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View Full Version : Problem using Area Clear in Part Wizard



alaneccles
09-29-2003, 12:04 PM
I am cutting ice so use 100% stepover in area clear. However if you do this, part wizard leaves the last part in the middle uncut. The only way to be sure this doesn't happen is to change the stepover to 50% but it then takes twice as long.

To demonstrate try this. Make a square 1.1in square then area clear with a 1/2in end mill set at 100% stepover. When you press create toolpath it makes one path around the inside of the square but leaves out the 0.1 square bit in the middle uncut.

Any ideas anyone without changing stepover size?

bjwat@comcast.net
09-29-2003, 09:19 PM
Alan,
The only thing that comes to mind besides changing stepover is to do 2 tool paths.

Assume that you have a 12" area to clear. Make 2 areas to clear within that area. The 1st area would be close to the area that is being "ignored" by the large stepover, and machine this area with a tighter stepover than normal. After this is cleared, run the 2nd toolpath clearing the remainder. This will save you time by only slowing things down at the center...and allow you to maintain your speed for hogging out the rest at usual speed. Plus, you'll be making it easy for the 2nd toolpath to get started if it starts cutting in the center where you cleared.

Hope that helps/makes sense,
Brady

Mayo
09-30-2003, 12:33 AM
If the reason you don't want to change the stepover is speed, why not change it to something like 98% or 99% ?

I don't have part wizzard so I can't check what effect this would have, but I believe it should eliminate the portion it was previously leaving behind, and the speed may not be much slower.

jkforney
09-30-2003, 07:53 AM
Are you using the offset or raster method? I have noticed that the offset can leave little islands while the raster cleans it all up.

Of course, if you raster, you can have more machining time since it needs to pull up and down more often.

John Forney

alan@icecrystal.co.uk
10-02-2003, 07:25 PM
Thanks for the replies.
Brady, what you say would work but unless I haven't noticed it, it isn't easy to work out the area covered by the toolpath. Also some of the work I do is quite complicated so it would take a long time to fix all the holes.

Mayo, the only offset which guarantees to work is 50% which takes to long.

John, what you have suggested seems to work. I will have to give it a try on my Shopbot. If you look at the simple example above and put raster instead of offset, it does clean up the centre. However, I know nothing of raster so will have to try it out first.

bjwat@comcast.net
10-03-2003, 12:52 PM
Alan,
Depending on what version of PW you have, you can click on the 3D button and see where your toolpath goes. This is considered an undocumented feature, by the way on certain versions of PartWizard. From there you can guestimate where you should put another rectangle to clear with the current toolpath.

-Brady

stickman
06-04-2005, 11:32 AM
I am having problem with Part Wizard area clear, I can't figure out why its doing this.

Please take a look
4327

stickman
06-04-2005, 12:27 PM
Guys,

I discovered my problem.. I did not have enough distance between the elements for the bit to pass through each area...

I thought that a 64th would have been enough but Part Wizard needed a 32nd..

simon
08-28-2005, 04:58 PM
Hi Everyone.

I have just done my first area clear using PW, and I have found that it ALWAYS leaves an uncleared portion in the middle when clearing by offset. It needs to do a pass down the middle to finish it off.
I looked for previous encounters of this problem and found this thread. I wonder has there been a software fix yet? Sure there are ways round it, but all of them entail spending extra time. I currently have a number of different clears to do and it is a bit of a headache

Simon

Brady Watson
08-28-2005, 05:55 PM
Simon,
Can you e-mail me the .art or post an example of: A) the vector shape you are trying to clear B) the bit diameter C) stepdown D) stepover values?

Thanks!
-Brady

paco
08-28-2005, 08:10 PM
Hi Simon!

Unfortunatly PW does'nt clear islands left from pocketting by offset with a too much different setting than 40% stepover... I'd suggest to make some tests to see what setting(s) work the best for you. Insignia have this other setting/option called "Engraving engine for area clear" that clean thoses island with the 2D area clear strategie... but not PW. I can duplicate "your" issue in Insignia if I don't use this setting on odd shape pockets without the "Use engraving engine for area clear". Stay with the default 40% stepover and thing should work out OK... if not, come back here.

simon
08-28-2005, 08:20 PM
Brady
One shape I was clearing was a simple rectangle, 132mm by 1992mm, stepdown 3mm, bit 25mm, stepover 80%.
Shouldnt be any trouble, you'd think? It left a strip about 4mm wide down the middle uncleared.
(Sorry about the millimetres.)

simon
08-28-2005, 08:35 PM
Paco Hi.
There sure are ways round this problem, but PW stands for Parts wizard, not Problem wizard. I have been drawing another vector down the centre, and making another tool path for the tool to skim straight down this vector. It is a bit of a pain when I have lots of different sizes to do, but still faster than a 40% stepover in the long run.

