My youngest brother once told me that I should buy a wig at the same time I buy a CAD program. He said it is better to pull hair from that than from one's head.

But I have had a copy of Punch Software's ViaCAD 2D/3D for some time now and have found it to be most fascinating and useful when developing things like crossbow parts. A "rotate" facility in this program allows me to prove the movement of any part in 2D and check for travel limits and or interference. Another advantage is being able to print parts at one to one ratio and then glue this drawing onto metal for precise marking of holes etc. I even plot my milling machine movements before I start to machine a part and this has proven to be a great time saver. But oh how I wish I had grown up with this new technology instead of with tools that have wooden handles. A small CNC milling machine is on my dream list. And one with enough travel to mill precise bolt slots in my crossbows.

Pavise

Sounds like a useful tool. But yeah CAD programs can be frustrating till you get used to it. Well then they're just less frustration

Have you seen plans to make you own CNC mill? Can make a small one using a Dremel as the cutting source. Seemed useful and about the big enough for crossbow parts. Someday.

I like your brothers advice Pavise...makes sense of a lot of things too...


...and I was wondering why there are always these idiots running around in monkey suits on campus...turns out those are just future engineers.
The features in this app sound excellent thou...Great find...how did you stumble upon this one?

PS:...CNC is my childhood crystal dream , a 4 axis cnc router can be an excellent tool for manufacturing stocks and the like, and building one of those dremel based
ones will certainly be fun...I can't think of any good uses other than milling plastic or
rough milling foam for the LFMC casting method and later touching up the cast parts on a
lathe/mill...speaking of which...

Hi Guys,

I am enjoying this forum like no other and only wish that we weren't separated by so many miles. But this new fangled way of sharing is almost as good as being able to visit our respective dens.

An old friend of mine once remarked that 'there is more information available to the enquiring mind today than ever before' and another friend said, "It is not that some are so good at what they do, but rather that so many are unnecessarily bad."

And I strongly believe that the pleasure of owning or having something comes best when shared with another. I am glad to be able to share with all of you on this Forum.

ViaCAD was being offered at my local Staples store one time Ivo and I read the usual promo on the box and figured, oh yeh? But I took a chance and plopped my money down and then took it home. Although, as I say, I grew up learning how to use tools which had wooden handles, I persevered with this program and got lots of help from Tim at Punch Software. Since retiring three years ago, and now having time to rekindle my life-long interest in crossbows, I have had hours of brain stimulating fun with all kinds of related things.

Liquid metal technology and castable plastics are other fascinating subjects that are a little bit removed from my former realm of experience and I am amazed at the applications for these processes.

Robin has cast some finely detailed trigger parts from bronze Ivo and I wonder: since you are in that business, so to speak, whether you have explored the lost wax process, using some of the exotics available through your employment?

Pavise

Liquid metal technology and castable plastics are other fascinating
subjects that are a little bit removed from my former realm of
experience and I am amazed at the applications for these processes.

Robin
has cast some finely detailed trigger parts from bronze Ivo and I
wonder: since you are in that business, so to speak, whether you have
explored the lost wax process, using some of the exotics available
through your employment?

By exotics I assume you mean things like zirconia,titanium,etc? All I can say about exotics is that it's a double sided medal...or in other words a very expensive and precise setup(CNC milling units, sintering furnaces, complex vacuum casting processes, special investments)

Don't even bother with the idea of casting titanium.
I have no up-close and personal experience with the process, but I've spoken with those who used this technology and tried introducing it to dental labs for a long time and witnessed how the market turned it down because of the special equipment/materials requirements and overall specificness of the process. But On the other hand it is a marvelous material and if we are to use it......it is best to stick with milling it.
I even know a Russian guy who made a crossbow trigger from one of titanium alloys(similar to the design our friend Kali has).....trigger housing and arrow track base(in form of a pipe) is also made out of titanium. There are alot of pages in Russian, but the pictures give an overall idea of the project progress >>>http://talks.guns.ru/forummessage/55/374963.html

As for my part...I cast very small and precise things in various high precious metals/alloys as well as non-precious alloys...can't exactly remember what we use, but it's along the lines of surgical stainless steel. In fact I am currently preparing to cast that aluminum nut along with a new double toothed latch for my brothers crossbow. I will be starting a few new topics both in "Design discussion" and Technology's "Metalworking"I love this stuff

...I've also been researching casting plastics and I'm still waiting for my shipment from smooth-on...Mr SAM(thou he disappeared somewhere) he gave me an idea to test and it has to do with replicating the look of bone and horn, so we might be for a treat on this one, as smooth on has a whole product line directed at taxidermy(horns/bones,teeth, etc replication)

PS: About this type of communication... I'll tare myself away from work eventually and grab a plane ticket to come to one of Cranequin shoots, If I don't make it there I'll meet up with you guys at Robin's Shop someday.

Hi Ivo,

A shoot and get-to-gether at Robin's place or somewhere would be marvelous. God willing, both Robin and I will live long enough to be there.

Liquidmetal Technologies is a company in California and Korea that makes the most fascinating things from this patent process. See them at the following URL:
http://www.liquidmetal.com/index/

Yes I am familiar with Smooth-On products too. It turns out that a very knowledgeable old business acquaintance of mine is their rep in my area. I have some samples from Rick and intend to experiment with casting a bolt track in situ as well as replicating some ivory look-alike parts. i.e. nuts and inlays. These various reinforced plastics can often meet the demands we place on such parts without incurring the sometimes expensive other ways of doing things.

Pavise

Pavise wrote:Hi Ivo,

A shoot and get-together at Robin's place or somewhere would be marvelous. God willing, both Robin and I will live long enough to be there.

Pavise wrote:Liquidmetal Technologies is a company in California and Korea that makes the most fascinating things from this patent process. See them at the following URL:
http://www.liquidmetal.com/index/

What I remember from Soviet Times when I was still a kid, one of my close relatives had to have brain surgery and had a choice between a metal skull plate and a metal/plastic or metal/glass hybrid material plate...it was all still in research and was as expensive as owning your own space shuttle..surprisingly we were offered this option anyway. Ended up not needing it.

Pavise wrote:Yes I am familiar with Smooth-On products too. It turns out that a very knowledgeable old business acquaintance of mine is their rep in my area. I have some samples from Rick and intend to experiment with casting a bolt track in situ as well as replicating some ivory look-alike parts. i.e. nuts and inlays. These various reinforced plastics can often meet the demands we place on such parts without incurring the sometimes expensive other ways of doing things.

Pavise

At first I ordered a few things from this dental company I work with...only to learn that the material would not cure past a certain thickness..oh well I'm glad I learned it then and not in the middle of fabricating a prosthetic...imagine, worlds first mold to shape denture.

I did order a few things from Smooth-on after consulting with a few of their technicians, thou I don't know If I'm going to have enough for all the experiments I have planned. Perhaps I'll be making some metal or composite cores first and then casting around them. We should definitely do a topic on it when we get our stuff.