

Calculate the toolpaths
and view them on the screen.

The Simulation offers a preview of

what the part will look like.

Finally you Write the NC file

and send it to your CNC milling machine.

We do hope you will enjoy using this software!

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Tutorial Lesson 1

1. Beer Tray (basic vector)

Lesson One

In this first lesson the most elementary functions of DeskProto will be

explained: you will learn about the DeskProto user-interface and its main
functions. You will create toolpaths based on a 2D drawing and create an NC
file, ready to be sent to the milling machine. The lesson will be presented
twice: first using the Wizard ‘Basic Vector machining’ and next using the
Dialog-based interface.
This lesson is for all DeskProto editions (though in the Free edition the text on
the tray will be skipped).

The CAD-data for this project is a 2D drawing, so a drawing that does not
contain any Z-values. The drawing contains only lines and arcs (vector
information), saved in a DXF file. It contains the design of a Beer Tray: one
outer contour with seven round holes and (optional) a text to be engraved. The
tray can of course also be used for coffee :-).

Feel free to follow this lesson using this beer tray or to use your own drawing,
and/or to replace the text in the sample DXF file by your own text.

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Start DeskProto

You can start DeskProto most easily using its Program Icon on your desktop.
When starting, DeskProto will briefly show its Splash screen. The first time
you start DeskProto an extra dialog will pop up asking you to select the
machine and the units to be used, see the Installation paragraph. After that
DeskProto will show either the Edition select dialog or the Start screen.

The Edition select dialog (shown earlier, in chapter Installation) is shown only
when you are running the DeskProto Free edition. It asks whether you want to
start the Free edition or want to trial one of the other editions. In addition
buttons are present to either Buy a license or to Activate one.

The Start Screen (shown above) will make life easier for you as it offers
shortcuts to the most common tasks: starting a new project in various ways,
opening an existing project, using one of the samples, reading or viewing one
of the Tutorials. It is an optional window though: uncheck the check-box to
make DeskProto skip this screen.

DeskProto offers two different user-interfaces:

Wizard-based and Dialog-based.
For novice users the Wizard interface is most important, as the Wizards will
step-by-step guide you along all actions needed to create an NC file in
DeskProto. All settings offered by the Wizards are also possible in the 'normal'
dialog-based user-interface.

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Tutorial Lesson 1

In this first Tutorial lesson we will explain both interfaces: the Wizard-based in
Lesson 1A and the Dialog-based in Lesson 1B.
To now start Lesson 1A> in section ‘Start new project’ of the Start Screen
check Use samples folder and then select the option Use wizard.

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Lesson 1A
The Beer tray, wizard interface

You have just selected Use Wizard, either in the DeskProto Start Screen or in
the File menu. So you can now use the DeskProto Wizard interface, making
the program very easy to use for anyone without previous experience. We will
keep the Tutorial as short as possible, as the wizard should in fact be self
explanatory...

The Machine to be used should already be the correct machine, as you have set
your default machine when first starting DeskProto. If not correct you can
select a different machine here (in order to change the default machine you
need to open the Default Project parameters, via the Options menu).

A series of different wizards is available, each meant for a specific type of

milling. For the Beer tray we will use the first wizard: Basic Vector
machining, that is available in all Editions of DeskProto. So please select that
wizard and press Next.

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As you can see above: now the second icon in the dialog becomes active
(enlarged and underlined in red): you are on the second page of this wizard.
These icons can be used as navigation tabs: you can click on any of the colored
icons (except page 1) to directly go to that wizard page. Most forward jumps
are not possible though (gray icons), as you cannot skip any of the wizard's
pages.

On this second page you first need to browse a Vector data file. As you started
with option “Use samples folder” checked, the Browse button should directly
look in the DeskProto Samples folder: select file 2D_DpBeerTray.dxf and press
Open.
Note for INCH users: The file just mentioned is in mm, for a material slab of
400x200 mm. When loaded in your inch DeskProto this will be a slab of
400x200 inches: way too large. When you work in inches you need to select the
inch version of this file, called 2D_DpBeerTray_inch.dxf.

In case you do not see the Samples folder: you can find it in folder
\ProgramData\DeskProto 7.1\Samples\ (for more information and for MacOS
and Linux see the earlier paragraph about Files and Folders).

After opening the 2D_DpBeerTray file it will be drawn on your screen, see the
image above. All vector information in gray, in orange (added on the next
wizard page) the material block, and two small cubes with axes which are
called Orientators.
This default material block is the exact bounding box of the vector-data, with a
thickness of 10 mm (or 0.5”). The green orientator shows the three axes: as you
can see the largest size of this design is along X. The blue orientator shows the
position of the workpiece zero point, more about that later.

In this lesson we will only deal the outer contour and the holes: this wizard
only offers “basic vector machining”. Engraving the text is a more advanced
step that will be explained in Lesson 1B.

This wizard page offers options to Scale and Rotate this 2D drawing. Scaling
to a smaller size may be needed when your machine is too small for this part.
Unfortunately the result probably then will also be too small to carry beer
glasses or coffee cups, so in that case you can better create your own drawing.

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Rotating can be useful if on your machine the Y-axis is the longest: then
rotating 90 degrees may make the tray fit inside the machining area. As this is
a 2D drawing you can only rotate round the Z-axis.

For more information on any of the settings that the wizard offers: position
your cursor over one of the yellow question marks to get an explanation: a
Wizard tooltip then will pop up.

The last option on this page is an important one: the Z settings. Entering
incorrect Z-settings may result in damaging the working table of your machine.
By default the Z=0 is on the top of the block, and the machining depth thus
should not be more than the thickness of your material block (as illustrated
above). In case of doubt you can add an extra slab of material below the block
to protect the table: such slab is called the “wasteboard”.

The Machining depth to be set depends on the thickness of your block. We

will for instance be using a sheet of 6 mm thick plywood (1/4”), and suggest a
depth of -5.9 mm (0.24”) leaving 0.1 mm (0.01”) clearance above the working
table. In case you use a wasteboard the machining depth can be equal to the
block thickness (or even a bit more). Be aware that the depth needs to be
entered with a minus sign, as it is a Z-value below zero.

The Free movement height is the Z-level that will be used for positioning
movements (traveling from the first contour line to the second, etc). You can
imagine this milling operation as an (ancient) pen-plotter: the free movement
height being the pen-up level for positioning movements, and the machining
depth being the pen-down level, with the pen touching the paper to draw a line.

After entering these Z-values you can press the Next button to proceed to the
third page of this wizard, called Material.

The default block size as said is the bounding box of your drawing. While such
block will reduce waste to an absolute minimum, our advise is to use a bit
larger block size, as that will add room for some clamps on both sides of the
part. The bounding box of the vector data is 360 x 220 mm (14 x 9 inches), and
the actual block that we want to use is 400 x 250 mm, 6 mm thick (16 x 10
inches, 0.25” thick).
Set the Dimensions of material block to Custom, and enter the correct
dimensions for X, Y and Z. We entered 400, 250 and 6 mm (16, 10, 0.25”) for

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our sheet of plywood.

When you now press the Apply button on this wizard page you will see that the
drawing has been updated to show the new block size. The beer tray is nicely
positioned in the center of the block, leaving ample room for clamps on both
sides. Using the Apply button by the way is not needed: the Next button will
automatically apply your settings as well.

For the Workpiece zero point we used the default choice: the front-left corner
of the block (so all curves will only have positive X and Y coordinates). If you
prefer you can use one of the other options (not available in the Free edition
and the Entry edition), like the center of the block. In fact it does not matter
what you select here, as long as you use the same location to set the zero point
on the machine (more about that later). For the Z no options are available: in
vector machining the Z=0.0 always is at the top of the block.

Pressing next will take you to the fourth page of this wizard, called Milling.
Here you can set the actual milling parameters and estimate how long it will
take to machine the part.

Select a suitable Cutter from the list (drop-down menu). Suitable for this
project would be an end-mill, so a cutter with a flat tip. The size must be
logical for this job: a diameter of say between 1/3 of the material thickness and
the full thickness would be nice. This is not critical though, and will also
depend on which cutters you have available. When you cannot find your cutter
in the list you can easily create a new cutter definition: press button Cutter
library, OK on warning, button Add, enter all relevant data. Use the Help
button for Help. We have used the default cutter (Flat tip, diameter 6 mm or
1/4” for inch users).

Two different Speeds can be set:

The Feedrate is the speed with which the cutter travels through the material.
For non-metals in most cases the default speed for your machine will be OK, in
case you are not sure: set a lower feedrate for the first job and try a higher
value later.

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The Spindlespeed is the rotation speed of the cutter. For many small machines
this cannot be set from the PC and therefore will have been grayed out in
DeskProto. If your machine accepts spindlespeed commands then here as well
the default will be a good value to start with.
In general: the smaller the cutter’s diameter, the higher the spindlespeed that is
needed to achieve the same actual cutting speed (the speed at which the cutting
edge moves through the material).

For vector machining the wizard offers two Toolpath types:

Profiling will make the cutter follow the curves in the drawing,
Pocketing will make the cutter remove all material inside closed contours of
the drawing (this type will be used later for the text). In the Free edition of
DeskProto only Profiling is available.
The third toolpath type, Drilling, is not available via the wizard.

For this beer tray we will apply Profiling: as the cutter will cut on (almost) full
depth there is no need to cover the complete area inside each circle as the
remaining material within the circles will fall out anyway.
So for Toolpath type select Profiling, and then in the Drop down menu select
strategy Outside/left. As a result the cutter will travel on the outside of the
outer contour, as shown by the icon image on the wizard page. The distance
between the line in the original drawing (gray) and the toolpath line (red) is
called the cutter radius compensation: a name that will be self-explanatory.

DeskProto is smart enough to realize that for all closed contours inside this
outline the cutter must travel on the other side of the contour-line (the inside).
So the 7 round holes in the tray will be machined exactly on the correct size.
When you press the button Calculate (bottom of the wizard page) you can see
the resulting toolpaths, displayed as red lines. Feel free to experiment with the
various settings to see what happens.

The wizard will apply these settings to all curves in the drawing: the outer
contour, the seven holes and also to the text. So DeskProto will also try to
machine the inside of each character (at full depth), which we do not want. In
most cases this will automatically be solved: your cutter will simply be too
thick to fit inside these contour lines, and thus they will be skipped. This is true
for our 6 mm cutter and also for a 5 mm cutter. Only for a diameter of 4 mm or
smaller unwanted toolpaths will be added.

In case this happens (if not then ignore this paragraph):

After completing the wizard, open the Vector Operation parameters

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by double-clicking that line in the tree, go to tab Profiling, and under

Select Curves select Custom instead of All (as set by the wizard).
Now use the button Select to select only the outer contour and the 7
circles: first click outside the part to de-select all, then with the Shift
button pressed click on each of these 8 curves. Light gray means not
selected, dark gray means selected). After pressing OK (twice) you
will see the updated toolpaths: again save these in an NC program
file (Create menu).

Support tabs are interruptions in the toolpath. At these locations not all
material will be removed, the remaining material acting as a bridge to keep the
part connected to the rest of the material block. This will prevent the part from
being damaged when completely cut loose. After finishing all toolpaths you
can take the block off the machine and manually remove all tabs. For this
project it is OK to use the Default tabs. Default tab size is twice the cutter
diameter, and default thickness is 50% of the material height. Default distance
between tabs is 20 times the cutter diameter.

Roughing (not available in the Free edition) may be needed when the block is
too thick for the cutter to remove all material at once. The solution is to use a
number of roughing layers: machine the same paths a number of times, each
time a bit deeper, until the prescribed depth has been achieved. So check Use
layers and next a custom Layer height. We used 3 mm (0.125”), for our 6 mm
(0.25”) thick material this resulted in 2 layers.

Again you can use the Calculate button to see the result. The estimated
machining time that is shown will automatically be updated as well. The red
lines are the toolpaths, and the dashed lines the positioning movements. The
image above shows toolpaths without roughing layers, for a better visibility of
the support tabs.

When you are running the Free edition and thus have a toolpath without
roughing layers, you can solve that by running the your one-layer toolpath
several times, starting with the zero point on the machine set too high (above
the top of the block). You then create your own layers by varying the zero
point’s Z-position.

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Once more pressing the Next button will open the 5th and last page of this
wizard, called Send to machine. As you already calculated and drew the
toolpaths it is not needed to press button Show toolpaths. Pressing would in
fact make the toolpaths invisible again, as this is a “toggle button”.

Button Show simulation will make DeskProto calculate and show a

simulation: a drawing of the resulting part after machining the toolpaths. The
material block, the grooves made by the cutter and the support tabs are clearly
visible, making it easy to check if this is indeed the desired part.

For some machines a button Send to machine is shown, to directly send the
toolpaths to the machine. It is available only on a few machine that support this
feature, after configuring this in the Preferences (see the Help file).

If all is OK one more thing needs to be done on this page: pressing button
Write NC-Program file will open a standard Save-As dialog where you can
enter the file-name. The file-extension that is shown (in “Save as type:“)
depends on which machine you have selected. Every machine manufacturer
prefers some different file format: this is the format suited for the machine that
you selected. After that press the Finish button to close the wizard.

From here you can either read the next half of this lesson, about how to use the
dialog-based interface, or jump to the paragraph called “To the milling
machine” at the end of this Chapter. The second half of this lesson will include
instructions to also machine the text on the beer tray.

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Tutorial Lesson 1

Lesson 1B
The Beer tray, dialog based interface

Start DeskProto (or restart it), in the Start Screen (see page 22) again check
Use samples folder and now select the option Vector project (one of the
options in 'Start new project'). This lesson will show you how to set all
parameters in the Dialog-based interface. Any setting made by the Wizards (as
in Lesson 1A) can also be made in this way.

Load the Vector file

The first thing you need to do for a new vector project is load the
drawing that you want to use. In most cases this will be a DXF file. In
DeskProto you can do so using the command Load vector file
(located in the File menu), or using the Load vector file button (the 4th button
in the toolbar). The result will be a File-Open dialog in which you can browse
the DXF file (or AI, EPS, SVG) you want to use.

As you selected 'Vector project' in the Start Screen, DeskProto will

automatically have opened this Vector-data File-Open dialog for you. Open
sample file 2D_DpBeerTray.dxf - or in case you work in inches file
2D_DpBeerTray_inch.dxf

You now need to set all parameters for this project, without the guidance
offered by the wizard in Lesson 1A. This Tutorial lesson will explain how.
In DeskProto you can enter parameters on three levels:
1- the Project parameters are general settings for the complete project, like
the machine and the CAD data files that are used. Each project contains one or
more parts, for instance two separate model halves.
2- the Part parameters define what exactly will be machined: scaling,
orientation, partial machining, etc. Each part contains one or more operations,
for instance for roughing, finishing, and some detailing operations.
3- the Operation parameters define how the part will be machined: which
cutter, strategy, speeds, etc. In DeskProto three different operation types are
available: Vector operations, Geometry operations and Bitmap operations.

The project tree on the left of the DeskProto screen shows this tree structure:
one project, containing one or more parts, each containing one or more
operations (in the DeskProto Free edition only one part and one operation can
be used). You can open the relevant dialog with parameters by double-clicking
its line in the tree (or via the Parameters menu).
As you selected 'Vector project' in the Start Screen, DeskProto automatically

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created a part with a Vector operation.

In the project tree the first line (the project line) still is called “Untitled”. The
project will receive a name when you save the project: the name of the
DeskProto project file (.DPJ file) also is the name of the project in the tree. For
this lesson the parameters on project level do not need to be changed –
assuming that the correct machine has been selected as default machine. You
can check that by making the project line in the tree active (clicking on it
once): the name of the machine then will be shown on the status bar (bottom
border) of the DeskProto window.

The Part parameters

Open the Part parameters dialog by double-clicking its line in the project tree
(or via the Parameters menu). Only the tabs that are relevant for a Vector
project (called the Vector Settings) are shown, the number of tabs is different
for the various editions of DeskProto. Only a few changes are needed now: in
DeskProto every parameter has a suitable default value, and thus it can be
ignored unless a change is explicitly required.

Scaling or Rotating the drawing can be done on the Transform tab (in case
needed, see lesson 1A). Mirroring is possible too, panning is not useful right
now as only one DXF file has been opened.

On the Material tab you need to define the size of the material block. Just as in
Lesson 1A we propose to use a 6 mm thick plywood sheet of 400 x 250 mm (in
inches 16 x 10, ¼” thick). Defining this block in the dialog is a bit more
complicated than in the Wizard, as the wizard automatically centers the
drawing in the block and the dialog does not. The material tab now shows
“Use all CAD data”, with the following boundaries:

mm inch

0.00 360.00 0.0000 14.0000

0.00 220.00 0.0000 9.0000

-10.00 0.00 -0.5000 0.0000

In order to change that while keeping the drawing centered (for X and Y) it
will be needed to add the same extra on both sides: for X 20 mm (1”) extra for
each side, and for Y 15 mm (0.5”) extra.
Select “Custom”, and enter the following values:

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mm inch
-20.00 380.00 -1.0000 15.0000
-15.00 235.00 -0.5000 9.5000

-6.00 0.00 -0.2500 0.0000

The minus 6.00 for Z is the thickness of the material that we want to use: enter
a different value if you have a thicker or thinner slab of material. When you
now press Apply you will see that these values will change: X then will be
from 0.0 to 400.0 and Y from 0.0 to 250.0 (do not mind the warning that no
curves have been selected: we will do so below).

This happens because the Zero-point (the fourth tab of this dialog, not
available in the Free edition and the Entry edition) by default is set on the left-
front corner of the material block. The drawing clearly shows what has
happened: the material block now has the correct size, the part is nicely
centered within the block and the zero point is at the top-front-left corner of the
block.

The Vector operation parameters

In the project tree you will see one vector operation, and its icon shows a red
warning sign to indicate that the settings currently are invalid. To see what
causes this problem you can open the operation parameters by double-clicking

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its line in the tree and then again close it by pressing OK: an error message will
pop up telling you that “No curves have been selected”. The wizard
automatically selected all curves, in the dialog interface this needs to be done
by the user, which makes it more flexible.

This flexibility is needed right away, as in this lesson different settings will be
used for the contours and for the text. For this first operation only the contours
(outside shape and 7 holes) will be selected. Open the operation parameters
again, tab Profiling. For ‘Select curves’ choose Custom and press button
Select: the dialog “Edit curve selection” will pop up, showing a top view of the
drawing.

Click on the outer contour to select it (the color will change from gray to blue).
Next with the shift key (on your keyboard) pressed down click on each of the 7
large circles to add them to the selection. As Profiling Strategy select
Outside/Left. When you now press button “Calculate toolpaths” you can check
if these are indeed the paths that you need: outside the outer contour, inside all
seven circles, and no toolpaths for the text. Close the selection dialog with OK
to confirm your selection and press Apply to update the drawing. You will see
that the 8 curves you have selected are now drawn in a darker gray.

Other operation parameters need to be set as well:

On tab Profiling select to use the Default Support tabs.

On tab page General you can select the Cutter to be used and set the Speeds.
We used a Flat cutter of 6 mm (1/4”) diameter, and the default speeds.
On tab page Z settings you can set the Machining depth and the Free
movement height. We used a depth of -5.9 mm (0.24”) for our 6 mm thick
material, and the default free movement height (5 mm).
Finally on tab page Roughing (not available in the Free edition) the option Use
layers can be checked, with a Custom Layer height (we used 3 mm / 0.125”).
For each of these settings a complete explanation can be found in Lesson 1A.
Leave the Operation parameters using OK.

Now you can calculate the toolpaths using this button (or via the
Create menu). DeskProto will tell you the estimated machining time
(unless you switched that off), and depending on your block thickness
and layer height you will see one or more layers of toolpaths: in our case
lowering to -5.9 in steps of 3 mm means 2 layers. The current result should be
the same as shown at the end of Lesson 1A.

Adding the text to be engraved

The text in the drawing needs to be machined in a completely different way: a

smaller cutter, a much smaller machining depth, and all material inside each

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character needs to be removed. In order to achieve this a second operation is

used, and Pocketing type toolpaths. As multiple operations and pocketing are
not supported in the Free edition users of the Free edition can skip this
paragraph.

Easiest way to add an operation is to right-click on line Part in the tree, and
then in the context menu select Add Vector Operation. The new line will
display a red warning sign in its icon, caused by the same error as for the first
operation: no curves have been selected yet.

Open the vector operation parameters for this new operation. The settings to be
changed will be listed below, with a short comment only.

Tab General:
- Change the Name from “vector operation [#1]” to “Text”: clear naming will
make things easier later.
- Select a thinner cutter: a flat tip of 2 mm (1/16”) diameter will (just) fit inside
each character.
- For this thinner cutter set a lower feedrate and if possible a higher spindle
speed.

