¡Despega con VCarve Pro!

“I was looking on the forums and saw that a lot of the other sign makers were using VCarve Pro. I tested the trial version and I was suitably impressed with the ease of use and also its great features. Eventually I purchased VCarve Pro and Cut3D along with PhotoVCarve and although I haven't used PhotoVCarve much yet , VCarve Pro gets used just about every day.”

Shannon runs a successful, custom CNC routing service by day, but in his spare time he uses the machine to tackle various personal projects. In fact, soon after learning the CNC basics Shannon decided to take on a very ambitious project; to machine and build a form of light aircraft called a CriCri. Shannon agreed to share his reasons for taking on the challenge and his experiences in using Vectric software.“The story behind my decision to build a CriCri goes back to a Classic fighters airshow in Omaka in 1995. It was there that I first saw the CriCri that Nev Hay has built. I was fascinated by the tiny aircraft. In fact it was very close to the plane I had dreamed about making when I was 12 years old.”

However, Shannon also explains that after he heard that the plane he saw took 2000 hours to build he was instantly put off, that is until he later discovered CNC machining and VCarve Pro.

More than ten years later and owning a large CNC machine, Shannon stumbled across the plans of the CriCri on the internet for download.

“Once looking over them I realised that it would be the perfect aircraft as a CNC project. I purchased a licensed set of plans from someone in Australia who was selling their set and got to work redrawing all the parts in CAD ready to CNC cut.”Shannon primero diseñó las piezas en un programa CAD con el que ya tenía experiencia y luego las importó a VCarve Pro para integrarlas en la chapa metálica, como se puede ver en el ejemplo de la derecha.

Shannon importó y cortó más de 1000 piezas en VCarve Pro para el proyecto.

Abajo se muestra un ejemplo de una de las piezas: la bandeja de pedales.

Algunas piezas, como los soportes del motor y las bisagras del elevador, tuvieron que cortarse de un bloque de aluminio 2024T351 de 32 mm de espesor. Esto requirió una considerable eliminación de material, para lo cual utilicé la función de desbaste para eliminar la mayor parte y luego un perfilado para obtener un buen acabado.

Muchas de las piezas tienen un acabado a mano mediante desbarbado y lijado para obtener un acabado mate. Shannon utilizó ampliamente las funciones de anidamiento y vista previa de trayectorias de herramientas 3D de VCarve Pro para asegurarse de que el resultado final cumpliría con sus requisitos.Como Shannon está construyendo este avión en su tiempo libre, aún está en producción. Abajo se muestra el avión en su estado actual (23 de noviembre).

Para seguir este increíble proyecto, consulta la historia de su construcción en este hilo del foro.

¡Muchas gracias a Shannon por compartir su historia y mucha suerte con el proyecto!

"Quisiera agradecer a Vectric por crear un software tan potente, pero a la vez agradable y fácil de usar. Vcarve Pro facilita enormemente mis proyectos CNC."

Shannon
http://www.remain.co.nz/