Steve Potter a practising Buddhist, used ArtCAM MillWizard to machine scale replica of his Buddha statue. Steve has been involved with the Buddhist community and centre in Birmingham, where he was presented with a statue of Buddha Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. These impressive sculptures are hand produced in Nepal using the Lost Wax casting method. Each statue is carefully packaged and shipped out to various countries in the world including the U.K.

The project began by digitizing the face of the Sculpture on a Roland Picza 3D scanner. The scanner was set to measure points every 0.5mm in X and Y, and took approximately 6hrs to complete. The digitized data was exported as a 3D DXF file.

The digitized model (.dxf) was then opened in ArtCAM MillWizard. Using the step-by-step wizard, the model was enlarged, Multiple Z-level roughing and raster finishing toolpaths were calculated. Creating toolpaths is very easy. For this project two Ball nose tools, 6mm and 4mm were used for the roughing and finishing paths.

The software simulates the machining process, allowing you to check the quality of toolpaths before actually cutting the job.

ArtCAM MillWizard easily creates toolpaths that can be used with compatible 3D CNC milling machines and routers. Steve used a Roland CAMM 3 milling machine to cut into Sign Foam.

The toolpath data created in ArtCAM MillWizard is sent from the PC to the Roland milling machine

After setting the X,Y & Z daturms on the Roland, the roughing stage began. This consisted of four slices through the block using the 6mm Ball nose tool and a 40% stepover.

Finally the model was finished using a 4mm Ball nose tool and a 10% stepover.

"Milwizard is very easy to use and ideal for this type of project."
Steve Potter (ArtCAM MillWizard User)