Tab Z settings:
- Set the machining depth on -0.5 mm (-0.02”): enough to engrave a readable
text.

Tab Pocketing:
- Removing all material within a closed contour line is called Pocketing. So on
that tab set the Curve selection to Custom and press the Select button.

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Now in the Edit curve selection dialog select the text curves (26 curves).When
selecting you can use a ‘rubberband’ selection tool: position the cursor close to
point A (make sure that none of the curves is activated (purple), press the left
mouse button, move to point B and release the mouse button. Now only the
curves that are completely within the dashed rectangle (the rubber band) will
have been selected: 26 curves.
As Strategy select Offset, the default Stepover of 50% is OK.

Again press button Calculate toolpaths to see the result: toolpaths to remove all
material inside each of the text curves. As you can see DeskProto automatically
recognizes that curves within other curves need to be treated as islands without
toolpaths.

The dashed lines in gray are positioning movements on Free movement height.
After closing both dialogs and again pressing Calculate toolpaths the
DeskProto screen now shows the toolpaths for both operations:

The first operation has not yet been renamed, we advise to rename it now as
the use of proper names will prove to be convenient when reusing the project
later. Also the name of the project (the upper line in the tree) still is “untitled”

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as you have not yet saved the project.

The next step is optional: you can show a simulation of the resulting
part. When you press this button the material block will be shown on
your screen as a solid, brown block, and a dialog called Operations to
simulate will pop up.
In this dialog all operation in this part are
shown, each with a checkbox to select it.
Check the first operation (the Profile
toolpaths) and press Calculate: the
simulation will be updated to include the
profiling toolpaths. You can include the
Text Operation by also checking that and
again pressing Calculate.
The level of detail of the simulation can
be set in the part parameters (tab
Simulation). Again pressing the Simulate
button (or pressing the hide button in the above dialog) will hide the simulation
and make the toolpaths visible again.

Finally you can write the NC file, either via the Create menu or using
the button. For most machines you will see that two different NC files
are written: after the first operation DeskProto finds that a different
cutter is required and thus has to start a new NC file. Only for machines with
an Automatic ToolChanger (ATC) both operations can be saved in one NC file.

It is also possible to save these files one by one. In the tree you can see a
yellow light bulb in front of each operation. Clicking on such light bulb will
make it gray, and the operation becomes invisible. That is a very handy feature
when working with several operations. In case not all operations are visible
when you tell DeskProto to write the NC file, DeskProto will ask “Do you
want to use the visible operations only?” This makes it possible to save the
NC files one by one, giving a clear and informative name to each file.

From here you can proceed to paragraph “To the milling machine”, which will
explain about this next step.

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To the milling machine

The NC program(s) that you created is (are) ready to be sent to the milling
machine, so you are finally ready to start cutting off chips now. As the way to
do this depends on which milling machine you use not all necessary
information can be given here: please consult the manual of your NC milling
machine as well.

First the block of material has to be prepared, for which you have just entered
the dimensions (in one of the previous two paragraphs). For our beer-tray
sample we used: 400 x 250 x 6 mm, or in inches 16 x 10 x 0.25” - of course
you may have entered a different thickness or size. For X and Y some oversize
is not a problem, the Z (material thickness) needs to be exact though.

As this block is larger than the part to be machined you can fixture the block
on the machine’s working table using clamps on all four corners: the toolpaths
will not come close to these four clamps. As an alternative you can use double-
sided adhesive tape. The image above shows the four clamps, and also an extra
slab of material below to be used as “wasteboard”: this will protect the
machine’s working table in case the cutter travels too deep. This should not
happen, still for a first project it is good to be extra careful.

Next you have to tell your machine where to find the block of material. In
other words: you have to define the WorkPiece Zero point for this NC
program A CNC milling machine typically has two zero points: the machine
zero point, in a corner of its machining area, and the workpiece zero point (WP
zero, also called Program Zero) to be freely defined. It will be clear that two
different coordinate systems are present as well: machine coordinates (used to
define the workpiece zero point), and workpiece coordinates (used for the
milling operations).

In DeskProto you have defined the left-front corner of the block to be zero
(0,0), and for vector machining Z=0 always is at the top of the block. This

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means that all X and Y positions in the NC file are positive (X=0 is the left side
of the block, and Y=0 is the front side), all Z-positions (except for positioning
moves) are negative (Z=0 is the top of the material block). On the DeskProto
screen the workpiece zero point is shown as a dark blue cube (orientator).
So now on the machine you need to set the WP zero point at the Left-Front-
Top corner of the material block that you just fixtured on the machine.

On many machines you can enter the WP zero point by manually positioning
the cutter (milling tool) exactly on the desired workpiece zero point, and then
telling the machine controller that this is position (0,0,0). Keep in mind: for X
and Y the center of the tool must be positioned, for Z the tip of the tool. Of
course it is necessary first to mount the correct tool in the machine’s spindle, as
different cutters will have different lengths. If you are also machining the text:
make sure to send the correct NC file for the cutter that is mounted.

Finally double-check if the extreme values of the toolpaths: can the machine
reach the minimum values for X and Y, and can it travel to the lowest Z-value
without causing any damage. You can find these value in DeskProto’s Part
information dialog, tab Vector: see the image above. Make sure to check “Use
translated values” to see the same coordinates as in the NC file.

Now you are ready to start the machine by sending the NC program file you
just created to the machine. Most CNC milling machines have their own
control software to do this (like Mach3, PCNC, LinuxCNC, ...). If so then
start this machine-control program and open the NC program file. If needed
first transfer this file from the DeskProto PC to the machine’s control PC. The
command to start machining can be given in the control software.

A few machines (for instance many Roland machines) can be simply started
like a printer. With these machines it is possible to send the file directly from
DeskProto by choosing one of the options 'Send to Machine...' in the Create
menu. This option is available only when the correct communications port or
printer driver has been configured (can be done via Options > Preferences, tab
NC Output). The Send to machine option is not present in the versions for
MacOS and for Linux.

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In short:
- Clamp the material on the machine’s working table
- Set the WorkPiece zero point on this block as it has been set in DeskProto
- Load the NC file from DeskProto
- check if the extreme values of the toolpaths fit
- Start the machining process.

For the second NC file, with the text, this process can be repeated.
Leave the material clamped as it was and mount the smaller cutter. The X=0
and Y=0 positions remain the same as for the first NC file. Only the Z=0 will
need to be set again, now with the tip of this new cutter touching the top of the
block. After you have done so:
- Load the second NC file from DeskProto
- check if the extreme values of the toolpaths fit
- Start the machining process.

At the end of the milling process the model will still be attached to the
remaining block of material by means of the support tabs. You can manually
remove the beer-tray from the block and clear the seven holes. Finally use
some sanding paper to remove the remains of the support tabs and smoothen
all contours.

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2. Picture Frame (basic geometry)

Lesson Two

In this second lesson you will learn how to machine a 3D geometry. Again
some DeskProto basics will be explained, partly repeating Lesson One. This
time a geometry file will be processed and a 3D NC file will be made, ready to
send to the milling machine. The lesson again will be presented twice:
first using the Wizard ‘Basic Geometry machining’ and next using the
Dialog-based interface. This lesson is for all DeskProto editions.

The geometry is shown in the figure above: a nice picture frame with floral
decorations. Machine it in wood and add your own favorite picture: a great
gift! This part can be machined from one side, making it a splendid sample
model for this first lesson.
The relief has been created by Todd Bailey of 4m3D Creative Design
(www.4m3d.com) as a custom model for DeskProto. You can find the file
DpPictureFrame.stl in the Samples folder that was filled during Setup.

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Start DeskProto

Start DeskProto, as explained in Lesson One, and proceed until the Start screen
is displayed. In case this screen does not pop up automatically you can open it
in the File Menu.

In this second lesson again both user-interfaces that DeskProto offers will be
explained: the Wizard-based interface in Lesson 2A and the Dialog-based
interface in Lesson 2B. Both versions of this lesson will lead to the same
result.

In order to start Lesson 2A: in the Start Screen please check Use samples
folder and then select the option Use wizard.

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Lesson 2A
The Picture Frame, wizard interface

The DeskProto Wizard interface makes the program very easy to use for
anyone without previous experience. We will keep the Tutorial as short as
possible, as the wizard should in fact be self explanatory...

The Machine to be used should already be the correct machine, as you have set
the default machine when first starting DeskProto. If not correct you can select
a different machine here (changing the default machine can be done in the
Default Part parameters (Options menu).

In fact a series of different wizards is available, each meant for a specific type
of milling. For the Picture frame we will use the second wizard: Basic
Geometry machining (3D), that is available in all Editions of DeskProto. So
please select that wizard and press Next.

Just as in Lesson One the second icon becomes active (enlarged and underlined

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in red): you are on the second page of this wizard. You can see that this wizard
has more pages than the wizard in Lesson One, and that the navigation icons
are different. When using the DeskProto Expert Edition or Multi-Axis Edition
you will see seven pages, as shown in the illustration. When using the Entry
Edition you will see six pages, as a Contouring operation is not possible in this
edition, while in the Free edition only five pages are present (no Roughing).
Nevertheless also in the Entry and the Free edition this lesson can be
completed, as these extra operations are not required.

On this second page you need to browse a Geometry file. As you started with
option “Use samples folder” checked, the Browse button should directly look
in the DeskProto Samples folder: select file DpPictureFrame.stl and press
Open.
Note for INCH users:
For users that work in inches, most sample geometries are also available in an
inch-version. For the picture frame geometry the inch version is called
DpPictureFrame_inch.stl. So please select that file, as the metric version will
result in a frame of 183 inches high.

In case you do not see the Samples folder: you can find it in folder \
ProgramData\DeskProto 7.1\Samples\ (for more information, also on Linux
and Mac, see the earlier paragraph on Files and Folders)

Scale when you need a different size picture frame. You can create a frame for
any size photo as DeskProto allows “non-uniform” scaling: different for X, Y
and Z. Do not change the Orientation as for this frame the Top surface needs to
remain on top.

For more information on any of these settings: move the cursor over one of the
yellow question marks to get an explanation in a “Wizard Tooltip”.

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On the third page, called “Material and Support”, no changes are needed for
this project: use the geometry's bounding box as material block, do not add
supports and keep the default zero point position. These last two options
(supports and zero point) are not present for users of a DeskProto Free or Entry
Edition.

The next three wizard pages are for the three operations, as this wizard will
automatically generate three operations: Roughing (optional, not in the Free
edition), Finishing, and Contouring (optional, not in the Free and Entry
editions). The roughing operation is meant to quickly remove material, the
finishing operation to create an accurate model with a smooth surface, and the
final contouring will smoothen out most staircase steps that may have
remained along the outside contour, using the strategy “Contour Only”. On
these three pages you need to enter the actual Milling parameters like cutter,
speeds and precision.
The Free edition will create a project with just one operation (finishing), the
Entry Edition will skip contouring and create a project with two operations.

A Cutter can be selected from the list in the Combo box (the drop-down list):
the list shows all cutters in the Library. You may need to add or change a
cutter: then you can enter this Library via the button “Cutter library...”.
For finishing a freeform surface like this frame a ballnose cutter is the best
choice as it will create a smooth surface. The larger the radius the smoother,
the drawback obviously being that a large cutter cannot create small details.
You may select different cutters for each of the three operations, in which case
of course a tool change will be needed.

For Roughing select a large Distance between the toolpaths, for Finishing a
small one. In most cases the default values will be OK for this first model in a
material that is easy to machine.
For the Speeds you can also use the default values, unless you are machining
in tough material like metal.
The wizard already has selected an optimal Strategy for each of these
operations (also see the note below). In the Free/Entry edition the strategy
cannot be set as only one strategy is available: Parallel.
For the Roughing operation two extra parameters are available: Skin and
Layer height. Leaving a Skin around the model will improve the surface
quality: any damages made when roughing (for instance by cutter vibrations)
will not be visible in the result. Finishing will then move smoothly as the chip
load is constant (only removing the thin skin). The Layer height (how deep
may the cutter sink into the material in one pass) may of course never be
higher than the cutting length of the cutter that is used.

Each of these three Operation pages also shows a field for the Estimated
machining time. To see the machining time you must press the button
Calculate. Then the toolpaths for that operation will be drawn as well.

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The last page of the wizard, Send to machine, shows the resulting project tree
(you can rename any line in the tree after a slow double click). Three or four
large buttons are shown:
Button Show Toolpaths makes the toolpaths visible / invisible, and when
needed calculates the toolpaths.
Button Show Simulation does the same for the Simulation, and for a clear
view switches off the toolpaths when visible.
Button Send to machine is available only when your machine supports that
option (very few machines do) and when an NC output device has been
configured in the DeskProto preferences.
Button Write NC program file in most cases is the last step to be done in
DeskProto. This NC file then can be sent to your CNC milling machine, see the
end of this Chapter. The file extension depends on the machine that you have
selected: each machine manufacturer uses a different type of NC file.

You can end the Wizard by pressing Finish. After that you may save this new
project via File >> Save: this save will produce a DeskProto project file, with
extension DPJ.

Before you start machining please read the below Notes about this result:

1. The picture frame geometry has a large hole in the center area. Which makes
of course sense for a frame, however which is not ideal for the standard
parameters as just set by the Wizard.
The default Roughing strategy is Block and makes the cutter move in from the
outside. Perfect for most models, however not optimal for the frame as at some
point the remaining material in the center will be cut loose. That loose chunk
of material may damage your model, so here it will be safer to use strategy
Parallel for Roughing.
The default Finishing strategy is Parallel, which will also finish the empty
center area, so will take longer than needed.

2. DeskProto does offer many options to make these toolpaths more efficient,
most of these are available only via the Dialog-based interface. For more
information see lesson 2B in the next paragraph.
It is possible to first use the Wizard and then (after finishing the wizard) fine-
tune your project using the Dialog-based interface. You then of course will
need to save a new NC file for these changed settings.

3. In the DeskProto Samples folder you can find a sample project file for this
geometry, with much better settings. So easiest is to just open this file
DpPictureFrame.dpj (or DpPictureFrame_inch.dpj ).

From here you can either read the next half of this lesson, about how to use the
dialog-based interface, or jump to the paragraph called “To the milling
machine” at the end of this Chapter.

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Lesson 2B
The Picture Frame, dialog-based interface

Start DeskProto, in the Start Screen (see Lesson One) again check Use
samples folder, and now select the option Geometry project (3D) (in group
'Start new project'). We will now show you how to set all parameters in the
Dialog-based interface. Any settings that the Wizards make can also be made
in this way.

Load the Geometry file

The first thing you need to do for a new project is load the geometry
that you want to use. In most cases this will be an STL file. In
DeskProto you can do so using the command Load geometry file,
located in the File menu, or using the Load geometry button. The result will be
a File-Open dialog in which you can browse the STL file you want to use. As
you selected 'Geometry project' in the Start Screen, DeskProto will have
opened this File-Open dialog for you automatically.

The file that we want to use for this lesson is called DpPictureFrame.stl and
is located in the DeskProto Samples folder. Unfortunately the location of this
folder – the Windows \ProgramData\ – is different per Windows version, so
the file may be difficult to find. No problem: you can use the checkbox in the
Start Screen mentioned above. So please go to the Samples folder and open the
file DpPictureFrame.stl

For INCH users:

For users who work in inches, most sample geometries are also available in an
inch-version. For the picture frame geometry the inch version is called
DpPictureFrame_inch.stl. So please select that file, as the metric version will
result in a frame of 183 inches high.

While reading the geometry file a progress indicator will be shown on screen,
counting the percentage that has been processed.

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The view window

When the geometry file has been read, the View window will show the
geometry: a nicely decorated photo frame. The result of this lesson will be a
great product, either on your own desk or to be used as a self-made gift !

The light-brown lines around the geometry show the bounding box: the
dimensions of the material block that is needed to create this part. You can
make it more clearly visible by double-clicking on the image and in the Items
visible dialog (explained below) checking the option Translucent for Material
block. You can restore the previous image by again un-checking this option:
use the setting that you prefer.
The green cube with X, Y and Z shows the directions of these three axes, and
is called the Orientator. The small blue cube shows the position of the
WorkPiece zero point (0,0,0) for this part, more about that will follow later.

Rotate, Pan and Zoom

DeskProto offers several ways to rotate and move the object on the screen, so
to view the geometry from any side. The controls that attract most attention are
the colored thumb-wheels in the border of the view window.

The vertical and horizontal red thumb-wheels offer rotation, around a

horizontal and a vertical axis (horizontal and vertical on your display screen).

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The three-quarter-round wheel in the corner allows you to rotate around the
axis perpendicular to the screen. Position the cursor over one of these red
thumb-wheels, press the left mouse button and keep it pressed while moving
the mouse. You will see that the geometry rotates as indicated.
The two yellow thumb-wheels are for panning (moving the geometry over the
screen, horizontally and vertically). And the blue thumb-wheel is meant for
zooming (changing the viewing-distance).

While these thumb-wheels attract most attention, they are not needed as you
can also use direct mouse control to rotate, pan and zoom. Most intuitive is the
Mouse Rotation: position the cursor inside the drawing area, press the left
mouse button and move the mouse. The geometry will now appear to rotate.
Imagine a large hollow glass sphere around the geometry: the cursor grabs the
sphere and rotates it round its center point, including its contents.

The result of the mouse movement just

described depends on the status of the
Mouse function buttons: see the
illustration left. Of these four buttons
always one is active (depressed),
enabling either mouse rotation, mouse panning, mouse zooming or zoom
window. No further explanation is needed: just press one of the four buttons
and see what happens when you use the mouse inside the View window.

It is even possible to rotate, pan and zoom without using these mouse function
buttons. Select button Mouse rotation and press the left mouse button for
rotation, press the middle mouse button (the mouse-wheel) for panning, and
rotate this wheel for zooming. When zooming the cursor position determines
the center of the zoom, so you can zoom onto any detail on the screen.
DeskProto supports the SpaceMouse ® by 3Dconnexion for rotating, panning
and zooming.

A number of standard views can be set very quickly using the eight toolbar
buttons showing small cubes. Each colored button sets a main view (a view
along one of the main axes). The next four buttons to the right of these cubes
can be used to quickly set isometric view, default view, previous view and next
view (the latter only enabled when button previous view has been used).

Note: all these controls only influence your view of the model (the camera
position), not the actual orientation of your geometry on the milling machine.

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Items visible

This option - that will prove to be very handy - allows you to select which
items should be displayed in the View Window. You can open the Items visible
dialog by clicking this command by double-clicking inside the view window or
via the View menu.

Every displayable item is shown, with a checkbox to mark for each item
whether or not it should be displayed. When checked (“V”) the corresponding
item will be displayed after pressing the OK button.
When the checkbox is completely filled (showing a square instead of a V), like
in the illustration above for the Toolpaths, it means that multiple operations are
selected (light gray or blue background) having a different status for that item.

For now please look at the CAD Data items only, and play around with the
available options to see what happens. For instance 'Show downward faces' is a
great tool to find any undercuts in your geometry (area's that the cutter cannot
reach), and the option 'Translucent’ for the Material block will make it
perfectly clear whether or not the part fits inside the block.

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Check the model’s orientation and dimensions

While examining the geometry by looking from various directions, you will
have noticed that the Picture Frame is correctly positioned for milling. In
DeskProto the milling tool always comes from the positive Z-direction: X is
from left to right on the milling machine, Y is from front to back, and Z is up
and down. As the picture frame is lying flat on it's back, the freeform front side
is on top and can be machined completely.

Two features for checking the orientation have already been mentioned:
- the Orientator (green cube with three axes) shows the direction of the axes
- the option Show downward faces can be used to check for undercuts.
This geometry does not need to be rotated.

The above information is not completely correct: on the back side of the
Picture Frame geometry a recess has been modeled for the photo and the glass,
and this recess cannot be created when machining only the front side. Still the
frame also can be used without the recess, so in this lesson we will simply
ignore it. Machining from two sides will be covered in a later lesson.

What you have not yet seen are the dimensions of the geometry, which will tell
you whether or not your part will fit on your machine. DeskProto will of
course warn you if it is too large, however you will anyway need to know this
'Part information' to prepare the block of material that you will use.

Press the Toolbar button with the yellow i or select Part Information from the
View Menu in order to display the Part Information dialog: see the images
above. This dialog gives you the dimensions both of the material block that
you defined and of the geometry that is used for this part (after scaling, rotating
and mirroring). When “Use translated coordinates” is checked the coordinates
shown will be the same as used in the NC file. For your current settings both
tab pages will show the same result.

As you can see the dimensions of the part are OK (the illustration is in mm), so
you can proceed and set the milling parameters.

