New to the CNC and have been looking for websites that have either Free or Pay files to download. Haven’t had much luck. Want to get some nice Military plaques for my Friends. Anyone have a site they use.
Thomas,
There are a few of them online but here are 1 I am aware of that has a pretty good selection of 3D models to buy. Finding free will be tough as people spend a lot of time designing files and do not want them duplicated all over the place esp for free. Good luck!
-Alex
Be aware that most files are not perfect. If you are doing something simple like a V-carve it may not matter but for something more complicated it can. Simple images like JPG and PNG can be converted too but the programs that convert them vary in the quality of the image they produce.
For example I’m making a serving tray that’s going to be football shape with a NFL team’s logo and their name inlayed into the face. Logos are great because they have few colors and not a lot of detail. But if you convert one into an SVG and then import it into a program like Fusion you can zoom in and see just how many imperfections there are. Things like squiggly lines what should be smooth. Because of this I’ve gone through and fixed everything.
My point is because of the amount of work involved most people aren’t willing to give them away. Etsy does have some being sold by people. If you are new to all of this then this adds another layer to the learning curve. Plus unless there’s a specific program you’ve used in the past there’s plenty of choices, some easier than others. Not all of the programs can generate G-code though.
Try Etsy. There are multiple files, logos, text files, etc., you can purchase.
Alex…I have a jpg image that I would like to reproduce in a relief carving for with my machine for my ancestry. It would be a fun project showing a hand carving from a museum depicting a family climbing a Alpine path through the Alpine Mts. I would like it to be high quality and have viewed many pieces at Etsy but I have no idea what it would cost and recommendations? When I view some high quality art the cost is $5-80. What craftmanship is involved in converting a jpg to stl file?
This is a great place to find free stuff.
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I’ve found inexpensive vector drawings on Etsy but typically they require cleanup i.e. open vectors, tons of nodes, intersections, and even multiple layers of vectors… Same for a few of the ToolsToday sites I’ve used. The Mark Lindsay videos on Youtube have helped me to learn this process.
I’ve had good success with 3D Wave, but they’re kind of pricey. I’ve tried only a couple from Design and Make, as I use Aspire, but I wasn’t real happy with the resolution… Most likely something I did wrong.
I’ve come to the conclusion I’m just going to have to learn this process on my own and have already begun researching and watching different videos.
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I get nearly all my images from Google - I search on vectors and usually find something that works.
Note - always pay close attention to the license if you intend on selling the final product (regardless of source).
-Tom
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