Oh! That would be Alex Burt over at CNCDepot.net I am not in the spindle business.
Lively bunch over there. I think the last post was Feb 
Really Great looking topo work Tim. If you donāt mind my asking, what kind of run time do you have into one of those?
The mountain carving took 2.5 hours of machine time. I used a 1/4 inch end mill for roughing and a 1/8 inch bull nose bit for the final pass over the terrain. The Michigan map took 1.5 hours and also used a 1/8 inch bull nose bit for the final smoothing pass. Of course, as you know, the āprep timeā to obtain and process the data is longer.
I have been doing topo map carvings for 25 years and now it is a whole lot easier, with a lot more options for creating the carving files, both better software and more data formats / resolutions. I use QGIS to process the DEMās to make the STL files and VCarvePro for design work and generating the GCode. In the early days, I had to write programs to process the DEMās which were only numeric height values in a grid format.
For lower terrain areas, I am going to start using a 1/2 inch end mill followed by a 1/4 inch bull nose bit.
If you want more detailed information, I can do screen captures of the VCarvePro simulation / machine time screens.
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Just looked at the Jan 27 Everything Lasers thread - I will start monitoring it. The āCarbon Guyā sure picked a complicated way to try and set up his laser. The solution offered by CNCDave is the route I plan to take - two profiles. Just have to attach the laser to the Z carriage, set up an āoff set profileā and go.
Hello tim, I have a question about your topo experience. Iām down in Louisiana all flat area, I was thinking of a way to do a carve that showed the depth of rivers and lakes, donāt know how to explain it but it would be a topo of the structure under the water. Do you know if this data exist? And could it be used to create a stl?
thanks
brian
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Brian, I sent you an email thru the Avid / Discourse email system. It said it ākicked backā. So here is a copy and past of that email.
Brian,
Nice hunk of wood!!! What species is it? Gorgeous!
Bathymetry data, water depths, is not as universally available as topographic data of land and not necessarily in the same computer formats. But it does exist for large bodies of water like the oceans and Great Lakes in the upper midwest.
I Googled ābathymetric data of Lake Pontchartrainā and came up with the following link:
https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/data/USGS:8957af3a-68e7-40ca-9ad7-c01370efc22f
Take a look at that link. I suspect there are more sources or data sets. Navigable waters are mapped by NOAA. Your state fisheries or mapping agency may have data sets, as could the local county.
Hope this helps!!!
Tim
Take a look at adding a tool length sensor to your current setup. It makes tool changes as simple as just changing the cutter, then letting the machine/software setting a new Z zero for the new tool.
The bathymetry data is mapped for fish finders in most lakes. I donāt know how to get that data or convert it to something useable, but it exists already.
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Thanks! I have one but was considering an ATC Adapter to do it even faster!
Thanks Stephen, Iāll do that.