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Set the milling parameters

In order to calculate the correct NC toolpath (the path that the cutting tool will
follow during the cutting process) DeskProto needs information about the
milling parameters that you want to use. For instance the diameter of the cutter
to be used, and how accurate you want to have your model. In this lesson we
will first show these basic parameters, and next teach you how to refine the
milling process by using Roughing and Finishing operations.

Obviously it is also important to select the correct machine for your project.
We will assume that you already selected the correct machine when first
starting DeskProto: then your machine is the default one so we do not need to
select it for each new project.

Cutter and accuracy need to be set for every milling operation. The cutter that
you use on the machine must of course match the cutter that you selected in
DeskProto: machining with any other cutter will result in an incorrect model.
You can find both the Cutter and the Precision in the Operation Parameters:

You can open the Operation Parameters dialog via the Parameters menu,
though it is easier though to just double-click the line of the operation in the
Project Tree. This project tree is visible on the left side of the DeskProto
screen, and shows all parts and operations in this project (as just explained in
the Quick start section of this Tutorial).

The Operation Parameters dialog consists of a number of Tab screens (in the
Free edition and the Entry edition less tabs are present than shown above). As

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all milling parameters have suitable default values, and as we want to start
simple: for now only look at the front Tab page (“General”) and just ignore the
hidden Tab pages. Do not ignore the most important button in the dialog: the
Help button. It will lead to a page that completely explains this one dialog.
Please try the Help, and remember this for when you have any question later.

The Operation parameters that you see now are different from the dialog that
you saw in Lesson one: then you saw the Vector operation parameters, now the
Geometry operation parameters. In addition DeskProto includes a third
operation type: the Bitmap operation, to be covered in the next lesson.

As you can see, a Cutter of 6 mm diameter with a ballnose tip has been
selected, which is the default tool in DeskProto (for inch users a 1/4” cutter).
For freeform surfaces a ballnose cutter is the best choice as it will create a
smooth surface. The larger the radius the smoother, the drawback obviously
being that a large cutter cannot machine small details. Because of the small
details in this geometry you may select a smaller cutter, depending on which
cutters you have. Nevertheless this 6 mm ballnose will produce a good result
as well: DeskProto will not damage the geometry when the cutter is too thick,
it will simply leave rest-material where it cannot reach.

Two Precision values can be set: the meaning of Distance between toolpaths
will be clear, the Stepsize along toolpath will need some explaining. Each
toolpath consists of a large series of small linear movements (in CNC
terminology: G1 movements). This second setting determines the size of these
linear movements (steps). In most cases it is best to use equal values for both
Precision parameters.

Smaller precision values will lead to a smoother and more accurate result,
however also to a longer machining time. DeskProto will automatically show
you the estimated machining time after calculating the toolpaths.

For machining foam, tooling board and wood the default values for Feedrate
and Spindle speed will be OK; generally speaking these need to be changed
for harder materials only. So now press OK to close the Operation Parameters.

Calculate the Toolpaths

After having set the milling parameters you can now calculate the
toolpaths: in the Create menu select Calculate Toolpaths, or (easier)
press the button “Calculate toolpaths” (the seventh button). When
calculating DeskProto shows a progress-bar to keep you informed about its
progress.

After the calculations have finished DeskProto will display the toolpaths: the

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red line is the path that will be followed by the tip of the cutting tool. First and
last point of the toolpath are indicated by a small red arrow. Some of the
toolpaths may be drawn using dashed gray lines: these are the positioning
movements of the cutter (at Free movement height, so above the block), which
will be done faster (called Rapid) than the cutting movements (done using the
Feedrate). Also the upward movement to this “Zfree level” after the last cutting
movement is done in Rapid mode.

The above picture was made after zooming in a bit, in order to actually see the
toolpaths in the illustration. You can clearly see that a distance is present
between the toolpaths and the actual geometry: this is the 3D compensation for
the Cutter radius that DeskProto has calculated.

Show a Simulation

The next step is optional: you can show a simulation of the resulting
part. When you press this button the material block will be shown on
your screen as a solid, brown block (in most cases hiding the CAD
data and the toolpaths), and a dialog called Operations to simulate will pop up,
as explained in the previous lesson. Check the operations that you want to
simulate and press Calculate to show the simulation, button Hide will make the
simulation invisible.

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Create NC program

To send the toolpaths just calculated to your milling machine you will have to
first save them in a file, called the NC program file. You can do this in the
Create menu, with command Write NC program file, or (easier) by pressing
the button “Write NC-file”:

Load geometry Calculate toolpaths Write NC-file

You now have seen that these buttons (nrs 4/5/6 for Load CAD data, 7 for
Calculate and 8 for Write NC) are the central buttons in the DeskProto work
flow for 3D Geometry machining.

When giving the Write NC command a 'Save-as' dialog box will appear, in
which you can enter the name of the NC program file to be written. The file
extension depends on the machine that you have selected as your default
machine: each machine manufacturer uses a different type of NC file.
Remember the file-location that is used! After pressing the Save button
DeskProto will write the NC program file to disk. As all calculations have
already been done, the process of creating an NC file will not take much time.

Note 1:
For some machines it is not needed to write an NC file, as DeskProto can
directly send the toolpaths to the machine. This can be done using command
Create menu >> Send toolpaths to machine.
This option must first be configured, via Options >> Preferences >> Tab NC
output >> select and configure the NC Output device.
Not many machines support this: we know that all machines made by Roland
do so, and some high-end industrial machines. The Send to machine option is
not present in the versions for MacOS and for Linux.

Note 2:
What you just have done is write the toolpaths. Do not confuse this with saving
the project, which is the standard Windows File >> Save action and writes an
DeskProto project file. In the project file all parameter settings are stored, and
a link to the geometry file that is used. DeskProto project files have the
extension DPJ.

From here you can either proceed to paragraph “To the milling machine”, or
first learn about roughing and finishing in the next paragraph.

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Roughing and Finishing

The toolpaths that you just made will indeed produce a picture frame: as the
part height is small it can be machined directly at full depth (only in light
materials). So you are free to skip the fine-tuning that is presented in this
paragraph. Still, applying Roughing and Finishing has a few distinct
advantages, so it will be worthwhile to bear with us for some more time. This
paragraph does not apply to the Free edition as that does not support Roughing.

You want the machining time for your part to be as low as possible, and you
also want an accurate model with a smooth surface. When using only one
operation you need to choose between quick or accurate though. As in most
cases the cutter cannot remove all material in one go (except for very low
models) it will move down in layers. For instance it will first sink 5 mm into
the material, remove all excess material above that level, next sink to minus
10, and so on. DeskProto will automatically apply this layering (which is a
roughing functionality) as it does not allow the cutter to sink deeper into the
material than its cutting length (at least: not in the first operation). When doing
so with a small Path distance (needed for a smooth surface) this will take a
long time.

When using Roughing and Finishing:

the Roughing Operation will quickly remove material (using a large
toolpath distance), after which
the Finishing operation will produce an accurate model and a smooth
surface (using a small distance).

In order to achieve this we need two operations in DeskProto, so you need to

add a second operation to the current part. You can do so in several ways:
shown above is a right-click in the Tree on the line of the Part, and then in the
Context menu select Add Geometry Operation. The result will be a tree with
two operations, called “Geometry operation” and “Geometry operation [#1]”.

Double-click on the first operation line in the tree and change its name to

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“Roughing”. Now you can set the Operation parameters to make this a real
Roughing Operation. Go to the Roughing tab and select a Layer height (the
default value is the Cutter length which will be too much in most cases) and
the Skin thickness. For a 6 mm ballnose cutter and a soft wood you could use
say 6 mm Layer and 0.5 mm Skin (in inches: for a 1/4” cutter this is 0.25”
Layer and 0.02” Skin). You can also check the Ramping option. Use the Help
for more information about these settings.

As Strategy (2nd tab) for roughing we often use Block, as in most cases this is
most efficient. Not for this frame though, as this will result in a loose block of
material in the center halfway the process, which may cause trouble. So leave
the strategy on Parallel.

On the General Tab you can now select larger Precision values (Distance and
Stepsize). In most cases the second value in the drop-down list will do: d/3.
This means 1/3 of the Cutter diameter, so you'd expect 2 mm (0.0833”).
Instead d/3 now will say 2.33 mm (0.0967”). Reason for this difference is the
Skin that was just applied. The skin is processed by calculating with a 'virtual
cutter' that is thicker than the real one: R 3 + skin 0.5 = R 3.5. This means a
diameter of 7, and 7.0/3.0 results in 2.33.
Close the dialog using OK.

The second operation will be the Finishing Operation: open the parameters,
and change the name to 'Finishing'. You do not want any Roughing functions
active, and you want smaller Precision values (Distance and Stepsize). For
finishing we often check the option 'Skip horiz. Ambient' in order to finish only
the geometry surface (tab Advanced). For this frame also uncheck “ignore
enclosed ambient”), which will make DeskProto skip the large center hole.
Make sure that on tab Movement the option Sort has been checked, as
otherwise many unneeded positioning movements will result. You can leave all
other settings as they were (default values).

You can choose to use two different cutters for Roughing and for Finishing: a
thick flat cutter for quick and efficient roughing, and a small ballnose cutter for
detailed finishing. As this geometry contains many small details this will
produce a very good result. On the other hand: the alternative of using the
same cutter for both operations (inefficient roughing) has the advantage that no
tool change is needed.

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To the milling machine

The created NC program is ready to be sent to the milling machine, so you are
finally ready to start cutting off chips now. As the way to do this depends on
which milling machine you use, not all necessary information can be given
here: please consult the manuals of your NC milling machine as well.

First a block of material has to be prepared. You already know the dimensions
of the frame as you have just checked these in the Part Information dialog:
133 x 183 x 14 mm, or in inches 5.23” x 7.2” x 0.55. The values in the dialog
are in fact a tiny bit smaller, which you can ignore for this project.

For a first test model you can use a larger block of material, leaving excess
material on all sides to clamp the block without the risk of damaging your
clamps. Make the block at least 3 mm larger in the Z-direction, as the ballnose
cutter will go R mm lower than the bottom of the frame (R being the Radius of
the cutter). This is needed in order to completely machine any vertical and
steep surfaces; see the illustration above for a ballnose cutter with R= 3 mm).

You can fixture the block on the machine using clamps, a machine vise or any
other method. For light materials like PolyURethane (PUR) or PolyStyrene
(PS) foam you can use double-sided adhesive tape.

Next you will have to tell your machine where to find the block of material. In
other words: you have to enter the WorkPiece Zero point for this NC
program, taking into account the block just fixtured. A CNC milling machine
typically has two zero points: the machine zero point, in a corner of the
machining area, and a workpiece zero point (WP zero, also called Program
Zero) to be freely defined. As a result also two different coordinate systems are
present: machine coordinates (used to define the workpiece zero point), and
workpiece coordinates (used for all milling operations).

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By default DeskProto sets the Left-Front-Top corner of the material block to

be (0,0,0). This is the default translation setting. All X and Y positions of the
part then are positive (X=0 is the left side of the block, and Y=0 is the front
side), all Z-positions are negative (Z=0 is the top of the material block). So the
left-front-top corner of the block should be set as the workpiece zero point on
the machine. In most cases also will be the starting point of the toolpath.

If your block is larger than needed the XY zero may also be located near this
corner, on the inside of the block, leaving sufficient room on all sides to
complete the whole part. Or in fact even a bit more as on all four sides the
cutter has to move outside the part to machine the outer surfaces.
Make sure to double check X and Y: if you mount the block with the longest
side in the wrong direction the part will not fit inside the block.

On many machines you can enter the WP zero point by manually positioning
the cutter (milling tool) exactly on the desired workpiece zero point, and then
telling the machine controller that this is position (0,0,0). Keep in mind: for X
and Y the center of the tool must be positioned, for Z the tip of the tool. Of
course it is necessary first to mount the correct tool in the machine’s spindle, as
different cutters will have different lengths.

Now you are ready to start the machine by sending the NC program file you
just created to the machine. Most CNC milling machines have their own
control software to do this (like Mach3, PCNC, LinuxCNC, ...). If so then exit
DeskProto, start this machine-control program and open the NC program file.
If needed first transfer this file from the DeskProto PC to the machine’s control
PC.

Some machines (for instance many Roland machines) can be simply started
like a printer. With these machines it is possible to send the file directly from
DeskProto by choosing the option 'Send NC Program to Machine...' in the
Create menu. In this last case: make sure that the correct communications port
or printer driver has been configured (choose 'Preferences' in the Options
menu). The Send to machine option is not present in the versions for MacOS
and for Linux.

At the end of the milling process the model will still be attached to the
remaining block of material, as for this first test your block was larger than the
model, and as a three axes milling machine cannot machine the bottom of the
prototype. You can either leave it that way (in case you already can see all
details that you need), or remove the rest of the block using for instance a
small band saw machine.

For the definitive model, so a frame without any excess material, the block
needs to be more accurate and the fixturing more precise. Make the block some

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millimeters larger for both X and Y, to compensate for possible positioning

errors (not too large as then the chips cannot easily fall off during machining).
Make the Z (thickness of the block) as exact as you can. Setting the WP zero
point now needs to be done accurately, exactly at the Top Front Left corner of
the block. This will be easy, as the process is the same as for the test just done.

Only the fixturing will be different now, as now you cannot clamp the excess
material around the model (as no excess material is present), and as you need a
‘wasteboard’ below the part to prevent damaging the machine’s working table.

The frame now needs to be fixtured from below. This can be done either via
double sides tape, or (better) using a few screws from below. The screws
method works out nicely: see the illustration above. You can safely use clamps
to securely fixture the wasteboard as the cutter will not come near these
clamps. You only need to take care to correctly position the screws: they may
not connect to a part of the block that will be milled off !! The waste-board will
be 'wasted' as the ballnose cutter will machine a groove all around the model.
See the Tutorial videos on the DeskProto website for a demonstration.

Obviously more fixturing methods are available for this job.

You can for instance also use support tabs (bridges) to keep the picture frame
connected to the rest of a (larger) block during milling. And you can machine
the frame from two sides, in order to also machine the cavity on the back side
of the frame. More about such advanced options will follow in the later
lessons.

If the frame does not fit inside your machine as it is too large: in DeskProto it
is easy to scale the model in order to make it smaller. You can do so in the Part
parameters. Scaling of course also can be used to make the frame OK for a
smaller or a larger picture.
In some cases a rotation round the Z-axis of 90 degrees may help to make the
part fit in your machine: in case the longest dimension of the frame fits within
your working area along the X-axis but not along Y.

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3. XYZ logo (basic bitmap)

Lesson Three

This third lesson you will teach you the basics of DeskProto bitmap machining.
Again some DeskProto basics will be explained, partly repeating the previous
lessons as that will allow you to start reading here. A simple bitmap file will be
converted to a 3D relief and a 3D NC file will be made, ready to send to the
milling machine. The lesson again will be presented twice:
first using the Wizard ‘Basic Bitmap machining’ and next using the Dialog-
based interface. This lesson is for all DeskProto editions.

The bitmap image and the relief are both shown in the figure above: it is the
company logo for the (imaginary) company named “XYZ”. Bitmap machining
may not be the optimal way to create this relief, still it offers a very easy way
to do so. In case you only have the graphics as bitmap and do not know how to
convert it to vector data this lesson will show you what to do to get the project
done. Note that this is a very simple project as this bitmap contains only black
and white. Bitmaps that also contain gray-values will produce a more
complicated 3D relief.

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Start DeskProto

Start DeskProto, as explained in Lesson One, and proceed until the Start screen
is displayed. In case this screen does not pop up automatically you can open it
in the File Menu.

In this third lesson again both user-interfaces that DeskProto offers will be
explained: the Wizard-based interface in Lesson 3A and the Dialog-based
interface in Lesson 3B. Both versions of this lesson will lead to the same
result.

In order to start Lesson 3A: in the Start Screen please check Use samples
folder and then select the option Use wizard.

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Lesson 3A
The XYZ logo, wizard interface

The DeskProto Wizard interface makes the program very easy to use for
anyone without previous experience. We will keep the Tutorial as short as
possible, as the wizard should in fact be self explanatory...

The Machine to be used should already be the correct machine, as you have set
the default machine when first starting DeskProto. If not correct you can select
a different machine here (changing the default machine can be done in the
Default Part parameters (Options menu).

In fact a series of different wizards is available, each meant for a specific type
of milling. For the XYZ company logo we will use the third wizard:
Basic Bitmap machining, that is available in all Editions of DeskProto. So
please select that wizard and press Next.

The second icon becomes active (enlarged and underlined in red): you are on

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the second page of this wizard. You can see that this wizard offers five pages
(in the Free edition four). This second page offers all settings to define what to
machine.

Obviously the first step is to load the bitmap file to be used: press the Browse
button to open a file. As when starting the wizard you checked ‘Use samples
folder‘ this is the folder that will show; it will include the sample file
XYZlogo.png that we used for this lesson. So open this file (you may of
course also use your own bitmap file).

The file will be shown on the screen immediately. Do no worry about the
image being rather vague and having a blurred outline: DeskProto shows a
simplified version of the image in order to speed up the (3D) graphics. For
toolpath calculations the real image will be used. A color image will be
automatically converted to gray values by DeskProto.

The blue cube shows the position of the zero point: the left-front corner of the
bitmap, at the top of the block. You will later need to set that same zero point
on your machine.

The image size for our file XYZlogo.png is 279.4 x 101.6 mm, or for inch
users 11 x 4 inch.
For readers who want the exact information: the bitmap file is sized 3300 x
1200 pixels, at 300 DPI (Dots Per Inch). You can check this in DeskProto’s
Project parameters dialog: tab Bitmap, button File info...

The Scaling option in this wizard allows you to set the size of the relief to be
machined. Easiest is to select “Dimensions” and then enter the required size.
We want to make a small name-tag, so we enter 100 mm as X-size (that equals
about 4 inch). You will see that the Y-size automatically follows and changes to
36.36 (ca 1.45”): this happens because the checkbox “Uniform” has been
checked, so the same scaling factor is applied to both axes.
When pressing the Apply button (bottom left corner of the wizard) the image
and the Part Information dialog are updated to reflect this new size.

The thickness of the relief is set by the Z-settings: you can enter a Z-level for
(pure) black and one for (pure) white. All intermediate gray values will be

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automatically calculated. For our small name tag a relief depth of 1 mm is

sufficient. We want our logo on top of the surface (embossed characters), so
black must have the highest value: Z=0 and white must have the lowest: Z=-1.
This will make DeskProto remove all material around the black logo. Positive
Z-values are not permitted here as the top of the material block is on Z=0. So
enter -1.0 mm (0.04”) for white and 0.0 for black

You now have defined what to machine (the Part). Press Next to continue and
define how to machine it (the Operations).

Wizard page 3 (not present in the Free edition) can be skipped: for this small
relief depth (1 mm) a Roughing operation is not needed. So simply un-check
the box “Use roughing operation” and again press Next.

Wizard page 4 defines the Finishing operation, which cannot be skipped.

For an embossed logo the ideal Cutter is a conical

one with a flat tip. Such cutter is also called “V-
shape cutter”, as it’s shape is a V. For our project
we selected the cutter called “Conic engraving tool
30 degrees” from the drop-down list. This cutter
has a side angle of 30 degrees, which will result in
a 30 degree surface at the logo’s outer contour. Also
a flat tip of 0.2 mm (0.008”) diameter is present,
which makes it possible to machine a perfectly flat
surface around the logo.

Note the difference between the “grinding angle”

(as shown in the image) and the “included angle”
that is used by some cutter suppliers. For this cutter
the included angle (top angle) is 60 degrees.

In case the cutter that you have is not present in the drop-down selection list
you can easily add it to the list after entering the Cutter library. After pressing
OK for the warning press Add in the library and enter all cutter details. Use the
Help button for Help. In the Cutter library you can also press Edit to check
(and/or to edit) the exact cutter definition for one of the existing cutters.

Next setting is the Distance between toolpaths. As we just selected a conical

cutter this setting needs some extra care: the distance to be selected must be
smaller than the tip diameter of the cutter. If not than a small ridge of material
(a “cusp”) will remain between each two toolpaths. The tip diameter of our
cutter was 0.2 mm (0.008”), so we selected toolpath distance 0.18 mm
(0.0072”). The smaller this distance, the smoother the result. However of
course the machining time will increase as well.

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When machining in a light material (non-metal) in most cases the default

Speeds need tot be changed. This case is an exception though, because of the
very small tip diameter of this cutter. The diameter of a cutter determines the
actual cutting speed (speed of the cutting edge cutting through the material):
the smaller this diameter, the smaller the actual cutting speed for the same
rotation speed in rpm (Rounds Per Minute). So for this conic cutter it will be
best to select a higher Spindlespeed.
As this tip is very small you may also want to set the Feedrate a bit lower than
default.

