Help setting up two sided milling

[BobE]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and need some help setting up a Boxford A3 machine for two sided batch production of small wood items. I'm in NW London and happy to pay on a consultancy basis for some hands on help setting this up.
Any of you gurus out there able to help? Parking and great coffee!
All the best,
BobE

[A_Camera]

I am sure you will get help in no time but double sided milling os not that difficult. You need fix references that's all. Experiment manually with a paper sheet and you will see. I am doing 5 sided milling on my three axis machine...

[BobE]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. Sure, single component is OK and I can produce tool paths in V Carve. It's how to gang up similar components for a batch of say 4 and then flip them.

[magicniner]

Bob,
Knowing your machine controller and CAM system would help.
Mach3 has an included Nesting Wizard which allows you to create an array of parts in a grid with X and Y offsets of your choice with the G Code for just one.
Many CAM systems have nesting options.
It's often possible to set your part zero or a known coordinate in an area of your stock which doesn't need to be removed until the second side is machined, place a through hole at this point and you have a reference for setting zero on your second side.
What you do in CAM for your second side will be dictated by your chosen work flow.

[BobE]

Hi Magiciner,

Thanks for your reply. I have bought Boxford's latest software control package with a refurbished A3HSRi2/auto 4th axis. I will be working exclusively in hardwood.

I was thinking of getting V Carve Pro for carving and text. Also to import STL files and export tool paths to the Boxford control software. This was my anticipated workflow, but I have found out that it will create a batch for single sided production, but only for a single component 2 sided.

As you will have realised, I am completely new to all this. Your thoughts on any alternative workflow would be most appreciated.

Bob

[magicniner]

You just cam Side 1 and Side 2 as two separate jobs, you have to plan your own set ups to ensure alignment.

[BobE]

Hi Magiciner,

Thanks for your thoughts and sorry for the late reply.

It's starting to make sense now and I can see what I need to do.

Doing it is another matter, but I'll get there be it takes a little while.

Bob