How to find profile Of a 3d component in aspire?

[shawnn82]

Hi guys,
I am designing to cut a strip of wood with an irregular shape(lets call this wood A). I want to be able to make a pocket cut out of the profile of the irregular shape on another peice of wood( lets call this wood B). I need to get wood A to slot fit into a pocketed area of wood B. Excuse my terminology. On the picture i have attached so u can bettter understand, the square block of wood on the top has a square profile so it will be easy for me to carve out a square hole of the same dimensions to make the block fit into the pocket area.
However on the bottom block with an irregular shape, how do i find out the profile?

[tmerrill]

Shawn,

I can't take credit for this, but forgot who told it to me.

If possible, use a hand or power saw and take an end slice of the profile. Scan it to a file at 100%. Depending on your scanner, this will most likely be in a bitmap format.

Import this bitmap image into Aspire and trace it using the Fit Vectors to Bitmap tool. If you got a good scan it should provide a clean trace.

Verify the size and you should have your vector.

If you can't scan the profile, second method would be to trace it on a piece of paper with a very sharp pencil. Then scan this into a picture which you import and trace in Aspire. This method works OK, but typically needs more refinement and a few trial runs before you get it perfect.

Tim

[shawnn82]

Thanks Tim, tried playing around with your idea this morning and sure enough it took a little tweaking to get it close to perfect. problem solved!:)