The default Strategy (cannot be set in the Free and Entry editions) is Parallel:
the first toolpath is at the front side of the part, from left to right (at constant
Y), next one step along Y and then from right to left back to X=0. Again a step
along Y, etc etc. This is the most simple and straightforward strategy, which
will work OK for this name badge.
As an alternative you can select strategy Waterlines: the toolpaths are much
more complex (and the calculation will take longer), however the result may be
better as the cutter toolpath will follow the outside contour of each character.

Finally press button Calculate to make DeskProto calculate and display the
toolpaths (you can do this again and again to see the results for each strategy).
After calculation DeskProto will show you the Estimated machining time for
this operation (after finishing the wizard you can show this time via the Create
menu). This is an estimation: the exact machining time is influenced by many
factors that DeskProto does not know.

Pressing Next will lead you to the final page of this wizard. Here you can first
check the result that you can expect by pressing button Show Simulation. The
most important button on this page is Write NC-Program file…, which will
open a Save-as dialog to export the toolpaths to an NC file. The file extension
of an NC file differs per machine: DeskProto will automatically use the correct
file type for the machine that you selected when starting this wizard. After that
press the Finish button to close the wizard.

From here you can either read the next half of this lesson, about how to use the
dialog-based interface, or jump to the paragraph called “To the milling
machine” at the end of this Chapter.

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Lesson 3B
The XYZ logo, dialog based interface

Start DeskProto (or restart it), in the Start Screen (see the previous lessons)
again check Use samples folder and now select the option Bitmap project
(one of the options in group 'Start new project'). This lesson will show you how
to set all parameters in the Dialog-based interface. Any setting made by the
Wizards (as in Lesson 3A) can also be made in this way.

Load the Bitmap file

The first thing you need to do for a new bitmap project is load the
image that you want to use. Various image file types are supported:
BPM. JPG, GIF, PNG and TIFF. In DeskProto you can do this using
the command Load bitmap file (located in the File menu), or using the Load
bitmap file button (in the button toolbar). The result will be a File-Open dialog
in which you can browse the file that you want to use.

As you selected 'Bitmap project' in the Start Screen, DeskProto will

automatically have opened this Bitmap-data File-Open dialog for you. Open
sample file XYZlogo.png
This is a very simple bitmap design, as only two colors are present: black and
white, (almost) without any intermediate gray values. So the resulting relief
will be simple as well and show just two Z-levels. Which is fine for this lesson
about basic bitmap machining. As already mentioned before: a low-res version
of the bitmap is displayed in order to have fast 3D graphics. The black of the
bitmap shows as gray because it is displayed as Translucent: otherwise the
toolpaths would later by obscured by the bitmap. You can switch off this
Translucency in the Items Visible dialog (doubleclick on the image to open that
dialog).

You now need to set all parameters for this project, without the guidance
offered by the wizard in Lesson 3A. This Tutorial lesson will explain how.

First the Part parameters will be done: define the Part that we want to machine.
You can open the Part parameters dialog by double-clicking in the tree, on
the line called “Part”. The part parameters that you see now are the settings for
Bitmap: almost (but not completely) equal to the Vector settings and the
Geometry settings used in the previous two lessons. As always in DeskProto:
as all parameters have a suitable default only a few need to be changed for this
project.

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On tab XY Transform you need to set the Dimensions of this part. Just as in
lesson 1A the default size follows the size as set in the file (at 300 DPI): 279.4
x 101.6 mm (11”x 4”). Many more sizing options are present here than in the
wizard. In this lesson we will simply select Custom and enter a size of 100 mm
(4”) for X. The Y size will follow as the aspect ratio is kept: 36.36 mm (ca
1.45”).

On tab Z-Settings some changes are needed as well, in order to define the
relief depth. Just as in lesson 1A we will set -1.0 mm (.04”) for white and 0.0
for black: a flat surface at Z = -1 for the background area, and the three
embossed characters 1 mm higher.
The default material block definition (“Use all CAD data”) is OK, and so is the
position of the zero point (right-front-top corner of the block). So you can now
press OK to close the part parameters.

The next step is defining how you want to machine this part. This can be done
in the Operation parameters: in the tree double-click the line “Bitmap
operation” to open the Bitmap Operation Parameters dialog.
Most settings for this simple project are present on the first tab page (General):

As a Cutter we suggest to use a conical cutter: select the cutter called “Conic
engraving tool 30 degrees” from the drop-down list. Also see the image and
the explanation in the previous paragraph.

The Distance between toolpaths needs to be smaller than the 0.2 mm tip
diameter of this cutter, so again we selected 0.18 mm (0.007”). For the Stepsize
we used the same value, which in most cases is a good choice.

Set the Feedrate a bit lower than its default, and Spindlespeed a bit higher,
because of the very thin tip of the cutter that will do the actual work. This
manual cannot give any numbers here as these will be different per machine.
The default values that DeskProto shows for your machine will offer a nice
guideline.

If you prefer a different Strategy you can select one on the Strategy tab: the
small icon images show you what each strategy offers. For this name-badge
either Parallel (which is the default) or Waterlines will be a good choice.
On the other tab pages no changes are needed, so you can close this dialog and
enter your changes by pressing OK Not all tabs are present in the Entry edition,
and the Free edition offers only the General tab.

As you now have set all parameters you can proceed and calculate the
toolpaths, by pressing this button. DeskProto will display them as red
lines. After calculating a dialog will pop up that gives the estimated
machining time – if not then you can find this dialog in the Create menu, with
an option to “Always show this dialog after calculating toolpaths”.

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Some background information:

The image above shows you how DeskProto calculates the relief. Shown are
the rendered Z-Grid and the toolpaths (strategy Crosswise). The two Z-levels
(Z=0 for black and Z=-1 for white) are clearly visible. At the outer contour of
this character you can also see grid-cells with an intermediate Z-level. These
are present as in the original bitmap pixels with an intermediate gray-level
have been added for anti-aliasing (making the outer contour visually smooth).
The toolpaths do not reflect these in-between grid-cells, as the tip of the cutter
cannot reach them because of 30 degree V-shape of the cutter. As a result the
outer contour will be a nicely sloped surface at 30 degrees.

At this point you can optionally display a Simulation of the resulting

part, via Create > Calculate simulation or using the button shown left.

When you are happy with the result you can press button Write NC-
file in order to save this complete toolpath in a file. Select a proper
Name and Location, allowing you to easily find the file again when
you start the machining process.

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To the milling machine

The NC program file that you just created is ready to be sent to the milling
machine, so you are ready to start machining your name-badge. As the way to
do this depends on which milling machine you use, not all necessary
information can be given here: please consult the manuals of your NC milling
machine as well.

We have created toolpaths for a block sized 100 x 36.36 mm (4 x 1.45”). The
block that we will actually use needs to exactly match that size, or be a bit
smaller: if it is too large a ridge of material will remain on one or more sides,
outside the white background area of the bitmap.
As we have not bothered about the block thickness (the Z) DeskProto has used
the min and max Z-value (-1 and 0) and reports a block thickness of 1 mm.
In practice we will use a thicker block: otherwise only three separate characters
would result.

For this job the cutting forces will be very small, so we can easily “clamp” the
material block on the machine using doubly-sided adhesive tape. When using a
clamp, machine vise or similar make sure that the cutter will not collide with
the jaws of the vise.

Load the correct cutter in the machine’s spindle (the V-shaped cutter), and set
the WorkPiece zero point with the tip of the cutter toughing the top of the
material. For X=0 and Y=0 use the point exactly on the corner of the block
when it’s size is exact, if not the set this point just outside the block. We used a
white material with a blue top layer. In order to avoid scratching this blue to
we have set the Z=0 about 0.2 mm above the top of the material block.

Now you can open the NC file in your machine’s control software and start
machining.

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4. Bottle (geometry: two halves)

Lesson Four

In this fourth lesson you will make a more thorough acquaintance with
geometry machining in DeskProto. This geometry cannot be machined from
one side, so the bottle will be milled in two separate halves, to be combined to
make a complete model (alternative methods are rotary machining and two-
sided machining, see the next lessons). This lesson is for all DeskProto
Editions, and will use the Dialog-based interface.

The geometry was modeled in a CAD package called SIPSURF (no longer
available). Only the outside geometry has been modeled: it is a massive (solid)
bottle. Both the bottle and the cap are present tin the same STL file.

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Start a New Project

In DeskProto three types of project are available: Vector project, Geometry

project and Bitmap project. The only difference between these types is which
Operation is present (as first operation): in a Vector project a Vector operation
is present, etc. For this lesson you need a Geometry project: create one using
the command File > New Project > New Geometry Project. One of these
three types is the default project (shown in the File menu in bold), simply
pressing the New button on the toolbar will create a project of this default type.

Now use Load Geometry File... (File menu) or use the Load Geometry button
to load the geometry file for the Bottle. It is located in the DeskProto Samples
folder: just as in the previous lessons you can use the checkbox in the Start
Screen to easily find that location.

Select sample file Bottle.stl (inch users choose Bottle_inch.stl). Note that
Windows may hide the extension ‘.STL’ and/or call the file a “Certificate Trust
List”. You can ignore that false information and just open the file.

In the project file (that can be saved later) a reference to this geometry file
Bottle.stl will be included, through which this file will be found and loaded
automatically the next time the project is opened.

Check the geometry

The first thing to do after loading a geometry file is to check the geometry:
make sure you indeed see a perfume bottle, and check if its orientation and its
size are correct.

An easy way to check the orientation is to use a predefined Views Layout:

View menu >> Layout... In this dialog select one of the options on the right
side: T/F/R/Def, in order to see four views: Top, Front, Right and Default (3D).
You can see that the bottle is standing 'upright': its largest dimension is along
the Z-axis. Since the cutting tool will come from the positive Z direction, the
model cannot be machined as it is now. You need to change the orientation
(rotate), and in a moment we will show you how.

The dimensions can be checked using the button Part Information: the button
on the DeskProto toolbar with the yellow [ i ], tab Geometry. For this file the
dimensions should show a model of ca 54 x 29 x 86 mm: a nice perfume bottle,
which (after rotating) will fit the working area of your milling machine. For
inch users the dimensions should be OK as well (2.12 x 1.14 x 3.4 inch)

Now reset the Views layout to one view only. The Part Information dialog may
remain open when working with DeskProto.

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Edit Project parameters

What has to be done now is entering the parameters. When opening a new
project DeskProto already gave default values to all parameters, however some
of these will have to be changed for this specific model.

In the Parameters Menu you will see that three groups of parameters are
present: the 'Project parameters', the 'Part parameters' and the 'Operation
parameters'. Only one Project is present, in which a number of Parts can be
defined. Each Part in turn can contain one or more Operations. This is shown
in a tree-like structure, as is clearly visible on the left part of your screen. The
standard Windows name for this figure is in fact the Project Tree.

In the Parameters menu select Project Parameters. Much easier is to simply

double-click the project line (first line) in the tree. The Edit Project Parameters
dialog box that will pop up does not contain many parameters. On tab General
it shows the ‘Filepath’, the name of the Machine and the names of all Parts.

The Filepath field for this project will be empty as the project file (*.dpj) has
not yet been saved. In the Tree you can see that the new project does not yet
have a name: it is called 'Untitled'. When you save the project for the first time
you can enter a name, that will be used both for the file and for the project tree.

The Machine that has been selected should be the correct machine, as when
first starting DeskProto you have selected your machine as default. If not you
can select a different machine for this project here. The default machine can be
changed in the Default Project Parameters (Options menu).

A Part is machined in one fixation of the material block. In case you need
more than one part you can add new parts here. For many projects (like in
lesson one) one part is sufficient. For more complex models more than one part
needs to be milled: like for an electric drill you will separately mill the right
side and the left side, to be glued together later. For this bottle however both
parts are equal, so in the software one part is sufficient.

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The other tab pages allow you to load and unload more CAD files, and to set
Chaining settings. For now just ignore these other tab pages: you can leave the
dialog box using the Cancel button

Edit Part Parameters.

Each part has its own set of parameters, to be set in the Part Parameters dialog.
Just as with the project parameters it is easiest to open this dialog by double
clicking its line in the Tree.

Part Parameters define the geometry to be milled. The Part Parameters are
presented using a number of Tab pages. In the Free edition and the Entry
edition not all tab pages and not all options on each page are present.

Earlier in this lesson, when viewing the geometry, we already concluded that
the bottle geometry was not correctly orientated. You will do so now: the
geometry rotation is one of the part parameters.

The first Tab page (General) does not need any changes for this project. If you
like you can change the name of the part, though that does not effect the
toolpaths. The number of operations does not need to be changed: one
operation is sufficient here.

For this bottle model we need to set parameters both on the second tab
(Transform) and on the third (Material). The Transform Tab shown above
makes it possible to change the size and orientation of the geometry. For this

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bottle (as said) the orientation is not correct: enter a rotation of -90 degrees
around the X-axis, and see what happens after pressing Apply. The orientation
of the geometry should be correct now. When the part is too large for your
machine a rotation of 90 degrees round the Z-axis may be useful as well (for
most milling machines the X-axis is the longest).

Using the Apply button is not needed: pressing OK also causes an implicit
Apply. Still it may be handy in order to see what happens: if this is not what
you need you can enter a different number without needing to reopen the
dialog. On Apply both the drawing and the dimension shown in the Part
Information dialog will be updated.

The other parameters on the Transform tab are OK and will not be covered in
this lessen. For more information on these parameters see the Help pages
and/or the Reference manual.

You should clearly understand the difference between rotating the geometry
and rotating the view:
Rotating the geometry will change the model that is created. You can see on
the screen that the geometry rotates while the green XYZ axes-cube (the
orientator) remains the same. The milling tool comes from the positive Z-axis
direction, so because of the rotation a different side of the geometry will be
milled.
Rotating the View does not affect the model, it only changes the picture on
your screen (the camera position). You can see on the screen that both the
geometry and the orientator rotate identically, so the position of the geometry
relative to the milling machine remains unchanged.

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The third Part Tab is Material, and for this part the default (Use all CAD data)
needs to be changed. The geometry of the complete bottle has been loaded.
However, using a three axis milling machine this complete geometry cannot be
milled in one part: the cutter cannot reach the lower half. As stated before the
model will be milled in two separate halves, so we now want to calculate
toolpaths for half a bottle.

DeskProto uses a rectangular block of material, that can be defined by it’s

minimum and maximum vales for X, Y and Z. The default the material block
includes all CAD data: it is the exact bounding box around the data (vector,
geometry and bitmap) that you have loaded. Making the material block smaller
means excluding some of the CAD data. We want to machine half a bottle,
which is easy as it is a predefined option: select option 3: “Use upper half of
geometry”. You can see that when pressing Apply the Minimum Z will change
to -14.44 (for inch users -0.57”), and that the orange block on the drawing will
change as well.
Next press OK to exit this dialog.

Three notes on the Material block:

1. All values for the material block are shown in transformed coordinates (so
after the changes as defined on the Transform tab), not in the original geometry
coordinates. After these transformations one more change will be applied: the
Translation, to be specified on tab Zero-point (in the Free edition and the Entry
edition this tab page is not present, still this translation is applied). By default
DeskProto will show the translated coordinates here: the coordinates as used
on the milling machine. You can instead use the transformed coordinates by
un-checking the box “Display translated coordinates”.

2. When you select option Custom for the material block you can define any
rectangular block by entering X, Y and Z Boundary values. Easier still is to
define the block using the mouse, which is possible via the button “Set
graphically...”.

3. You can of course also make the material block larger than the default
bounding box, in case the actual block that you will be using is larger.

Edit Operation Parameters.

The Operation Parameters dialog can be reached most easily by double

clicking it’s line in the Tree. Alternatives are the Parameters menu and the
context menu (visible after right clicking in the Tree). The Operation
Parameters are the actual milling parameters, so the settings for the milling
process. Most important settings are the Cutter and the Precision, which can
both be found on the first tab page: General.

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For this dialog as well: in the Free editions and the Entry edition not all tab
pages are present, nor all options on each page.

Which Cutter is best depends on the geometry of the model. The perfume
bottle has a freeform outer surface, for which a ball nose cutter (tip of the
cutter is half a sphere) gives the best surface quality. The bottle also contains
some small details, so a thin cutter is needed. We suggest to use a ball nose
cutter of 4 mm diameter (Radius of the ball nose is 2 mm). The suggested
cutter for inch users is the 1/8" ball nose cutter, so with a radius of 1/16”. You
can choose a cutter by its name using the black arrow button (combo-box) at
the right of the current cutter name.
To see all dimensions of a cutter you need to open it in the Library of Cutters,
in the Options menu. In this library you can define a new cutter, or modify an
existing cutter to match your real tool.

Equally important are the Precision parameters. They determine the accuracy
of the model, and also the time needed for both calculating and machining. For
a first rough prototype of the bottle the default value of D/9 will be OK, where
D is the Diameter of the cutter. For a nice smooth final model a smaller value
is needed.
The meaning of Distance between toolpaths (also called Stepover) and
Stepsize along toolpath has been explained in the previous geometry lesson. It
is recommended to enter equal values for both settings, though for special
cases you can experiment with different values for these two parameters.

DeskProto offers predefined values for the Precision parameters. These are
dependent on the cutter dimensions, and make sure that the DeskProto
algorithm achieves the maximum possible accuracy. You are free to enter other

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values as well, however, DeskProto will always round your value to the nearest
value that equals "Diameter of cutter / odd number".

The default Feedrate (traveling speed of the cutter) and Spindle speed (rotation
speed of the tool in rpm) will in most cases be correct as well. Optimal values
depend on the type of material you want to cut, however, when cutting light
materials these values are not critical.

In this lesson we will simply skip all other Operation Tabs, as suitable default
values are present, and continue. More about the other parameters is explained
in the next lessons, in the Reference manual and in the Help file.

Calculate Toolpaths

Start the milling calculations by pressing the button Calculate Toolpaths.

Alternatives are: Create >> Calculate Toolpaths, Create >> Write NC Program
(which detects that the toolpath has to be calculated first), and View >> Items
Visible (in this dialog box you can make the Toolpath active in order to start
the calculations). Calculation will be quick, and the resulting toolpaths will be
drawn in red lines.

After calculating a dialog will pop up that gives a (rough) estimation of the
machining time for your current settings. If not you can call it via “Estimate
Machining Time” in the Create menu (in that case the “Always show”
checkbox had not been checked). Note that the estimation is indeed rough: see
the Help file for more information on why it is rough and on how you can
calibrate it.

You will see (in case you used the cutter that was just suggested) that two
different horizontal layers of cutter movements have been calculated: the first
at level Z = -13 mm (0.4”), the second at the final depth. These are Roughing
layers: the maximum layer height for this 4 mm ballnose cutter is 13 mm:
cutting length 15 minus R 2. (for the 1/8” ballnose it is 0.34”), while the bottle
half is higher. DeskProto detects that the cutter cannot cut this depth in one go,
and inserts an intermediate layer to be machined first.

Important: in the Free edition this extra layer is not present, as this edition
does not support Roughing. So take care: when your model is too high for the
cutter, users of the Free edition need to run the same NC file more than once:
start with the zero point defined (far) above the block, and then each next time
with the zero point a bit lower until you have machined the complete part.

You will also see some dashed lines in gray, going over the geometry at a fixed
Z-level. These are positioning movements in Rapid mode, for instance from
the end of layer 1 (maximum Y) to the start of layer 2 (minimum Y). When the

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optimization option Sort (on the Movement tab, not present in the Entry
edition) has not been checked many extra positioning movements will be
present in the second layer.

Note: attentive readers will have noticed that the toolpaths go below the
minimum Z-value of the material block. To clearly see this: draw a side view
and compare the orange line of the block to the red lines of the toolpath. The
explanation is that when using a ballnose cutter it needs to travel the Radius of
the tool below the bottom of the part (so in this case 2 mm deeper). This is
needed in case of (almost) vertical walls, which otherwise could not be
machined completely. This is of course very important to remember when
starting the milling machine, we will come back on it later.

In fact the use of layers as just mentioned is a type of Roughing functionality,

which you had not selected. However this basic Roughing is always present
(except as said in the Free edition): for the first operation DeskProto does not
allow the cutter to go deeper than it’s cutting length.

You can now save the NC program file and continue with paragraph “To the
milling machine”, or you can add an extra Roughing operation first.

Optionally add a Roughing Operation

Roughing is quickly removing most of the excess material, using ‘rough’

settings (a large Distance between the toolpaths). When several layers are
needed this is much quicker than doing all layers with the fine toolpath
distance needed for finishing. A second advantage is that when finishing after a
roughing operation the cutter does not need to remove much material, so it will
not vibrate and the result will be a very smooth surface for the resulting part.
As said before: roughing is not possible in the Free edition of DeskProto.

