The Modela has two functional attachments, one for cutting, and one for
scanning. They are color coded- yellow is the scanner, purple is the
cutter.
If the cutter isn't already in place, you will have to detach the scanner and reattach the cutter. If it is, proceed to Loading the Bit.
First, turn off the Modela. Press the green button in the front and hold
if for a second, then release. The LED should go out. If you tap the
button, the Modela remains on.
Next, unplug the spindle from the base.
Replace the black steel guard. The two nubs on the guard have to grab
onto a slot underneath the scanner, and then the white screw goes over the
top.
Unscrew the two screws, located at the top right and bottom left of the unit, using the 3mm allen key. Make sure you don't lose them -- they will hold the cutter in place. Remove the scanning unit, and put it in its box.
Locate the cutting unit, and reverse the process used to detach the spindle: mount the unit on the bracket. Two studs on the bracket go into two cutouts in the back of the cutting unit. Now, replace the screws, again through the holes in the top right and bottom left. Tighten them down so they won't come loose, but don't make them so tight that it will require stripping the screw to get them out- they are inserted and removed frequently, and any decrease in the amount of wear will prolong their life.
Plug the unit into the base. The arrow in the plastic of the plug
actually points toward the back of the machine, but there are two black
marker arrows, one on the plug, and one on the base, that match up.
If the bit that you want to cut with is already loaded, proceed to Loading the Stock. Otherwise, loosen the two set screws in the black piece at the bottom of the cutter. They are on opposite sides, so you will have to rotate the bit to get at the second one. Don't take them all the way out -- just loosen them enough so the bit slides out.
Slide the bit you want to use in, and retighten the screws.
Load the stock you are going to cut consists of attaching the object to the Modela's bed, so that it won't shift while it is being cut. To do this, you use double sided tape.
First, locate the double sided tape, a pair of scissors, the dental
pick and the tweezers. They should be in the box labeled
"MODELA PARTS/TOOLS ONLY: Bits and Tools."
There are two types of double sided tape: plastic backed, and naked. The plastic backed is easier to manipulate, but the naked is cheaper and simpler. To affix the tape and the stock on the bed, first remove the two white screws at the front corners of the bed. The bed should come right out.
Cut off lengths of tape, and stick them to the bed. In terms of how much to use, you don't have to cover every square inch of the stock, but you do need to put enough down to keep it from sliding. This usually equates to four pieces of tape the length of the stock.
Only after you are putting the tape on the bed should you remove the backer -- this makes things a lot easier. Use the dental tool to pry up the corner of the backer, grab it with the tweezer, and pull it off.
Now, put the stock on top of the tape. Usually, you want to have it square with the grid lines. Put the bed back into the machine, replace the screws, and put the plastic protective cover onto the machine.
Now that the machine is set up, press the green button to turn it on, and go back to the computer. Open up Modela Player, and you'll see this display.
You have two options for loading the file that you will cut. The first is to load a file generated by a solid modeling program, and the second is to load straight in from a previous scan with the Modela.
For the first method, go to File, then select, Open, and locate the file.
For the second, open the old scan in Dr. Picza, and hit the Postprocessor
button , or choose "Run Postprocessor" from the File menu.
To tell the program the specifics of the cut, you go through a series of dialogs, and then fill in another menu about the size and location of the stock.
To start the process, click on the "Next" button, which brings up this
screen:
This is the orientation that the object will be cut from. The blue arrow represents the cutting tool, and the object, as displayed in the larger box, is what will result from the cutting, if viewed from the side. You will most likely leave the selection on "from top," but if it will be easier to cut from another side, change the dialog as necessary. Press "Next" to proceed.
This screen lets you resize the object, if necessary. The initial display is of the dimensions that the file came with. All of the dimensions are tied together; that is, changing one dimension will change the others proportionally. If you want to enlarge or shrink the object, click on resize. Enter the ratio of enlargement, and hit "OK." The values change accordingly. Most objects are fine the way they are, but if one of the values exceeds the size of the stock, or one of the dimensions must be a particular value, you can reformat to your heart's content. "Next" and onwards.