Brady Watson
08-29-2005, 01:52 AM
Simon,
This only appears to happen when you do an offset on a rectangle or square. It doesn't seem to occur if at least one of the legs is an arc or bezier/other shape using the offset.

Is there any reason you can't use a raster strategy to clear a rectangle/square?

-Brady

simon
08-29-2005, 02:39 AM
Brady
I find the lines of clearance on raster leave little bites out of the edge at either end of travel. Another oversize pass around the edge becomes necessary to remove them.
Dont get me wrong, I can live with all these "Fixes" one way or another, I am not trying to be a pain. It just strikes me as somewhat, shall we say, inelegant. I was hoping there would be a software fix by now.

richards
08-29-2005, 08:01 AM
Simon,
If the problem only occurs with a square or rectangle, it would be a simple matter to edit the SBP file and add that final pass. If I were modifying the file, I would copy and paste the lines containing the code for the last pass and then modify the y-axis move, assuming that the y-axis is the shorter move, to a distance of 1/2 the diameter of the cutter.

Brady Watson
08-29-2005, 12:45 PM
Simon,
This is the 1st that I have heard of this...although now that you mention it, I think that I did encounter this issue once or twice in the past. For now I suppose the best way to get around it is to just center a straight vector in the design and do a MAV.

-Brady

gerald_d
08-29-2005, 12:59 PM
The best way of dealing with it is to make sure that the folk at PartsWizard know of the problem, and leave them to come up with a fix for something that is obviously a bug. Mail them - you might even get a free upgrade next time around, as many software houses reward their bug reporters.

paco
08-29-2005, 01:48 PM
Guys, I really believe that the "fix" your looking for is Insignia (or PRO!)... though all Brady's and simon's work around are goods... I think the raster area clear (along the wood grain) is a very good one but just use an allowance (this strategie leave some side toolmarks) and perform an inside profiling "finishing pass"...

What might appear as a bug is what I believe a limitation of "teaser" PW...

Gerald, where do you pick that up that you'll be reward for bug report!? Hummm... if it was close to true, I would'nt be paying for any the softwares I use!!!

simon
08-29-2005, 04:42 PM
I kind of assumed that Shopbot were actively involved in this forum, and took any problems encountered as a spur to action - judging by the frequent responses from Ted and co. But I will email them as Gerald suggests and wait for my free update!

paco
08-29-2005, 04:49 PM
In fact... I just wish I'm plain wrong!

Simon, your quite right about SB support and services... but I believe the "issue" will be redirected to BELLCAM/ArchCAM...

wayne_walker
02-19-2006, 11:45 PM
In the process of doing a tool path for an area clear, I keep getting the following...

Error Message: Contour Library
ctrContour::reorder_contour O or() contour not closed. Do you wish to suppress any
further messages? YES or NO

if you click NO you get this

Error Message: Toolpath Manager Library
Group to area clear contained no closed contours.

and it will let you click on OK, stopping the process.

I looked in the manuel and I it looks pretty straight forward. I could not find anything about closed contours, at all.

I created the file in AutoCAD. This is my first attempt to do an area clear.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Wayne

paco
02-19-2006, 11:54 PM
Hi Wayne!

In PW right?

Select the related vector(s) (one at a time) and either by the right mouse button ('Close vector') or by the 'Vectors' menu, 'Close vector'...

Does that help?

wayne_walker
02-20-2006, 12:11 AM
Paco,

Thanks,

Yes, in PW2.

I looked and looked and could not find a place to close vectors, but I finally figured out it just says close! This worked but closed the vectors by putting a large radius on the end.

I have an elevated area in the center of the clear area that I do not want to cut. How do I isolate that from clearing?

Thanks

Wayne

Brady Watson
02-20-2006, 12:21 AM
Place a vector around the area that you want to keep and select both vectors...It will clean in between the vectors. All of this is in the PW video...

-Brady

wayne_walker
02-20-2006, 01:05 AM
Brady,

Thanks for the help.

Wayne