In order to add roughing to the toolpaths in DeskProto you will need to add an
extra Operation to your part. The first operation then can be used for roughing
and the second for finishing. It is of course most efficient to use a thick cutter
for roughing as that can remove material quicker than a thin cutter. However,
in this case the material that needs to be removed is not much, so you can
simply use the same cutter for both operations. The advantage obviously is that
you then need not change cutters halfway the project. Unless of course you
have a machine with Automatic Tool Changer (ATC), then this advantage does
not count.

So first you need to Add an Operation. This can be done by right clicking the
line “Part” in the Project Tree and then selecting Add Geometry Operation in
the context menu. Or as an alternative you can Add or Copy Operations in the
Part parameters dialog.

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The new Operation’s line in the Tree is automatically set in edit mode, so you
can change it’s name from “Geometry operation [#1]” to “Roughing”. If this
did not work then right click on the operation's line and choose Rename. Next
you can use the same action to rename “Geometry operation” to “Finishing”.
These operation names are not used in the NC file, still using proper names is
recommended to remember your intentions.

Now the sequence of the operations is wrong: roughing of course needs to be

done before finishing. You can fix this in the Part parameters: using the black
arrow buttons called “Move” on Tab page General you can change the
sequence of the operations. In order to do this you have to select an operation
(make its line blue) first. Alternative is to use the context menu in the Project
Tree for one of the Operation lines, which will offer the options Move up and
Move down.

Note that after this change the toolpaths for Operation Finishing will still show
the layers. These had been switched on automatically because it was the first
operation, however now it is the second one so layers are no longer needed.
Open the Operation parameters for this operation (double-click it’s line in the
Tree), on tab page Roughing uncheck the option “Use layers”, close the dialog
with OK. The toolpaths then will be recalculated, now without layers.

Next you can set the parameters for the Roughing operation. Open the
Operation Parameters dialog for this operation. On tab General you need to
select the correct cutter: as said before you can use the same 4 mm diameter
ballnose cutter (or 1/8”) as used for finishing. Then you can add the actual
roughing parameters, on tab page Roughing:

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- The Layer height thickness can be fine-tuned: select Custom and enter a
value. For light materials like foam or tooling board you can enter 5.5 mm
(0.22”) to have three layers that are about equal (16.44 / 3.0). For stronger
materials like perspex or metal you will need to use a smaller value.

- You can set the Skin (to be removed during finishing) at 0.5 mm (0.02”). The
skin is an allowance of extra material that remains present around the model.
Any damages that may result of the roughing toolpath will be in this skin, to be
removed when finishing.

- Ramping concerns how the cutter travels to the first point that needs to be
machined. Standard the cutter first travels to the correct XY and then just
vertically plunges down into the material, moving along Z. When ramping this
vertical movement is replaced by a declining movement (see the illustration in
the dialog), for which you can set the gradient angle. This will make cutting
much easier than in a pure drilling movement, especially when machining
metal.

Do not forget to also choose new Precision values (tab General): both the
Toolpath distance and the Stepsize can be set to D/3 (1.67 mm or 0.055”), in
order to quickly remove the material.
Here again attentive reader may need some in-depth information: the dialog
mentions D/3 for the 1.67 mm value, while the cutter has a diameter of 4 mm.
What happens is that after setting a Skin DeskProto will calculate using a
Virtual cutter, that is the Skin thickness larger in all directions. You are
welcome to again forget this detail as this will be done fully automatically.

Now you can again use the command Calculate Toolpaths to also have the
Roughing toolpaths calculated. The resulting view will be rather a mess of red
and gray lines. It is easy to make it less confusing: in the Project Tree you see a
yellow light bulb on each line. Clicking the light bulb for an Operation will
make it gray (the light is “switched off”): this will make that operation
invisible. So it is easy to view only the roughing toolpaths (make finishing
invisible) or only the finishing paths.

Three more detail settings can finally be used to fine-tune the results.

1. For Roughing it is more efficient to choose a different Strategy (second tab

page of the operation parameters): when you select strategy Block instead of
Parallel the toolpaths will proceed form the outside of the block to it’s center..

2. When Finishing it is not needed to again machine the flat area around the
bottle model: the material there has already been removed, and this Ambient
area does not need to be finished. On the Advanced tab page of the Operation
parameters you can select “Skip hor. Ambient”. You will see the difference
immediately after pressing OK.

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3. On the Movement tab of the Operation parameters you can reduce the
Feedrate for high chiploads. This is a great option: it will make the cutter
move slower when it has to machine at it’s full width. Normally the cutter
removes only a thin slice of material (its thickness being one toolpath
distance), however for the first toolpath or when entering a hole in the part it
has remove much more material: a high chipload. DeskProto can automatically
detect these situations and then reduce the feedrate to the percentage given
here. For roughing in tooling board you can set this to 30 to 50%, for materials
like perspex or aluminum even lower.

At this point you may want to draw a Simulation, in order to check if the
(simulated) resulting part is indeed what you expect. When you first calculate
for Roughing and then for Finishing you can see the result after both steps in
the process.

Finally you can save the NC program file. Note that when both operations use
the same cutter (and both are visible) DeskProto writes one combined NC
program file. When you have selected different cutters DeskProto will write
two separate files (unless your machine has an Automatic Tool Changer). You
can also force separate NC files by making one of both operations invisible
before saving.

To the milling machine

After writing the NC program file you can send it to the machine to create half
a bottle. In the previous lessons you have learned how to fix the block of
material and where to locate the WorkPiece zero point (the 0,0,0 position). For
this bottle model the process is almost the same, though a new trick will be
introduced to get two halves that exactly make a complete bottle.

The plan is to (twice) machine exactly half a bottle, the flat bottom surface of
the block being the plane of symmetry, to be used to join both halves. Fixturing
faces the same problems as described in Lesson 2: the cutter will cut on all
sides of the model, and the tip of the (ballnose) tool will come below the
bottom of the block and may damage your machine’s working table. The
solution is the same as in Lesson 2: use a slab of wasteboard below the block,
and connect both using a few screws from below. See the illustration below.
Note: in case of a light type of material like PUR-foam screws are not needed:
use double-sided adhesive tape to attach your block to the wasteboard and to
fix them on the machine table.

Make sure that:

- the lower block (the wasteboard) has its top plane and bottom plane exactly
parallel.

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- the top block has a really flat bottom surface (needed for gluing the two parts
afterwards).
- the screw tips in the upper block are well within the portion of the part that
will remain after all milling is done. Otherwise either the prototype will fall off
during the milling (in case the screws are completely outside), or the outer
surface of the prototype will be damaged (in case the screws are too long and
their tips are machined off).

Now you can fix the blocks on the machine, and enter the (0,0,0) position. For
X and Y this is done just as in Lesson 2, for the Z this is different. While in the
previous lessons you entered Z=0 on the top of the block, now you start with
the bottom of the block (which is the symmetry plane of the bottle). Position
the tip of the tool on the same height as the bottom of the block. From there go
up 14.44 mm (for inch users: 0.57”) and set the Z=0 level there. You can read
this value 14.44 from in the DeskProto Part Information dialog box: Tab
'Material' shows that the minimum Z of the prototype is -14.44 (the symmetry
plane) and that the maximum Z is 0.

The Z-level of the actual top of the block is not important now: it is OK as long
as it is not below Z=0. Obviously it must not be too high either, as the cutter
must be able to remove the extra material above the model top.
In case your block really is too high you can deal with that in DeskProto, by
setting the maximum Z dimension of the Material block for this part to a
higher value.
Remember that when using the Free edition it may be needed to start with a
zero point above the top of the block as no roughing layers are present.

Now start cutting and create half a bottle. Repeat the complete milling
operation using the same NC program to get a second half. Glue the halves
together and your model will be ready !

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5. Venus (geometry: rotary axis)

Lesson Five

In the fifth lesson you will learn how to create toolpaths for a rotation axis: an
extra device on your CNC milling machine that lets the material block rotate
during machining. It is also called Fourth axis or A-axis, and it looks like the
spit on your barbecue. This lesson of course only is useful in case you have a
machine with such 4th axis. Rotation axis machining is available only in the
DeskProto Multi-Axis edition.

A model will be created of the famous Venus of Milo statue (The Louvre,
Paris), or in fact of her head only. The geometry has been scanned with a
Minolta 3D scanner, and was exported as polygon data. We may use this
geometry data by courtesy of Minolta Corporation in the USA. Because of its
size (7 Mb) the file venus.stl is not included in the standard DeskProto setup.
You will first have to download the file from the DeskProto website.

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Start a New Project

This fifth lesson will again start with creating a new Geometry project and
after that take all steps needed to go from geometry file to NC file. Only the
steps that differ from the previous lessons will be explained. In addition to
following this lesson you can use the Rotation axis milling Wizard to show
you all steps to be taken. You can also view the Rotary tutorial videos on the
DeskProto website.

The geometry file that you have to load is called Venus.stl. This file is not
present in the Samples folder, you will first have to download it from
www.deskproto.com The file is only available in mm, so inch users will have
to scale down with factor 0.03937 (Part parameters, tab Transform) – though
probably a smaller factor will be needed in order to create a scale model.
Load the file via Load Geometry file (button or File menu command).

The rotation axis on most machines is parallel to the X direction, and it is

officially called the A-axis. You can tell DeskProto that your machine has a
rotation axis by editing the machine definition in the Library of machines
(Options menu): in the Advanced settings check “Has rotation axis”. On one
side of the axis the rotary table’s vise or chuck holds the workpiece, often on
the other side a tail-stock is available to support the far end.

DeskProto also supports machines with the rotation axis parallel to Y. For such
machine you can check the option “Machine with 4 th axis parallel to Y” in the
Advanced machine settings mentioned in the previous paragraph. This will
make DeskProto ‘swap’ the X and the Y on your machine. You will see a
second Orientator on your DeskProto screen, showing the orientation of the
coordinates on your ‘swapped’ machine. All user input needs to be done in the
DeskProto orientation, the NC output will be in your machine’s orientation.
This sounds complicated, however you will get used to it real soon. As always:
use the Help button for help.

When you view the Venus geometry after loading, first thing that you will
observe is that the geometry is not orientated correctly. The most logical
rotation axis for a head is the line from neck to top (so a vertical line when
standing upright). This line now is along the Y-axis instead of along X as
needed, so you will have to rotate the geometry minus 90 degrees around Z.

When you check the part’s dimensions (Part Information dialog) you will see
that the part is very large: the unscaled geometry is 284 x 421 x 315 mm. So it
probably won’t fit inside the working area of your machine (DeskProto will
pop up an error). You will have to scale down, the scale factor depending the
part size your prefer – and of course on your machine’s dimensions.

So open the Part parameters dialog, and on page Transform set the correct

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Rotation and the correct Scale. Instead of scaling factors you can also enter the
desired dimensions here. Note that the dimensions are shown as they are
before rotation: the Transform options are applied in the sequence as indicated
by the numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4) in this dialog. So the highest dimension of this
Venus geometry will be for Y, just as in the STL file: the 90 degree rotation is
applied later.

In this lesson you will use Continuous Rotation axis machining, where the
part rotates during machining. DeskProto will then produce XZA toolpaths:
only the X, A and Z axes are used. The Y-axis does not move: the cutter needs
to be positioned exactly above the rotation axis when starting to machine
(Y=0.0), and remains there all the time.
The alternative use of a rotation axis is Indexed machining. Here plain XYZ
toolpaths are applied, from different sides, with an A-rotation in-between.
DeskProto supports indexed machining in the wizard called One or more sides,
automatic rotation (The “N-sided wizard”). That wizard will automatically
generate a number of parts: one part for each side to be machined.

Use the Rotation axis

The next thing that needs to be done is to check the option Use Rotation axis
(XZA paths). This option can be found on the first Tab of the Part Parameters
dialog box. Of course this option is active only in case you selected a machine
with such optional 4th axis. This means that in the DeskProto machine
definition it must have been configured (obviously your actual machine must
have one too). So if this option is grayed out then go to the machine library
(Options menu) to fix this in the machine definition. In case this option is not
present at all then you are probably not using the Multi-Axis edition of
DeskProto.

Do not confuse a rotary axis with a lathe: on a CNC machine with rotation axis
the cutter rotation provides the cutting movement, the part rotates only for
positioning purposes. On a lathe the cutter does not move: the cutting
movement is provided by the part that rotates at high speed.

When you check the option Use Rotation axis a message will pop up. It tells
you that a few parameters will automatically be changed to accommodate
rotation axis machining. Most of these parameters will be discussed below.

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After switching on the Rotation-Axis and pressing OK (and acknowledging a

size error, see below) you will see that the area to be machined (drawn in green
lines) has become a cylinder. The material block (drawn in orange lines) still is
rectangular, but the areas to be machined have changed. This is needed for
rotation axis machining, as the area to be machined now can be defined using a
min and max rotation angle and using a min and max radius.

DeskProto also supports a cylinder shape block for rotary machining: in order
to use such block you need to check the option “Use cylindrical material
block” on the Material tab of the Part parameters.

Despite the scaling down that you just applied, still a size error will be given.
The actual part is small enough (because of your scaling), however the material
block that DeskProto calculated is far too large. See the illustration above. The
geometry is rotated round the “real” X-axis (so the axis at position Y=0, Z=0).
For the Venus STL file this rotation axis is located outside the geometry, so a
very large block will result and cause this second size error.
In DeskProto an extra option is present to solve this: on the Transform Tab of
the Part Parameters check the option Center geometry. This will result in the
rotation axis being placed though the centerpoint of the part. Now DeskProto
will accept the part settings without errors, and the material block drawn on
screen will be the one that you need.

Still a different rotation size error may be given here, mentioning that it is
impossible to rotate the part as it would collide with the machine's working
table. On your machine the rotation axis will be located above the working
table, and the diagonal of the material block may not be larger than the
distance between table and rotation axis. Otherwise of course the block cannot
rotate. This distance can be set in the machine definition (Library of machines),
in the Advanced settings.

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An important issue is the position of the WorkPiece Zero point. When

rotation axis machining you can set the X-position of the zero point as usual
(tab page Zero-point), however the Y cannot be changed (Y is not used) and for
the Z fewer options are available. Two different conventions are used for Z: the
workpiece zero point can be either exactly on the rotation axis (so inside the
block) or on the top surface of the block. So for Z you can choose between
“Make top of block zero”, setting the Z=0 at the outside surface of the block,
and “None” which will set the Z=0 exactly on the rotation axis.

As said in the message-box just mentioned DeskProto has already set the Z
Translation to None: Z=0 is with the tip of the cutter on the rotation axis (the
convention most used). The result can be seen in the Part Information dialog
(with “Use translated coordinates” checked), and also (easier) in the position of
the blue cube (the “Orientator on the WorkPiece zero point”) on your screen.
Make sure to set this WP zero point on your machine accordingly: an incorrect
setting may damage part, cutter and/or machine !! When setting the zero point
on the top of a cylinder block make sure to do so at Y=0, and when doing this
on the top of a rectangular block make sure that the block is at A=0 with a
horizontal top surface.

Three more parameters have been changed automatically.

In the Part parameters the default Support tabs have changed. For rotary
machining two cylinder support tabs can be used: extra material left and right,
for a good connection to rotation axis unit on the left and to the tail-stock on
the right. As the Venus geometry has one flat side (now on the left) and is
sufficiently stable to be machined without tail-stock such tabs are not needed
for this project.

The Area to be machined (Operation parameters) has been set to “Use

material block above rotation axis”. When rotating the geometry the actual
content of this “upper half” will change all the time, so this setting will cover
the complete part (at least for most geometries).
The Borders (Operation parameters) have been set to ‘No extra’, for all
operations. You can find this parameter on the Borders tab of the Operation
parameters. Its normal value is ‘Extra for cutter’, as normally all outside
surfaces of the model need to be machined. For rotation axis machining the
part needs to remain connected to the rotation axis unit and to the tail-stock. So
the outside surfaces left and right may not be machined, which is achieved by
this setting.

When the rotation axis is used, in the resulting NC file the Y-coordinates (in
mm or inch) are replaced by A-coordinates (in degrees). Note that DeskProto
replaces Y by A, so what you do in fact remains three axis machining. You can
choose to use either XYZ (normal) or XAZ (rotary); DeskProto will not use all
4 axes simultaneously. Nevertheless DeskProto offers you full 3D use of the A-

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axis: not just wrapping some flat 2D toolpath (sized 360 mm) around a
cylinder by simply replacing Y by A, but real 3D toolpath calculations around a
3D CAD geometry.

The use of an A-axis does influence the Min and Max settings of the Material
block. For XYZ machining these values simply define the outer limits of the
block. For rotation axis machining this is different.
• Min and max X values work the same as for XYZ machining).
• Min and max Y values for a rectangular block have an opposite
value, only the Ymax can be set. For a cylinder block Y can’t be set.
• Min and max Z values for a rectangular block have an opposite
value, only the Zmax can be set. For a cylinder block Z can’t be set.
• The R-values can be set only for a cylinder block (for a rectangular
block they show the diagonal of the block). A Min R above 0.0 will
result in a doughnut shaped block, R values below 0.0 are not
permitted.

The Min and Max settings for the Area to be machined are different as well.
• Min and max X values work the same as for XYZ machining).
• Min and max Y values and Z values cannot be set.
• The R-values by default will have been set to “Use material block
above rotation axis”, as just explained. For a Custom area a Min R
above 0.0 will result in a doughnut shaped area, a Min R below 0.0
will result in toolpaths below the rotation axis.
• The A values have to be set in degrees between 0 and 360,
permitting you to machine a wedge-shaped area (a piece of pie)
instead of machining all around the block.

In review, in order to prepare the Venus geometry for machining the following
settings have been made:
- Load geometry Venus.stl
- Check “Use rotation axis”
- Rotate -90 degrees around the Z-axis
- Check “Center around rotation axis”
- Scale down the geometry until it fits in your machine.

Fine-tune the parameters

Basically the DeskProto parameters can be used for rotation axis machining
exactly as they are for standard XYZ machining. A few exceptions though,
which will be explained in this paragraph.

As said before, all parameters concerning the A-axis are in degrees instead of
in mm. This does not apply to the precision settings though: for toolpaths in the
X-direction the Distance between toolpaths should be in degrees, for toolpaths

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in the Y (A)-direction the Stepsize should be in degrees.

However, as degree values are difficult to imagine, DeskProto hides these, and
asks for values in mm or inch instead. These will be converted to degrees at
maximum radius of the Area to be machined, so at the outside of the cylinder,
after which DeskProto will internally use the degree values. This means that
the actual mm values that are used will in most cases be smaller than the values
that you entered, as most movements are closer to the rotation axis. Very close
to the rotation axis the steps in mm would become very small: DeskProto will
then automatically skip some of the steps.

With 3-axis XYZ machining the tool cannot mill the bottom side of the part, as
during machining the part will remain resting with its bottom on the working
table. For rotation axis machining the part fixturing is more complicated: it is
possible to completely cut your model loose from the machine, making it fall
down during machining. The resulting model then would both be damaged and
unfinished. DeskProto will take care that this does not happen, by assuring that
some connection will remain present between the rotary table and the model,
or rather by popping up an error dialog if such connection is not present.

A valid connection can be accomplished in several ways. For models with a

flat side, like the Venus head in this case, you can make sure that this complete
side surface remains un-machined (and thus connected to the rotation axis
vise). This can be done, as explained above, by switching off the borders
(Operation parameters, tab Borders).
Next you can decide what to do with the right side (top of the Venus head):
machine it or not, depending on whether you want to use a tail-stock or not.
You can do so by changing the max X value of your material block. Which is
in fact a trick to manually add a ‘border area’ at that one side only.

Without such flat surface you may want to define two support tabs (when
rotation axis machining has been selected the default supports will be two
cylinders). Note that then the Borders still need to be switched off, in order to
prevent machining the flat outside surfaces of the support tabs.

For this Venus lesson :

- switch off the Borders to keep the left side connected to the rotary chuck.
- do not use support tabs
- do not use the tailstock: only the left side is stable enough for this small part.
- make the Material block’s Max X a bit larger to allow the cutter to
completely machine the head even with the Borders switched of (in fact you
then manually add a border on that side).

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When rotation axis machining the minimum Z boundary of the Area to be

machined requires extra attention. As just said: the Z-min has been set to 0.0
(choice “Use material block above rotation axis”), as for most geometries the
cutter does not need to travel lower than the rotation axis.
This is not true for all geometries though: for instance when machining an
empty box, see the illustration above. It will be clear that for such geometry the
cutter needs to travel below the rotation axis in order to machine the inside of
the box, so to a Z-level below 0. Thus, you have to set a Min Z value below
Z=0. In such cases take special care then when setting the workpiece zero point
on your machine: this has to be done VERY accurately, or you will see marks
(a ridge) where the toolpaths cross the Z=0 level.

