I am working with cutting thin glass miirrors in a NC controlled femtosecond laser ( from Newport ).
The laser guiding software is a bit awkward, but it can import .stl files, and not much else.
So I have tried to generate 3D cutting lines in Mathematica and exporting them to .stl files.
The code below will generate my cutting lines and plot them:
dxy = .1; h = 2;
linn = Table[{Line[{{0, 31.3 + d, h}, {3.2, 31.3 + d, h}}], Line[{{31.3 + d, 0, h}, {31.3 + d, 3.2, h}}]}, {d, 0, .5, dxy}, {h, 0, h, 0.5}];
circles1 = ParametricPlot3D[Table[{7.4 + (2.9 + s) Cos[u], 5.9 + (2.9 + s) Sin[u], h}, {s, 0, 0.5, dxy}, {h, 0, h, 0.5}], {u, 0, 2 [Pi]}, PlotStyle -> {Black,Thin}];
startarcs = ParametricPlot3D[Table[{{2 + (2 - v) Cos[u], 2 + (2 - v) Sin[u], h}, {31.4 + (28.2 - v) Cos[u], 31.4 + (28.2 - v) Sin[u], h}}, {v, 0, 0.5, dxy},{h, 0, h, 0.5}], {u, [Pi], 3 [Pi]/2}, PlotStyle -> {Black, Thin}];
stlexporttest =
Show[{startarcs, circles1, Graphics3D[linn]}, PlotRange -> All]
The cut lines are bundles of lines since the laser ablation volume since is very tiny.
Anyway,
Export["stlexporttest1.stl", stlexporttest] gives an error :
""Graphics3D contains no data that can be exported to the \
\!(\"STL\") format. ""
not so strange maybe since the line bundles have no volume,
the question is: if there is some export switch that allows lines to be exported to .stl or some other way to set up the stl file so it can be read by the Newport laser guiding software?