The cutting depth is how much of the object the Modela will attempt to cut. The main determinant of this value is the length of the bit you are using. If you try to cut too deep along too sharp a side, the spindle will plunge, and if it doesn't break the stock, it will stop the cutting. The "Depth" value is how deep the Modela will cut, and the "Left" value is how much is left uncut below that level. "Center" will bring the cutting line to the center of the object. Again, "Next" advances.
This screen is fairly straight forward: Change the tool diameter to what the diameter of the bit is -- you can use the calipers to find this value. Select the "Flat" or "Ball" end based on what the bit has. Most of the bits are too small to have the end condition make a difference, but it can't hurt to be correct. Choose the material that the stock is from the list of materials. Telling the Modela what material you are using will determine the speed at which it cuts, so that it won't break the bit.
In terms of the Finish: the "Draft" cut is rough and stratified, while the "Fine" cut has smoother contours. However, because of how the Modela is set up, when you tell it to make a "Fine" cut, it assumes that you have already performed a "Draft" cut, and removed all of the material that a "Draft" cut removes. If you try "Fine" first, you can break the bit. DON'T DO IT! In order to make a "Fine" finish, make a Draft cut first, and then, without moving the stock, make a Fine cut. You don't have to wait around for the finish of the Draft before you send the Fine to be cut: you can send two jobs to the Modela, one right after the other, and whenever it finishes the Draft, it will start right in with the Fine.
Hit "Next" to bring you back to the front screen, with all that you have inputted displayed. Now you have to tell it about the size and location of the stock. From the toolbar, select the "Option" menu, and then "Layout..."
This takes you to this screen:
The orange box is the bed of the Modela, as seen from the top. The blue box is the size of your object, and the white outline is the Margin. The Margin is outside of the object, but it is cut to the same depth as the object. The cross hatched area is the area of Surfacing. Surfacing is used if the top of the stock is uneven and needs to be level for the cut to be successful. Check the Help File on surfacing if you think you may need to perform a Surfacing. Otherwise, select where on the bed you want to cut the object from. To do this, either click and drag the blue box around the area, or change the "LowerLeft X" and "LowerLeft Y" values in the "Layout" box. Then, set the width of the Margin.
Switch back to the Modela Proper to set the "Z Zero" -- the top of the stock. Make sure the protective cover is on, and hit the "View" button. Now, very carefully, depress and hold the "Tool Down" button. The spindle will begin to rotate, and then it will descend until you let go of the button. Lower the bit until it is just at the surface. The exact surface is often hard to get using this manual method, so if you can't get it exactly right, it is better to have the tip of the tool slightly below the surface of the block, rather than slightly above. Use the "Tool Up" and "Tool Down" buttons to position the tip.
Now, select "OK," which will take you back to the front screen.
Once you have let the computer know what is going on, make sure the Modela is turned on and the plastic cover is on, and hit "START" in the Player. Turn to the Modela, and press the "View" button. Once the tool traverses, it should start right in with the cut.
If you need to pause the cutting at any point, hit "View." The spindle retracts back to the standby position. When you are ready to begin again, press "View" again. The cut should start right from where it left off. If the cover is removed during cutting, the Modela pauses. To restart, replace cover, and push "View."
If, for some reason, you need to cancel a cut -- you sent the wrong job to Modela, or you specified something incorrectly in the Player -- the first thing to do is hit the "View" button on the Modela. This will pause the cutting, and make the spindle return to the standby position. Then, return to the computer. At the bottom right corner of the screen, next to the clock, should be an printer icon, indicating that the job is unfinished. Double click on this icon to make the printer dialog box open up. You should see the job, with the status of "Printing." Select this job, then right click on it, and choose "Cancel." The status will change to "Deleting," but it won't disappear. This is because data has been transferred to the Modela, and the job will not fully cancel until you delete that data from the Modela, too. To do this, press and hold both the "Tool Up" and "Tool Down" buttons on the Modela until the "View" light starts blinking. When the light finishes blinking, the job is fully deleted, and it should disappear from the computer's list, too.
That's all!