The screenshot also illustrates the presence of undercuts for rotation axis
machining. Undercuts are areas where the cutter cannot reach. For XYZ
machining the cutter cannot reach the bottom side of an object. For rotation
axis machining this is different: see the three toolpath lines (in red) drawn in
the picture above. Only the X, Z and A axis will move: the Y-position is
constant, with the cutter positioned exactly above the rotation axis. This means
that the cutter cannot completely empty the box: it simply cannot reach two of
the vertical walls on the inside of the box. The V-shaped toolpaths that are
drawn illustrate this. For this geometry it will be better to machine from two or
from four sides, also using the rotation axis: indexed machining.

Finally: perhaps you want to use toolpaths in the A-direction, combined with
either conventional or climb machining. This way the rotation axis can remain

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rotating in the same direction (for instance from 0 degr. to 360, next 360 to
720, etc). This is possible only when in the machine definition (Options menu)
the option “A-values may exceed 360” has been checked. Then the axis will
keep rotating in the same direction. Unless of course the milling direction is set
to Meandering (Operation Parameters, tab Movement), in which case the
machine will keep cutting in both rotation directions.

When this option is not checked (as not all machines support this) then for
Climb or Conventional machining after each toolpath the cutter will move up
to Zfree safe height and travel back to 0 degrees to start the next toolpath. In
fact the same as what happens with XYZ machining.

A great extra feature is the Helix option: a checkbox for strategy Parallel
(Operation parameters, tab Strategy). This checkbox is active only for
toolpaths around the A-axis and when continuous rotation is in one direction
(as described above) has been configured. Without this option checked the
toolpath will complete a full 360 degree rotation with a constant X (only A and
Z vary), move X to the next toolpath, complete the next toolpath at constant X,
etc. With the Helix option checked both the X and the A coordinate keep
progressing all the time, so the complete part will be machined with one
continuous movement (X, A and Z varying). This will be faster, produce a
smoother movement and solve any backlash problems for X and/or A.

When combining continuous rotation with roughing layers a disadvantage is

that Sorting becomes quite ineffective, as most sorting optimizations require a
meander toolpath direction. So our advice is not to use the helix when
roughing in multiple layers.

This was a lot of background information on rotation axis machining (thanks

for your attention!), most of which is in fact not needed to complete this Venus
model but may prove to be useful later.

When you new calculate toolpaths the result will look like the paths in the
picture above, depending on your choices for scaling, cutter, precision, etc.

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The picture shows a Roughing operation. You can clearly recognize a series of
circle toolpaths forming a cylinder: the first layer. For this rectangular block
the layer depth is taken from the corner of the block. The gray dashed lines are
the positioning movements in the lower layers, skipping any area that has
already been machined. The bottom surface (left side) of the statue remains un-
machined: this provides the connection with the rotation axis.

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An optional next step is to show a simulation: the image above shows the
simulation for the roughing toolpaths in the previous image. As for this
roughing operation the toolpath distance is large, the toolpaths in A direction
are clearly visible in the simulation.

Just as for plain XYZ machining it is advised to first do a Roughing operation

and after that a Finishing operation. The rotation axis wizard will do so
automatically for you. For more information you can watch the Venus tutorial
videos on the DeskProto website.

To the milling machine

Again it will be clear that the instructions given here cannot be very accurate,
as a detailed set of instructions would be different per machine. Still a number
of appropriate general remarks can be given.

First you have to set the WorkPiece zero point. With the default translation
settings this will be on the left side of the cylinder block (X=0), with the tip of
the cutter exactly on the rotation axis (Y=0, Z=0). A=0 is important as well
when you are using a rectangular block
Setting X=0 and A=0 is easy: move or rotate to the correct position and tell the
machine to use that as zero. Setting Y and Z is more difficult as it is not easy to
see if the tip is exactly on the correct location. Some machines offer a
calibration help, like a horizontal surface at the correct Z-value. If not you can
try to visually find the zero positions as accurately as you can. That will be OK
for this Venus statue, however insufficiently accurate when for your part the
cutter needs to travel below Z=0.

A good help to accurately set Y=0 and Z=0 is to machine a small calibration
cylinder: fixture some material, mount a flat tipped cutter, and switch the
spindle motor on. Then move the cutter to Y=0 and Z=+10 (after having set the
zero point roughly) and next perform a full rotation (A 0 to 360 deg). The
result will be that you have machined a cylinder. Now measure the diameter of
the cylinder: it should be 20 mm. If it is not then you can correct your Z=0
position accordingly. Say it is 21.4 mm: 1.4 too much, meaning that the current
Z=0 is 0.7 mm too high.
You can then use the same cylinder to calibrate Y=0: let the cutter touch the
cylinder both on the front side and on the back side and write down both
'touching' Y-values. They should be opposites: identical but for the minus sign.
If not, then correct your Y=0 accordingly.

This is a lot of work: the bright side is that you need to do this only once: the
same zero point will be valid for a next job as well.
Note that with this zero position you must take care not to let the cutter move
to the workpiece zero point - which is a standard command on many machines:

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this will damage your cutter and/or your material as this point is inside the
block!

When you have used translation method “Make top of part zero”, the Z=0
needs to be with the tip of the cutter touching the top of the material block.
Now it is critical that the block has exactly the correct dimensions: otherwise
the resulting part will be too thick or too thin. When touching the top of a
cylinder block the cutter has to be at Y=0, and when toughing a rectangular
block the top surface has to be completely horizontal.

Next you will have to fixture your material block, using the available options
of your rotation axis, like a 3-jaw chuck, pins on a circular plate or a drill-head.
Use the tail-stock with a centering pin on the opposite side if one is available,
as this makes the stability of the model much better. Not for this Venus model
though: we have set the toolpaths to completely machine the top of her head.
For machining rings (in wax, for investment casting) you have to use some
special fixturing tool, or use a hollow wax bar that can be fixtured in a 3-jaw
chuck.

A detail that you need to check only once is the Rotation direction of your A-
axis: will it rotate clockwise or counterclockwise for a positive value of A. We
have found that no clear standard direction exists: each manufacturer makes his
own choice. So the DeskProto default will be correct for about half of the
machines. If not the resulting part then will be a mirrored image of the CAD
file. You can correct this in the DeskProto postprocessor: Options > Library of
postprocessors > OK on warning > select your post and press Edit > Tab
Movement > add a minus sign to the value in edit box “Factor” in column A.

Many controllers have problems in setting the correct Feedrate when rotation
axis machining, as the rotation speed that is needed to achieve a certain linear
speed depends on the distance between the cutter and the rotation axis.
DeskProto offers two special options for the rotary feedrate: in the
postprocessor you can configure DeskProto to use “Inverse time Feedrate” or
“Angular Feedrate” for rotary movements. For more information about this see
the Help file and the FAQ on the DeskProto website.

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Finally: before starting the NC program file from DeskProto, do make sure that
your cutter is positioned on Y=0. As said in fact DeskProto remains 3-axis
CAM software, so the XZA toolpath file from DeskProto does not contain any
Y movement command. Y has to be correct before starting.

The machining process will look like the photo above. Note the cylinder form
created by the first layer. After machining you can remove the remaining block
on both sides using a simple saw or band-saw

A picture of
the result :

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6. Cellphone (geom: two-sided)

Lesson Six

The sixth lesson is about machining a model from two sides. In DeskProto this
is easy, as the Two-Sided Milling Wizard will guide you through this
complete process. Because of this wizard this lesson does not need to show all
details: it will only illustrate and explain what the wizard will ask you.
The two-sided milling wizard is not available in the DeskProto Free edition
and Entry edition.

The example used is the front panel of an old cellphone. It is not from an
existing phone, but has been specially modeled for this lesson by John Brock
of Robert McNeel & Associates, using the Rhino 3D CAD software that
McNeel manufactures. Also the rendered picture above is courtesy of Robert
McNeel & Associates.

The cellphone STL is a large file (8 Mb), so it is not included in the standard
DeskProto Samples. You can download the file from www.deskproto.com

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Two-sided machining

In this sixth lesson you will use DeskProto’s Two-Sided Milling Wizard to
correctly set all parameters needed to machine a part from two sides. The
wizard is meant to be very easy to use, even self-explaining, so in theory this
lesson is completely superfluous. Still in practice the process is quite complex:
so we felt that illustrating and explaining what you will need to do will make
things much easier.

Start the DeskProto wizard, to be found via the Start screen or via the File
menu. Take care to start the 'normal' wizard: the “custom wizard” is meant for
some special applications. On the first screen (called “Which wizard”) select
the wizard named Advanced Geometry: Two sides, manual flip.
The alternative for two-sided machining is using a rotation axis for an
automatic flip. Advantages of the manual flip are that no rotation axis is
needed, and that the block is more stable as it lies on the machining table.

This wizard is a sequence of 7 pages, as indicated by the icons on top. In

addition to this first page (which wizard), these are:
2 What to machine
3 Material and Support
4 Roughing
5 Finishing
6 Contouring
7 Send to machine.

Generally speaking, when milling a model from two sides the problem is the
second side: how to fixture the model, and how to do this in the correct
orientation for that side, at a position that matches the WorkPiece Zero point.
The DeskProto Wizard solves this by using an over-sized material block, so
large that a complete frame remains present around the part. Four small bridges
are added to keep the part connected to this frame, called Support tabs. These
can be manually removed later. See the illustration above. This frame makes it
easy to re-fixture the model for the second side, and the wizard also uses the
frame to set a repeatable workpiece zero point.

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The two-sided Wizard

On page What to machine (Page 2) first load the geometry file Cellphone.stl.
Note that this file is not installed during setup. You will first have to download
the file from www.deskproto.com. The file is only available in mm, so inch
users will have to scale down by a factor of 0.04 (more exactly 0.03937). Load
the file using the Browse button on this wizard page.

Two more options are offered on this wizard page: Scaling and Rotating. For
metric users Scaling is not needed as well (unless of course you want to make
a scale model). As said inch users have to apply a scaling factor of 0.03937
(uniform scaling). For the Cellphone the Orientation may remain as default,
with the top surface on top: rotating the geometry is not needed. Note the light
yellow question mark icon, left of each question: position the cursor on this
icon to get help on the question. This Wizard tooltip also tells you where that
same setting can be found in the dialog based interface (so without the wizard).

Page Material and Support (Page 3) will add the support tabs (as explained
above) and will set both the Material block and the Area to be machined. The
wizard will select ‘Default support tabs’ in order to add four tabs, at the
minimum and maximum X and Y values of the part. The thickness of these
bridges depends on the size of your model, their length depends on your
default cutter (the bridge must be long enough for the cutter to move around
the model). When you later select a thicker cutter the wizard will warn you
about that. For more control you can also select Custom and use the Detail
settings button to define your own support tabs.

The Dimensions of the material block are set by the wizard: both right and
left 25 mm (1") is added to the size of geometry + supports, on the front and
back sides 10 mm (½") (You can change the size of these additions in the
Preferences). On the right and left side the frame is made wider as there extra
room is needed for the clamps to fixture the block on the machine. The wizard
only allows you to change the Z-dimension here: the block’s thickness. The
value that you enter has to exactly match the actual block thickness, otherwise
the two sides won’t match correctly. In practice this is easy, as most materials
will be delivered in slabs of an exact thickness. The X and Y dimensions of the
physical block may have some oversize.

The Milling depth is in fact the setting “Minimum Z” for the Area to be
machined (Operation parameters). The same depth will be used for all
operations. Default depth is halfway down the block: for the cellphone
geometry a higher depth value is needed in order to completely machine the
geometry. Do not forget to change the depth after changing the block
thickness, as the depth is relative to the top of the block. Dimensions and depth
will be drawn on screen as line drawings: orange lines for the block, green
lines for the area to be machined (updated after pressing the Apply button).

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We used a slab of tooling board of 25 mm thick, and set the milling depth to 17
in order to completely machine the part from both sides. You can change the
drawing to a side-view and then in the wizard press Apply to check if the
milling depth setting is correct.

Page Roughing (Page 4) offers the setting for the Roughing operation. The
first is the Use checkbox: roughing is optional, and you can skip this operation
by un-checking this box.

Which Cutter to choose is an optimization between many factors:

- cutting speed (a larger cutter can remove material more quickly)
- geometry characteristics (for freeform surfaces use a ballnose cutter, for
horizontal and vertical surfaces use a flat tipped cutter).
- surface quality (a larger ballnose cutter will create a smoother surface)
- small details (for small inner radii a small cutter is needed)
- height of the model (small cutters are short)
- use the same cutter for all operations or accept a tool change.
For this cellphone part we have used a 3 mm ballnose cutter (radius 1.5 mm),
for all operations, in order to avoid a toolchange. 3 mm diameter is sufficient
for most details here, and the cutter is long enough to machine the complete
model. For inch users a 1/8 inch diameter ballnose will be a good choice.

The Precision (horizontal Distance between toolpaths) together with the Layer
height (how deep the cutter may sink into the material) determine how much
material is removed per toolpath. The default values of D/5 for precision and D
for layer height (D is the cutter diameter) will be OK for wood and tooling
board. The default Speeds will do as well. For light materials (foam, light
wood) precision D/3 will do, for materials like perspex and aluminum smaller
values will be needed. You will have to find your own optimal values.

The default Block strategy is the optimal roughing strategy for most
geometries, as it will minimize the number of positioning moves during the
lower layers.
The default Skin thickness is 10% of the cutter diameter, and the default
Layer height is 100% of the cutter diameter. In most case these values will be
OK as well.

The field for Estimated machining time is empty: the estimation will be
shown after you have calculated the toolpaths using the Calculate button.

Wizard pages Finishing (Page 5) and Contouring (Page 6) are very similar to
the Roughing page just discussed. Of course without the Roughing parameters
Skin and Layer height. Also a different Strategy has been selected. You will use
a much lower precision value than for Roughing.

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The illustration above shows the Finishing toolpaths for Side 1. In this drawing
you can clearly see that the support tab is not cut off, so the part remains
connected to the frame. The wizard has accomplished this by setting a custom
Area to be machined. In addition the Borders have been set to ‘Cutter stays
within area’, which will make the machined cavity the same size for any cutter
diameter).
If you see more positioning moves than in the illustration, the difference will
have been caused by the option “Always stay low” (Movement tab).

The final page of the Wizard is Send to machine (Page 7). It will show you
the project tree that has been created: two parts (Side#1 and Side#2) with three
operations each. The difference between the two parts is a 180 degree rotation
round the X-axis, just as you will later rotate (flip) the block on the machine. In
case you want you can rename any of the names after a slow double click on
its line in the Tree.

In this wizard two buttons are available to Save the NC program file: one for
each part. Choose file-names that indicate which side of the part it is for.
Buttons to directly send the toolpath to the machine are visible only if that
option has been configured (in the Preferences). These can of course only be
used when your machine supports this option. The Send to machine option is
not present in the versions for MacOS and for Linux.

The Report file that you can write is special for this wizard. The report will list
all information that is needed on the milling machine to correctly process these
two NC program files. This will be explained in detail in the last paragraph.
For now just open this file and print / save it as you will need it later.

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Fine-tune the parameters

You have now finished the Wizard and created two NC program files, so you
are ready to start your milling machine and create the model. Still it is
important for you to know that at this point, after having finished the Wizard, it
is still possible to edit any parameter setting that the wizard has made, and
even to add any special parameter setting that could not be done in the wizard.
Of course after any change you will have to again write the NC program
file(s). If you do not need any changes you can skip this paragraph and
continue with the next: “to the milling machine”.

The wizard has created three operations for each side. You may want to add
one or more additional geometry operations. For instance a Detailing operation
with a very small tool (diameter 0.8 mm or 0.03") for the microphone and
speaker slits. In these extra operations you can change the Area to be machined
to Freeform, and select two small areas to be machined. A next addition may
be useful for the second side: adding an operation with a flat tool (2 mm
diameter), as the inside geometry contains many sharp inner corners.

When adding operations you have to be careful though: some changes will ruin
your two-sided milling setup. What you must NOT change are some setting for
the area to be machined (it may not be enlarged) and for the borders. The best
way to add an operation is by Copying an existing operation, as then the
settings for Area and Borders will be copied as well. All other operation
parameters can be changed as needed.

In the Part parameters you must not change the size of the material block, as
this size is needed to exactly match both sides and set the WorkPiece zero
point. This WP zero point will be the same for all operations in the part. The
support tabs may be changed. Obviously the support tabs for both sides must
exactly match, and to avoid any differences DeskProto has selected the option
“Use tabs of 1st part” in the second part.

The Simulation that DeskProto offers for a two-sided project is a separate

simulation for each side. A combined simulation, showing the result when both
sides have been machined, is not (yet) possible.

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To the milling machine

Normally, it does not really matter where on the machine’s working table your
block of material is located as you can freely choose the workpiece zero point.
It also does not matter whether or not the block is exactly lined up with the
machine’s axes (as the block will have some oversize). For two-sided milling
this is different, as for the second side both position and orientation of the
block must exactly match position and orientation of the first side.

For this aim DeskProto uses a ruler, mounted on the machine's working table,
exactly parallel to the machine’s X-axis. See the illustration below: the long
gray ‘horizontal’ bar is parallel to X, with an end-stop at the left side of the
ruler. An easy way to create ruler and end-stop is to just machine them using
manual control: that way they are sure to be parallel, and their positions are
exactly known.

The WorkPiece zero point for the NC program files has to be set at the point
where ruler and end-stop meet (the cross-hairs in the illustration above), the
Z=0 set with the tip of the tool touching the top of the block. As said this is for
both sides: the WP zero point remains the same after turning the block upside
down for the second side.

After machining the first side, you have to machine two reference planes, on
the block’s back and left side: see the red line in the illustration above. The
reference plane on the left is on position X =0, so at the exact position of the
end-stop, and needs not be along the complete side (which would not be
possible because of a clamp). The reference plane on the back is on a Y
position as specified in the Report file that you just saved, and needs to be
machined along the entire back edge of the part. It needs to be bit deeper than
the ruler is thick.

You can machine both reference planes using manual control (mind the radius
of the cutter when doing so!). DeskProto does not machine these reference
planes automatically, as it does not know where you have placed your clamps.

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For instance for a cutter of 6 mm diameter: move the cutter to X=-3 and a
suitable Z, and then move the Y to machine a flat plane on the left side of the
block. Next move the cutter to the prescribed Y-position + 3 mm (cutter radius)
and move the X to machine a reference plane along the complete backside of
the block.

After machining these reference planes you can loosen the clamps and take the
block off, turn it upside down (“flip” the block), press these two reference
planes against ruler and end-stop, and again fasten the clamps. This makes sure
that the block is exactly lined up with the machine, and is exactly at the correct
position.

As alternatives to the Ruler /Reference plane method just described, several

other methods are available to correctly position the block after turning upside-
down. For instance using Reference Pins on the machining table and drilling
holes to exactly fit these positioning pins, with the zero point exactly halfway
these two pins. Or a rotation axis with a 180 degree rotation around X. The
Two-Sided Milling Wizard can be used with any of these positioning methods,
as long as they result in the block having the same position before and after
turning upside-down

Below you can see a few illustrations that show this process for the Cellphone
model.

In this illustration the first side of the cellphone is being machined. Note the
dark brown ruler in front and left, and the two clamps right and left used to fix
the block. The cutter currently is machining the second layer.

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Before loosening the clamps, first you have to machine two reference planes
on the left and on the back, as shown here. This is why some oversize is
needed on the back side of the block. Also the left side of the block needs to be
a bit inclined to have some excess material (body) to be machined.

The second side now can be machined using the same workpiece zero point:
the toolpaths will exactly match.

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The resulting cellphone front cover: fresh from the machine, without any extra
work done. Note the two machined reference planes and the support tabs
(bridges): both clearly visible. The frame and tabs have to be removed
manually: some sanding will be needed where the support tabs were attached
to the model. The rest of the model will already be smooth enough.

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7. DP bottle (vector: advanced)

Lesson Seven

The lessons so far have all been about Vector data or Geometry data or
Bitmap data. A very nice feature of DeskProto is that you can combine two or
three data types in the same project. For instance use vector toolpaths to
machine some details in a geometry project.

DeskProto even allows you to let two data types interact: both vector toolpaths
and bitmap reliefs can be projected on a 3D geometry. In this lesson the 2D
DeskProto logo will be projected on the 3D bottle geometry that was used in
lesson 4.

The lesson starts with some background information on vector data and
toolpath types for vector data.

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Vector data files

For vector data files DeskProto supports the DXF format, the EPS (or AI)
format and the SVG format. Engineering software will typically generate DXF
files, while graphics software in most cases only can export EPS (postscript).
Of both file types only a subset is supported:
The DXF subset includes point, line, polyline, LW polyline, arc, circle, ellipse
and spline.
The EPS subset includes point, lineto, curveto and moveto.
The SVG subset includes line, rect, circle, ellipse, polyline, polygon,
elliptical_arc, cubic_bezier and quadratic_bezier

DeskProto will convert arcs and splines to polylines, arc movements in the NC
code (G2 and G3) are not (yet) supported.

Vector files in most cases are 2D files, so will not contain any Z coordinates.
DeskProto will draw such 2D curves at the top of the block, also when for
that part you have set the Z=0 at a different height (this is different from
previous DeskProto versions). The machining depth that you enter for the
toolpaths is calculated from the top of the block.

It is also possible to open a DXF file containing 3D vector curves. In that case
DeskProto will ask you whether or not you want to use these vector Z-values.
If yes, the Z=0 in the vector file will be aligned with the Z=0 of your Geometry
data, and the machining depth that you enter for the toolpaths will be
calculated relative to the Z-values in the vector curve. The result will be a 3D
toolpath.
The decision whether or not to use the vector data Z-values can also be made
later: in the project parameters, tab Vector.

DeskProto offers three toolpath types: Profiling, Pocketing and Drilling. The
first two have been covered in Lesson 1, drilling has not yet been mentioned.
In the Vector operation parameters you can select curves for each toolpath
type:
Profiling will accept all curves in the vector data, except points.
Pocketing will only accept curves that are closed (contours).
Drilling will accept: points (centerpoint of the hole to be drilled), “+” signs
(two lines that each have the cutter diameter as length, intersecting at the
centerpoint) and circles that have (almost) the same diameter as the selected
cutter.

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Combining 2D vector data with 3D geometry data

In the previous lessons you have seen that the Part parameters are used to
define what will be machined: scale, orientation, etc. The available parameters
to achieve this are a bit different for each of the three data types. For instance
rotating round X and Y is not supported for vector data, so the Transform tab
offers different options for vector en for geometry. What to do when both data
types are present ?
DeskProto has solved this by showing two sets of settings: Vector settings and
Geometry settings, which will be shown in this lesson (if bitmap data is present
the Bitmap settings are the third set that is present).

For this project we need two types of CAD data: Vector data for the DeskProto
logo, and a Geometry for the perfume bottle.

First load the Vector file: sample file 2D_DeskProtoLogo.dxf

Next load the Geometry file: the same file Bottle.stl that we have also
used in Lesson 4.

You will see that the block of material (the orange lines) will be exactly large
enough to include all CAD data, and that the vector curves are displayed at the
top surface of the block.

The X and Y position of both datasets matches their positions in the original
CAD file. For the bottle the zero point in CAD (and also in STL) is located on

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its centerline, and for the logo it is located on it’s base-line just left of the letter
D. The Z=0 in CAD is located below the bottle, in DeskProto you can display
this zero point by checking “CAD zero point” in the Items visible dialog
(though in the above view it will be hidden below the bottle geometry).

The WorkPiece zero point in DeskProto (the blue “orientator” cube) is not the
same as the CAD zero point because in the Part parameters (tab Zero-point) an
automatic translation is made to move the CAD data to “Positive X&Y for
material block” and “Top of block zero”.

When you now open the Part Parameters dialog you will see that above the
row of tabs a new “Radio button” option has been added: you now can choose
to show the tabpages either for the Vector settings or for the Geometry settings.
Some of the tabs are equal for both settings, like tab General and tab Zero-
point), other tabs are different (like Transform). The Geometry settings also
include more tab pages than the Vector settings.
The options on tab Transform can be used to position both datasets relative to
one another, as will be shown in the next paragraph.

A nice detail is that vector machining can also be used with rotation axis
machining: the 2D vector drawing then will be wrapped around the 3D
cylindrical block of material, like a label around a jar of marmalade. That way
it is easy to engrave for instance a name on the round sockle of a bust that you
have machined.

Projecting 2D curves on a 3D geometry

As you have seen in Lesson 1, DeskProto’s vector toolpaths can be used to

engrave 2D text on a flat surface, this lesson will show you how to engrave on
a curved surface. This will be done using a nice feature of a DeskProto Vector
operation: the option “Project vector curves on 3D Part geometry”. When you
check this option the resulting Machining level (Z-value) will not be relative to
the top of the block (so at a constant Z-level), but instead it will be applied
relative to the Z of the part-geometry at that location. The result will be that the
vector curves are indeed projected on the 3D geometry.

You have just loaded Vector file 2D_DeskProtoLogo.dxf (the DeskProto logo)
and the Geometry file Bottle.stl (the perfume bottle). In this paragraph you will
learn how to engrave this logo on the bottle’s front surface.

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Open the part parameters and select the Geometry settings. On tab Transform
enter a Rotation around X of -90 degrees, and on tab material select “Use
upper half of geometry”. After each change you can use the Apply button to
see what happens. Ignore the message that no curves have been selected, we
will come to that in a moment.

Next select the Vector settings. The DeskProto logo is too large for the bottle,
so it needs to be scaled down. On tab Transform enter a Scale factor of 0.5
(Uniform checked, so both for X and for Y). The next step is to correctly
position the logo over the bottle. This is called “panning” the vector data over
the geometry data, and a nice Align option is present to make this easier. Select
a Top view (the first of the 8 cube buttons on the toolbar) to properly see the
position of the logo. Now on the same tab Transform, under Panning, use the
button “Align to...”. In the Align Vector Data dialog select “Center” both for X
and Y, select Geometry data to align with and press OK. In the Part Parameters
press either Apply or OK to see the new position of the logo.

The DeskProto logo is nicely centered over the geometry. If needed you can
now fine-tune. Perhaps a bit smaller is better: you can change the scale (after
that you will need to again align). And the position could perhaps best be a tiny
bit to the right (to visually compensate for the large D) and a bit lower on the
bottle (to engrave only on the front surface, not on the shoulder). It is easy to
play around by changing the two Panning values and then pressing Apply.
When Scale and position are OK press OK to close the Part parameters.

To machine this part you will need one or more Geometry operations and one
Vector operation. How to configure the Geometry operations (roughing and
finishing, or finishing only if you prefer that) has been covered in the previous
lessons, please go there if you need help in doing so.
Adding Operations can be done by right-clicking on the line Part in the Tree,
and then selecting “Add Vector/Geometry/Bitmap operation”. Add operations
to create a Part with one (or two) Geometry Operations and one Vector
Operation, and then enter the Geometry operation parameters that you prefer.

Now open the Vector Operation parameters dialog. All geometry inside the
logo’s contour lines needs to be removed, which is called Pocketing, so on tab
“Pocketing” select All for select curves, and Offset as strategy. It will be clear
that you need a small cutter to fit inside the curves, so select a 1 mm diameter
cutter (ballnose or flat tip). Press OK to close the Vector Operation parameters
dialog, make the Geometry operation(s) invisible by clicking on the yellow
lamp buttons in the tree, and press button Calculate toolpaths (in case asked:
Yes, only the visible operations).

You will now see the logo will not be completely machined: no (red) toolpath
lines are present in the smaller logo sections, as even this small cutter is too

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thick to fit in the pocket there. You can of course select a smaller cutter,
however you will soon see that for this project a 0.5 mm diameter cutter (or
smaller) is needed: very, very thin !
Best solution is to use a conical engraving cutter. Also called V-cutter, as the
tip looks like a V. This V must have a flat tip, as otherwise pocketing is not
possible (for pocketing the tip diameters is used to calculate the distance
between the toolpaths). So select for instance cutter “Conic engraving tool 30
degrees” and try again. Now the logo will be completely filled with toolpaths,
very close to one another. You can set a larger Stepover in the vector operation
parameters, tab Pocketing, under Strategy detail settings. Default Stepover is
50% (of the tip diameter), changing that to 80% will reduce the number of
toolpaths.

In a top-view the toolpaths that you now have may look OK, however when
seen from a different viewpoint it is clear that they are not: all toolpaths still
are at a constant Z-level. Again open the Vector Operation parameters, now
open tab page Z-settings. Here as machining depth set -0.3 mm (-0.01”), check
“Project vector curves on 3D Part geometry” and as Calculation precision
set 0.09 mm (ca 0.004”).
Now the toolpaths should be OK to engrave the logo.

On your screen they will be invisible though, as they are below the surface of
the bottle geometry. Switching off “Geometry, rendered” in the Items visible
dialog will make the toolpaths visible. You can now save the NC file(s) and
start cutting.

The image above has been tricked: we have set the machining level to +0.1
mm, in order to make a picture with toolpaths and geometry both visible (these

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paths are of course not useful for machining).

The projection used is vertical, which will distort the 2D logo: a circle
projected on a tilted surface will become an oval.

On these tilted surfaces the logo may also be distorted by the cutter's thickness.
DeskProto will project the 3D shape of the cutter on the 3D geometry, and
when projecting on tilted surfaces the outside of the cutter will touch the
geometry before the center of the cutter does. The cutting depth is set from this
first contact, so not for the center of the cutter.

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8. Lithophane (bitmap: advanced)

Lesson Eight

Creating lithophanes is a great application of DeskProto’s bitmap machining

feature. In this lesson we will explain what a lithophane is, and how you can
easily create one using DeskProto. We used a famous portrait by Dutch painter
Johannes Vermeer: Girl with a Pearl Earring (a public domain work of art,
downloaded from commons.wikimedia.org).
DeskProto converts the 2D bitmap information in this photo to a 3D relief and
then calculates toolpaths over this geometry.

The second subject of this advanced bitmap lesson is about combining a

bitmap relief with a 3D geometry. Again the sample perfume bottle will be
used, and in this lesson the relief of a shell will be added to the bottle’s front
surface.

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Lithophanes

A lithophane is a work of art created in a thin sheet of translucent material (a

sort of “milk glass”). The front-side of the lithophane is shaped in a relief, and
when illuminated from the back side a clear image in black&white will
become visible.

The above image explains how this works: the thinner the material, the more
light can come through. The material can be a sheet of (for instance) 3 mm
thick white plastic (PE, PVC, Corian, …). In DeskProto it is very easy to
convert any photo to the relief that is needed for this visual effect. You will see
that the results are truly amazing, and that this will allow you to create unique
bespoke presents. On the DeskProto website you can view video tutorials
about machining lithophanes to see some nice results.

Creating a Bitmap project

In Lesson 3 you have already seen how you can create a bitmap project.
However the image used there was very simple, resulting in a relief with only
two Z-levels (black and white). We will now use a digital photo, resulting in a
much more detailed relief.

In the file menu select “New Project” >> “New Bitmap Project”.
Next press button “Load Bitmap file” (or select that in the File menu)
to load the photo that you want to use. We downloaded the image
Meisje_met_de_parel.jpg (the name of the painting in Dutch) and before
loading it in DeskProto we reduced the resolution from the original 4095x4794
pixels to 1024x1199 pixels, later-on we will explain why. You can of course
use any photo that you like!

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A rough preview of the photo will be shown on the graphics screen. By

rotating the view you can check that it is a pure 2D picture: one flat plane at
constant Z-level. Only the color (gray value) of the pixels in the bitmap varies.
For Bitmap files DeskProto supports BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG and TIF files. Color
pictures are automatically converted to gray values (black & white pictures) as
for the conversion to Z-levels gray values are needed.

Bitmap Operation parameters

Next you need to set the DeskProto parameters, as always on two levels: in the
Part parameters you define the part, so what you want to machine, and in the
Operation parameters you define how you want to machine it. The Operation
parameters need to be set first, as for a bitmap these can affect the part size
(will be explained below). Don’t worry if you get a warning that the part is too
large, we will fix that later.

So please now open the Bitmap Operation parameters. The most important
parameters are present on the first tab: General. For a lithophane you need a
small Cutter, or at least one with a small tip, so that the small details in the
image can be machined. We used a special cutter for this application: a conic
(V-shaped) cutter with a small ball tip. The small tip is needed for the details,
the ball shaped tip for a good surface quality, and the conical shape allows to
immediately machine at full depth (so without roughing layers). We found a
perfect cutter for this application made by Bits & Bits Co. (USA): their model
TEB15-020 is a tapered ball end mill with a 0.51 mm (0.02”) tip radius.

When you cannot find such tapered cutter you can also use a small ballnose,
like a 2 mm diameter ballnose cutter. Depending on the cutting length of this
cutter it may be needed to apply a roughing operation first.

We selected our tapered ball end mill and the set both the Distance between
the toolpaths and the Stepsize along the toolpath to 0.10 mm (D/33, ca 0.004”).
For our machine we left the Feedrate to it’s default value, and set the
Spindlespeed a bit higher because of the very small tip of the cutter.

Two more further settings in the bitmap operation are needed:

- on tab Area we selected “Use bitmap area”, as the material block that we
want to define (see below) is larger than the bitmap, and only the bitmap area
needs to be machined.
- on tab page Movement we set the Feedrate for high chiploads on 25%, in
order to protect the cutter during the first toolpath (machining at the full width
of the cutter).

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Part parameters (Bitmap settings)

Next open the Part parameters, and go to tab “XY Transform”. The options
shown are not the same as in a geometry project: these are the Bitmap settings.
As you can see in the image below our bitmap is sized 1024 x 1199 pixels,
which at 72 DPI (Dots per Inch) results in 14.22 x 16.66 inch, or 361 x 423
mm). Too large for our small machine, so DeskProto already displayed a Part
Size error, and in the tree two error icons are visible.

For the size (Bitmap dimensions) you can select one of four options. Options
DPI from bitmap file, Custom DPI and Custom will be clear, just as the
checkbox “Keep aspect ratio” If not then please use the Help button for more
information. The two edit fields after Custom will show the resulting
dimensions, for any of the dimensioning options.

The option “Calculate from precision” needs some explanation: it delivers the
best results, however it is not easy to understand.
In DeskProto toolpaths are calculated using the Z-grid: a rectangular grid of
XY positions, with a Z-value for each grid-cell. The Precision (the Distance
between paths and the Stepsize along path, that we have just set to 0.10 mm)
sets the size of each grid cell. This Z-grid resembles the bitmap grid of pixels:
the bitmap grid also is a rectangular matrix of XY positions, now with a color-
value for each position.

The option “Calculate from precision” on scale 1 : 1 makes both grids equal:
the bitmap will be scaled to make one pixel exactly match with one cell in the
Z-grid. A different ratio can be chosen to align both grids at a different interval.

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Aligning the grids is important to prevent “Moire patterns’: when the grids
are not aligned then (for instance) after a series of 10 Z-grid cells with 4 pixels
per cell, one cell with 5 pixels will follow, repeating every 10 cells. This will
cause visible “ripples” in the resulting relief. Selecting option Calculate from
precision (with a proper ratio to achieve the desired size) will prevent this.

When using this option Calculate from precision you need to realize that when
you later change the precision, the size of the resulting relief will automatically
change as well ! This is why in this lesson the Operation parameters needed to
be set before the Part parameters.

For our portrait lithophane we used “Calculate from precision” and kept the
ratio to 1:1 (one pixel in one Z-grid cell, so each pixel sized 0.10 mm), which
made the Dimensions of the relief 98.52 x 115.36 mm (3.88” x 4.54”).

Attentive readers will notice that this is not what they expected: 1024 pixels at
a precision cell size of 0.10 would result in 102.4 mm, not 98.52. This
difference is caused by a rounding of the Precision value that is displayed. The
actual value for this 1/8” cutter is D / 33 = 3.175 / 33 = 0.09621 mm for one
cell in the Z-grid. So also 0.09621 mm per pixel, times 1024 is 98.52 mm.

Panning gives you the option to position the bitmap in 3D space. This will be
needed only when you combine a bitmap with a 3D geometry, for now you can
just leave it on 0, 0.

On the third Tab page of the Bitmap settings, called “Z Settings” you can set
the Z-values to be used for the relief. The meaning of the fields Z-value for
White and Z-value for Black will be clear after the explanation in the first
paragraph of this lesson. Which Z-values need to be used of course depends
on the material that you want to use: some experimenting will be needed to
find out what material thicknesses will result in ‘black’ and ‘white’ when
illuminated from the back.

For our lithophane we used a sheet of 3 mm (0.12”) thick ‘Corian’ ® material.

We found that the material thickness for the resulting relief needs to be 0.5 mm
for white and 2.75 mm for black. So as Relief depth we entered -2.5 mm (-
0.1”) for white and -0.25 mm (-0,01”) for black.

Finally the size of the Material block needs to be set. On tab Material you see
that the default option “Use all CAD data” has been selected. Change that to
Custom, and enter the size of your material. We used a block of 120 x 140 mm,
as said 3 mm thick. This larger size was entered by adding just as much extra
on both sides (min and max) for X and for Y: X from -10 to +110, Y from -15
to +125. For Z we simply changed the minimum value from -2.5 to -3.0 mm.

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Converting 2D bitmap data to a 3D relief

The conversion is in fact very simple: each pixel has a gray value, which can
be black, white or some in-between shade of gray. This gray value will be
converted to a Z-value. You have just defined Z-levels for black and for white,
all in-between Z-levels will be calculated automatically. This is called
Gray-value to Z-height conversion.

At this point we can explain why we reduced the resolution of the original
image for this lithophane project. As said we now used a width of 1024 pixels,
and made the pixel size equal to the Precision (size of one Z-grid cell). The
first test that we machined was done using the original image (4095 pixels
wide), setting the size on “Calculate from precision” on 1:4, which resulted in
the same dimensions of the part.

Original image, with First lithophane 1:4, Second lithophane

cracks in the paint thick black lines 1:1, much better.

The Vermeer painting is quite old (made in the 17th-century), and so the paint
is cracked (“Craquelure”) resulting in a pattern of very thin black lines over the
painting. In this first test for each Z-grid cell 16 pixels (4x4) were used. As
each Z-grid cell is filled with the highest Z-value found within, just one of
these 16 pixels being dark (the very thin crack) caused the complete Z-grid cell
to have a high Z and thus be dark in the lithophane. See the image above: the
crack lines that were very thin in the original image became much thicker in
the lithophane, making the result unacceptable. The next version used
“Calculate from precision on 1:1” and was much better.

The photo that you use will not be a painting so won’t display Cracquelure,
still for any photo a size on scale 1:1 will give the best result in the small
details. When you reduce the resolution of an image in a graphics program the
new pixel will get some intelligent average of the combined pixels as new
color value: better than the highest Z-level that DeskProto applies. Something
that we need to work on for a next DeskProto version….

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One of the first ideas that may come into mind is to use a nice photo of your
friend and convert that to a 3D relief that resembles the 3D original. We have
to disappoint you by explaining that the result will not be great. Imagine for
instance a frontal picture of a face, with the sun shining from one side. One
side of the nose will be light, the other side will be dark (shadow). The
resulting relief will not resemble the original nose. Or image the difference
between a white man with black hair and a black man with white hair. The
resulting relief may be OK for your application, however do not expect it to be
a copy of the real face. A lithophane relief will be fine though.

To the milling machine

You now can calculate the toolpaths, write the NC file and send it to you
milling machine in order to mill the lithophane. The WorkPiece zero point is at
the left-front corner of the material block, at the top of the block, as is usual in
DeskProto.

The image above shows how it looks on the DeskProto screen (for our Vermeer
painting). The block of material in orange, with the workpiece zero point in
blue. The green lines indicate the area to be machined, which is exactly the
bitmap size. Almost all toolpaths are hidden below the bitmap, only on the
front (bottom of the portrait) some red toolpath lines are visible.

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The resulting lithophane, in 3 mm thick white Corian. Beautiful !

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Relief and result

The actual relief that is machined for a lithophane looks very strange. The
above lithophane has been machined using exactly the same settings as used in
the previous paragraphs. The relief shows deep canyons (grooves) at the left,
which become white stripes in the two pullovers, and high mountains in the
faces for the dark eyes and dark areas in the mouth. Below the same sheet of
plastic is shown, now illuminated from behind. The photo results in a sharper
lithophane than the painting in the previous paragraph.

The photo that was used for this lithophane is a stock photo: portrait of a twin
brother and sister (source: Nationale Beeldbank / Gertjan Hooijer, 2009).

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Combining a bitmap with a 3D geometry

This subject will be covered only briefly, as most actions that are needed have
already been explained in this Tutorial. The objective of this last bitmap
example project is to create a perfume bottle (also used in lessons 4 and 7) with
a shell relief on the side of the bottle. Please do the following:

Start a New Geometry Project

Load the Sample geometry Bottle.stl (or Bottle_inch.stl)
(the samples can be easily found via the Start Screen)
Load the Sample bitmap file Shell1.jpg
Part parameters, geometry settings:
Rotate the bottle -90 degrees round X
Set the Material block to Use upper half of geometry.

The image above should be similar to what you now see on your screen. Next
step is to correctly scale and position the shell image. That will be easiest when
you select a top-view (press the first of the series of cube icons in the toolbar).
Now again open the Part parameters, and select the Bitmap settings. Open tab
page XY Transform to scale and position the bitmap.

To set the bitmap dimensions the option “Calculate from precision” that we
used for the lithophane) is not enabled: no bitmap operation is present and thus
the precision is not yet available. So you can use either a Custom DPI or a
custom size. We applied a custom size of 34 mm for X, resulting in 30.75 mm
for Y (in inches 1.3” resp 1.1759”). Press Apply to see the result.

For the bitmap position the panning values need to be set. We started with the
“Align to...” button: select Center twice, and align with Geometry data. Press
OK, and next again press Apply to see the result. For X the position is OK, for
Y it is not: the panning value for Y of 31.70 (1.2654”) is too high. Change it as
you like, pressing Apply to see the result. We used 22.0 (0.95”) to continue.

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Proceed to tab page Z-settings to define the relief height. We want to create a
positive relief: added on top of the bottle’s front surface. So as Z-value for
black we set 0.0 (nothing to be added for the pure black background of the
image), and as Z-value for white we set 1.5 mm (0.06”). Finally the option
“Project bitmap relief on 3D part geometry” on this tab page needs to be
checked. When you now close a Part Parameters a message will pop up to
warn you that positive Z values are used for the bitmap relief. We will come
back on this later.

When you now calculate the toolpaths you will see that only the bottle is
machined: no shell relief is present. Reason is that in this project only a
Geometry Operation is present, where we need a Bitmap Operation. So add a
Bitmap operation and again calculate toolpaths. Now the shell relief will
indeed be visible. So in fact it would have been easier to start this lesson with
creating a “New Bitmap project” instead of a new Geometry project. Still for
this Tutorial it is important that you learn about the difference. The Geometry
operation may not be used as it would remove all material needed for the shell
relief (for a negative relief this would not be a problem).

You now see toolpaths for both operations. In most cases the default settings
for a Geometry operation and for a Bitmap operation are equal, and thus most
of the toolpaths will overlap. One difference is the shell relief, and a second
difference is that the bitmap operation will machine a smaller area: the
shoulders, top and bottom of the bottle are not machined. Fix this by changing
the Borders settings in the Bitmap operation parameters: instead of “No extra”
(which is OK when machining only the bitmap) you now need to select “Extra
for cutter” in order to machine the complete bottle. Now the only difference is
the shell relief. You can now delete the Geometry operation (right mouse click
on it’s line in the tree and select Remove).

One more important problem needs to be fixed: the top of the relief is missing,
see the above screenshot. This is what the warning that DeskProto just gave
you was about. As Material block we have set the “Upper half of geometry”,
however on top of the geometry we have added a relief (positive Z-values). As

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a result the part now is higher than the block of material, and all toolpaths
outside the material will be skipped. To fix this problem open the Part
parameters, tab Material, and change the selected size from “Use upper half of
geometry” to ”Custom”. Now make the value for the maximum Z 1 or 1.5 mm
higher (1 mm or 0.04” is sufficient, as the relief is not projected on the highest
part of the geometry).

The part to be machined now has been defined, and you can proceed and select
the operation parameters that you need: cutter, precision, strategy, etc. You also
can decide either to use one operation or to use Roughing and Finishing.
Remember that in all cases you need to use Bitmap operations.

This last picture shows a simulation of the machined bottle.

Meant for a perfume that will surround you with the scent of a fresh sea
breeze...

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9: Dice (five-axis machining)

Lesson Nine

The Multi-Axis edition of DeskProto can generate toolpaths for Five-Axis

machining. This is quite complicated matter though, and it involves much more
work than using the fourth axis (which was covered in Lesson 5).

For five-axis jobs DeskProto offers indexed machining: machine from one side
using three-axis machining (X, Y and Z), then rotate A and B to a next
orientation, again complete a three-axis operation, and so on. The number of
orientations and their rotations may be freely chosen.

The geometry used for this lesson is a sort of “dented sphere” as shown above,
you can find the file DentedSphere.stl in the DeskProto Samples folder.

It will be clear that this lesson cannot be applied by users of the Free edition,
the Entry edition and the Expert edition.

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Five-Axis CNC milling machines

What makes five-axis machining difficult is the fact that so many different
configurations of these 5 axes are possible. Machines are available for many of
these configurations as well.

The theory is simple: a five-axis machine has three linear axes, called X, Y and
Z, and also two of the three rotation axes, which are A (rotation around X), B
(rotation round Y) and C (rotation round Z). So only three combinations are
possible: XYZAB, XYZAC and XYZBC.

The rotations however can be applied in two ways: the cutting tool can rotate
or the part can rotate. For a linear movement it does not matter whether the
part moves or the cutter, for rotation it makes a big difference.
In addition the sequence matters: an X-axis built on top of an Y-axis will give
the same results as Y on top of X, the results however for an A-axis built on top
of a B-axis will be completely different from when B is built on A.

90 degrees rotation of the part. 90 degrees rotation of the cutter.

The DeskProto Five-Axis option is meant for machines where the material
block rotates and the cutter orientation remains vertical. Only rotation axes
A (rotation round X) and B (rotation round Y) are supported. Such machines
are called Trunnion-style 5-axis machines.
It is also needed that the A and B rotation axes intersect, so have a common
point: the center of rotation for both axes.

Rotation commands are used to make a different side of the geometry face
upwards, and for that side plain XYZ machining is used. For each side in
DeskProto a new Part is made, with the rotation set in the Part parameters
(rotate round X and Y). The A and B rotation commands written in the NC file
need to achieve the same rotation on the machine.

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Distance between rotation axis and geometry

A next detail to be considered is the location of the two actual rotation axes (so
of the center of rotation). That is important as it determines the position of the
geometry after the rotation.

5-Axis machine 1 (Roland DWX-50, 5-Axis machine 2 (Isel Euromod 45

for dental applications). with DSH-S rotation axis).

You can imagine the different behavior of the two machines shown above.
The machine on the left has it's rotation center in the centerpoint of the
material block (a round disk of material, to machine dental crowns). So a
rotation will not change the location of the centerpoint of this block.
The machine on the right has it's rotation center (far) below the block of
material. It is even below the working table of the rotation axis (so the cutter
may never go there). A 90 degree rotation of the horizontal axis will change the
position of the block in the machine's working area.

It is of course very important that in DeskProto this same center of rotation is

used for the part rotations.

This rotation centerpoint cannot be set in DeskProto though: DeskProto will

always rotate around the three main axes (XYZ) as present in the STL file (so
as set in the CAD system). The translation option cannot be used as a
workaround, as in DeskProto the translation is applied after the rotation.
The trick is to use an STL file with the correct zero point. You can show this
CAD zero point on the DeskProto screen by checking “CAD zero-point” in the
Items visible dialog.

On the machine shown in the above image on the right, the distance between
the point of rotation and the clamping plane of the machine vise (in the
orientation as shown this is a vertical distance) is 76 mm.

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In the file DentedSphere.stl the zero

point is in the center of the round
bottom surface: in the image left this
is the gray orientator cube “CAD
zero-point”. When that surface is
positioned on the clamping plane a
translation of 76 mm along Z is
needed to get an STL file with the
correct zero point for this project.
This is just an example: if such
translation is needed it will of course
need to be a different value for any other machine.

Easiest is to define this zero point (so to apply this extra translation) in your
CAD program and then save a new STL file. If that is not possible then you
can do this with DeskProto as well: load the STL file, open the DeskProto Part
parameters, tab Zero-point and select None for X, Y and Custom for Z with the
required translation. Next save the translated geometry to a new STL file using
File > Save Geometry data as, checking the option to include the Translation.

For the actual 5-axis project it is imperative to set the Translation to None for
all three axes (Part parameters). Otherwise the DeskProto translation will
invalidate the positions that just had been carefully arranged.

As a result now the rotations done in DeskProto and done on the machine will
have exactly the same effect, and the toolpaths will be executed at the correct
location.

Configuration of the two rotation axes

Finally you need to check the configuration of the axes on your machine, and
also the orientation that is present for a rotation angle of 0.0 degrees.
The result of course needs to match what you see in DeskProto.

DeskProto follows the ISO standard that the A-axis is parallel to (rotates
around) X, and the B-axis rotates around Y. On some machines this is the other
way round.

The rotations in the DeskProto Part parameters are done in the order XYZ:
first the rotation round X is applied, then the rotation round Y.
In case your machine features a B-axis built on top of the A-axis, then the Part
parameter rotation round X can be used for the A-axis rotation and the part
rotation round Y can be used for the B rotation. The B-rotation then also will
be applied ‘on top of’ the A-rotation.

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For the Roland machine shown on the previous page (left image) the rotation
values in DeskProto and on the machine are the same: zero degrees rotation for
X and Y matches zero degrees for A and B.

For other machines you may need to experiment to find the correct A and B
rotation values to match the rotations round X and Y as set in the Part
Parameters. This is for instance true for the Isel machine shown on the
previous page, where a rotation of 0.0 degrees for the main rotation axis gives
the second axis a vertical orientation. So this machine needs a 90 degree
command on the main axis to match the 0.0 degree position in the DeskProto
Part parameters.

For this machine also the naming of the axes is different: here the B-axis is
parallel to X (normally this is called the A-axis). Of course this depends on
how the rotation axis unit is mounted on the machine's working table.

Rotation direction of the two axes

Just as with 4-axis machining you will need to check the Rotation direction of
your rotation axes: will they rotate clockwise or counterclockwise for positive
values of A and B. We have found that no clear standard direction exists: each
manufacturer makes his own choice. If your machine and DeskProto rotate in
opposite directions you can correct this in the DeskProto postprocessor:
Options > Library of postprocessors > OK on warning > select your post and
press Edit > Tab Movement > add a minus sign to the value in edit box
“Factor” in column A and/or column B.

Defining the A and B rotation commands

As said before, in DeskProto the rotations of the geometry are set in the Part
parameters: transform tab, rotations round X and round Y.
In addition rotation commands need to be defined for the NC program file, to
make the 5-axis machine perform the same rotations. This can be done in the
Start/End settings for each Operation: Operation parameters, tab Advanced,
button Settings for Start/End.
See the illustration below.

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Here a series of commands can be defined to be added to the NC file at the

start of this operation (the before commands), and a series to be added at the
end (the after commands). In the illustration above, at the start of the operation
the A-axis is moved to 0.0 degrees, and the B-axis to 90.00 degrees. At the end
of the operation no rotations are set: that will be done in the next operation.

Very important is that values are entered for X, Y and Z to send the cutter to a
safety retract position before the rotations start. For many machines this is
absolutely needed to prevent a collision between the rotation axis hardware and
the cutter. Such collision will damage your part, and perhaps also the cutter
and/or the machine. So take care !
The commands in this dialog are executed in the order as shown in the dialog:
so first the Z-axis will moves (up), then Y and X will move, and finally the
rotations will be done.

Movement commands for A and B can be entered only in case the machine
definition used for this part indeed has these two axes defined (tab Advanced
settings). If not then these fields will have been grayed out.

Chaining the operations

Finally all operations (from several parts) can be combined in one Chain,
allowing the export of one combined NC program file. Chaining can be done
on the Chaining tab of the Project parameters, see the illustration below.

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The illustration shows this dialog for sample project FiveAxisSample.dpj

You can see that one chain is used, containing all (five) operations. They have
been added to the chain using the arrow buttons in the center of the dialog
(these buttons are activated after creating a chain). For more information about
the use of this dialog please use the Help button.

In this sample project you can also check all other settings:
- five parts, one for each side, with appropriate rotation values.
- the Start/End commands that have been used for each operation.
- the material block and the area to be machined for all parts and all operations
- for the circular strategy the custom Center needed to be set for each operation
Be careful using the NC data generated by this project on your machine: as
said for your machine the settings may need to be completely different.

Anyway: the result of your own project should be one or more NC files that
can be sent to your 5-axis machine. The file(s) will make the machine do the
complete job: orient the part, machine one side, rotate to the next orientation,
machine, and so on. You can of course also use Roughing and Finishing
operations.

When more than one cutter is used, then for a machine with an Automatic Tool
Changer (ATC) the result will be one NC file, for other machines several files
will be written (a new file after each toolchange).

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DeskProto's Five Axis Sample project

The theory in the preceding paragraphs will now be illustrated by some

pictures from the real world. These pictures were made by DeskProto user
Robert Zeinecker from Germany, on his Isel Euromod 45 machine with Isel
DSH-S rotation axis: thanks !

Robert adapted the sample project FiveAxisSample.dpj for his machine, and
then machined this “dented sphere” in PolyStyrene foam. In fact he created his
own version of this geometry by 'adding' a number of (1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) holes in
each side, making it a large die.

Below we will illustrate the steps in this process.

The first step was to very accurately set the WorkPiece zero point: with the tip
of the cutter on the exact spot where the A-axis and the B-axis intersect. This
lesson does not show how this is done. You can either measure using a gauge
as shown in the photo, or machine a sample cylinder with a roughly set zero
point, measure the result and correct the zero point as needed.

On the rotation table a vise has been used, the height of this vise was also
accurately measured: this is the distance between the zero point and the base
plane of the geometry. This was 79.75 mm, so the geometry was translated to
have it's base plane on Z=79.75 and then saved. Note that a small distance
(between zero point and base plane) is best: the larger the distance, the more
any deviation in the zero point will be visible in the result.

The configuration of the two rotation axes on this machine is not standard.
The long axis is the B-axis, which on this machine is parallel to X. The round
platform that can rotate is the A-axis: in the orientation as shown (B=0) it is
parallel to Z (so should in fact be called C-axis).
A B-rotation of 90 degrees will make this axis parallel to Y. The machine then

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indeed has an A-axis and a B-axis, only these two have been switched
(compared to DeskProto and to standard conventions).

The photo above shows the first part (”Top”), the only part with the B-axis at 0
degrees. The blue cube is a PS foam block, clamped in a black machine vise.

Some experiments were needed to find out which rotations in DeskProto

matched which rotations on the machine. For this machine it was needed to
reverse the rotation direction for both A and B, as you can see in the table
below. As the two axes on the machine have been switched, the X part
rotations in DeskProto relate to the B-rotations for the machine. The result was
that the following five combinations of rotation values have been used:
in DeskProto on machine:
Part Top X 0.0, Y 0.0 A 0.0, B 0.0
Part Front X -90.0, Y 0.0 A 0.0, B 90.0
Part Left X -90.0, Y 90.0 A -90.0, B 90.0
Part Back X -90.0, Y 180.0 A -180.0, B 90.0
Part Right X -90.0, Y 270.0 A -270.0, B 90.0

The rotation values for DeskProto have been set as Rotations in the Part
parameters for the five parts, the values for the machine as “Move-to” Start
commands in the Operation parameters. Here also movement commands for Z
and for Y have been used to move the cutter to a Safety retraction point
before rotating.
As said, the Translation has been set to None for all axes in all parts.
And finally Chaining has been used to connect all operations to one combined
NC program file.

Important to repeat: the rotation values shown are for the machine used in this
project: for your machine different values will be needed !

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The pictures above show: the milling of sides one (Top), of side three (Left),
and the result when all five sides have been completed. Look at the three green
“orientator” cubes for the three axis directions in these pictures.

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Note 1: Reversing the rotation direction can also be achieved in the

postprocessor (Tab Movement, make field “Factor” negative for that axis).

Note 2: Creating a five-axis project is quite complicated and also error-prone

(it is easy to forget one of the settings or make a typing error). It may be handy
to create a Template project (project without geometry) for five-axis
machining on your machine. That project should contain all rotation settings,
start-commands, end-commands and Chaining, but no geometry and no
settings for the material block and the areas to be machined. Then for five-axis
machining you can open the template project, load a geometry and save the
project under a new name.

A Five Axis Sample car model

The cube project as described in the previous paragraph was just meant as a
teaching help. Once you have mastered this project and have configured
DeskProto to work with your five-axis machine, you can of course start with a
real project.

So did Robert Zeinecker, and he machined a great car model: an Austin Healey.
Below you can see a few pictures: more can be found on the DeskProto
Gallery at www.deskproto.com (section scale models). Including a video
showing the actual machining process.

The car body geometry in CAD.

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Roughing toolpaths for the top side, in DeskProto.

And the same toolpaths on the machine.

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It is also possible to use angles other than 90 degrees, as shown above for
detailing the dashboard of the car model.

The resulting model, after finishing all sides. Here indeed five-axis machining
was needed to create this superb car model.

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Tutorial INDEX

Index
3
3D relief....................................................................................................126
A
Activate License..........................................................................................14
Angular Feedrate.......................................................................................100
AppImage...................................................................................................12
Apple..........................................................................................................10
B
Beer Tray....................................................................................................25
C
Center geometry..........................................................................................92
Center of rotation.......................................................................................135
Chain........................................................................................................138
Clamps..................................................................................................42, 62
Continuous Rotation....................................................................................91
Control software....................................................................................43, 63
Cutter.......................................................................................31, 57, 81, 106
Cutter radius compensation..........................................................................32
D
Dialog-based interface................................................................23, 35, 51, 71
Dimensions.................................................................................................76
Distance between toolpaths..........................................................................81
DMG file....................................................................................................10
Drivers........................................................................................................16
E
Edition select...............................................................................................14
Editions.......................................................................................................23
F
Feedrate......................................................................................................31
Feedrate for high chiploads..........................................................................86
File-location................................................................................................15
Finishing.....................................................................................................60
Five-axis machining..................................................................................134
FiveAxisSample.dpj..................................................................................140
Fixturing...............................................................................................63, 95
Free Edition................................................................................................14
Free movement height.................................................................................30
G
Gray-value to Z-height conversion.............................................................126

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H
Helix...........................................................................................................97
Home folder (Linux)....................................................................................19
Home folder (MacOS)...............................................................................18f.
I
Indexed machining...............................................................................91, 133
Inverse time Feedrate.................................................................................100
Items visible................................................................................................54
L
Language.........................................................................................9, 11f., 15
Layer height.....................................................................................33, 61, 85
Linux...........................................................................................8, 11, 18, 22
Load bitmap file..........................................................................................71
Load vector file...........................................................................................35
M
Machine......................................................................................................13
Machining depth..........................................................................................30
Machining Time..........................................................................................82
MacOS.........................................................................................8, 10, 17, 21
Material......................................................................................................80
Material block.......................................................................................30, 36
Menu bar.....................................................................................................21
Moire patterns...........................................................................................125
Mouse Rotation...........................................................................................53
N
NC program file..........................................................................................59
O
OpenGL........................................................................................................9
Operation Parameters..................................................................................80
Orientation..................................................................................................76
Orientator..............................................................................................29, 52
P
Part Information.....................................................................................55, 76
Part Parameters...........................................................................................78
Pocketing....................................................................................................32
Postprocessor.........................................................................................13, 16
Precision...............................................................................................57, 81
Profiling......................................................................................................32
Project........................................................................................................23
Project tree..................................................................................................35
Project Tree...........................................................................................23, 77
Projecting 2D curves on a 3D geometry......................................................116
R

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Ramping.....................................................................................................85
Rotation......................................................................................................79
Rotation axis...............................................................................................90
Rotation direction..............................................................................100, 137
Roughing.........................................................................................33, 60, 83
S
Samples......................................................................................................16
Setup............................................................................................................9
Simulation.......................................................................................34, 41, 58
Skin.......................................................................................................61, 85
Sort.............................................................................................................83
SpaceMouse................................................................................................53
Spindlespeed...............................................................................................32
Start Screen.................................................................................................26
Start/End settings.......................................................................................137
Status bar....................................................................................................21
Stepover......................................................................................................81
Stepsize along toolpath................................................................................81
Support tabs.........................................................................................93, 104
Support tabs (vector)...................................................................................33
T
Template project........................................................................................143
Thumb-wheels.............................................................................................52
Title bar......................................................................................................21
Toolbar.......................................................................................................21
Toolpaths....................................................................................................57
Trial cross...................................................................................................14
Trunnion-style...........................................................................................134
Two-sided machining.................................................................................104
U
Undercut...............................................................................................54, 96
Units...........................................................................................................13
V
Vector Settings............................................................................................36
Views Layout..............................................................................................76
W
Wasteboard............................................................................................30, 64
Windows...........................................................................................7, 15, 21
Windows.......................................................................................................9
Wizard................................................................................22, 28, 47, 67, 105
Wizard ‘Basic Bitmap machining’................................................................65
Wizard ‘Basic Geometry machining’............................................................45
Wizard ‘Basic Vector machining’.................................................................25
Wizard interface...............................................................................28, 47, 67

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Wizard tooltip............................................................................................105
Wizard Tooltip.............................................................................................48
Workpiece zero point...................................................................................31
WorkPiece Zero point.......................................................................42, 62, 93
Write NC-Program file................................................................................34

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