Tool Paths?

[jimmythethief]

I will try and explain as best I can. So I make a square on PW...then Profile the square so it will be cut out like a picture frame (picture frame isn't the goal but a just gives a good idea of how it will be cut), now I want to put a cross member from one side of the square to the other, to do this I have been inserting points then using polylines to make the shape, after this is done, I remove the span on both ends of the cross member so it should be a part of the "picture frame"...when I go to run tool paths, How do I turn this into one solid chunk? What happens is I push the outside radio button for the tool path, then once it is done...where the polyline cross member is the, the tool path wizard doesn't treat the cross member as part of the whole piece and looks at them as seperate...so one of the poly lines alway has a tool path cutting on the wrong side...also, I believe that of each of these crossmember cuts, the shop bot will return to home before cutting them...how can I avoid these problems? I don't even have my shopbot yet, but they were nice enough to send me the software in advance to give me a head start to learn it...
Thanks,
Erik

[kerrazy]

Hey Erik,

Sounds like a basic weld is what you are looking for. Since Part Wizard does not offer this you will have to improvise but cutting your vectors and joing them manual. If you right click on a line sebment you will get a host of vector edit commands that you can play with until you become proficcient. part Wizard is a grreat tool for learning how to use your tool.
Cheers,
Dale

[jimmythethief]

Yes, I've been tring that with no real success...I am guessing I will have to insert more points...when I join vectors it seems to always want to deform the finished product. I do have a copy of AutoCAD, but the course for it doesn't start for another month...I am thinking once I learn the basics of AutoCAD that is what I will use for the most part, but in the mean time...PW is simple enough to learn and I can hopefully do everything I want with it until I know what I'm doing with AutoCAD. Just hoping PW will be flexible enough.

Erik

Erik

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

Erik,

You might have more luck with drawing your tool paths in Autocad, export them as a separate file and then using the FC command.

This was how it was done before ShopBot supplied a program especially for converting drawings to toolpaths.

[jimmythethief]

Thanks and at the risk of sounding redundantly stupid, I don't know anything about AutoCAD at this point...and Parts Wizard seems about 100 times easier...I don't have any CAD or CNC experiance, so the learning curve could be pretty large for me on AutoCAD. I have book on AutoCAD and am slowly working my way through it when I have time...in front of the computer of course, but think that an instructional course is the best way...I really haven't had that hard of a time figuring out Parts Wizard, all but a few parts of it, but AutoCAD is another story...its not really a point an click program, you can't just sit down an figure it out, as i did with the Parts wizard. Also...the lingo man, the lingo...I'm learning a whole new language...but i can wait to start ripping some wood!!!

Thanks
Erik

[artisan]

Have you used Coreldraw before? Older versions are available on Ebay for 50.00 and will do what you want pretty easily. It's also just a handy program to have around. Turbocad can also fill the bill and is pretty simple to learn.....D

[jay_mack1@hotmail.com]

Erik,

What are you using for AutoCAD. I currently us AutoCADLT in the office. But I've used the latest version of the software. If you have the Learning Assitance Disk, pop that in and go with it. I find AutoCad easy to use, i've been with it ten years though...

[gerald_d]

I agree with Stickman.

[jimmythethief]

I have a copy of AutoCAD 2000...I don't have the learning disk...I've just started using it about a week ago and have only had a couple of hours to sit down with it...so far the book I'm using is pretty good...its more of a tutorial than instructions...So you guys think I would be better of spending my time learning the AutoCAD than wasting it on PartWizard? I just thought I could pick up Partwizard fast and then learn AutoCAD as I go, but if AutoCAD really isn't that hard to learn, then...I guess your right. Alot of people have told me that it takes years to learn AutoCAD...and you guys are really the first to tell me its pretty easy...guess there is an intimidation factor there with AutoCAD. Even if I use AutoCAD I'll still have to import the files into PartWizard for tool paths? Or should I get something like Mill Wizard? I guess I should have asked alot of these questions before I bought a ShopBot, but the way I was looking at it was, I'm going to buy one no matter what, so I might as well just do it and figure out the rest as I go...I'm not afraid I won't be able to figure any of this out...I just want to be able to start cutting the day I finish putting it together...I've got ADHD

[gerald_d]

Erik, I am NOT trying to tell you that you should start with AutoCad first - that is your choice. (I would never try and advise you who you should marry - and believe me, you get more "married" to the software than to the ShopBot.) See this post (http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/31/909.html?1059492770#POST10063).

[jay_mack1@hotmail.com]

just think of autocad as an extension to use, I use a program similar to part wizard and part wizard is worth its weight in gold... Though I don't have a bot yet.

I can take anything I draw in autocad and bring it into PW. Autocad is easy.. "L" = line, "E" = erase, "C or CP" for copy, I think Autodesk has it set up "C" for circle, Its highly programmable, so I've changed many things.. so they are one key stroked.

Importing autocad into part wizard is easy. It will take a dwg file and convert it perfectly... well from what I've played with... I would use both.. AutoCAD has great potential, once you get the hang of it.

[gerald_d]

Stickman, I use AutoCad for at least half my working day, and have done so for 7 years - yet I never type in "L" = line, "E" = erase, etc. I use the icons. Other guys would use the drop-down menus. That's the snag with learning AutoCad - there are at least 3 ways of doing anything with it.

[jay_mack1@hotmail.com]

Well, I guess that goes to show I am an old school AutoCAD guy and I'm only 26. I learned on autocad DOS, I found it faster to draw with one hand on the mouse and the other on the keyboard... but you are correct you can use the icons... I guess the thing to do is use the method that you find the easiest... I don't like search for the icon, half the time I click on something I don't want.. or misread the icon.

StickMan

[artisan]

If you are at the beginning...as it sounds like you are, then the field is wide open for you. Gerald has a background in Autocad apparently, as does Stickman....a Cad draftsmen by trade if I remember correctly. They are already comfortable with the software....as I am with Corel and Rhino. My point is...if you have no established software habits, then, first decide what you want to make with your Shopbot, then try out the software that will best fit your needs....and yes...you are probably choosing a lifelong partner and in my opinion, the most important part of your setup.....so choose thoughtfully. Do you want to do signs, sculptures, furniture, production parts, boats etc. For each of those I would choose different combinations of software to best suit my needs. Then....learn all you can about whichever you choose and how to make your software do the little "tricks" that save you time and make you money. Autocad is great and I use it for some projects....but it is one of the lesser used programs I have. Partswizard sounds more and more like a solid..albeit limited... program. You've already discovered it won't entirely fill your needs. Browse this forum and see all the different ways these problems are solved. I think some patterns will emerge. For my work, which is as a theming contractor (Signs, Sculptures, Waterwalls, Interiors etc.)I use a combination of Corel, Rhino and Visualmill for 95% of what I do. I can't say that you could learn any of these faster than Autocad, but they are other options....D

[jimmythethief]

I build esoteric home audio speakers...but I also have an interest in art and building boats and fruniture...so I guess that is why my decisions are so back and forth...for now I just want a good solid program that i can cut these speakers with...the problem with most of my designs, and why I decided to go with CNC is that they are not just boxes...they are pretty complex usually with many interlocking braces on the inside and stepped front baffles on the outside...let me tell you, NO fun by hand. So if autocad isn't going to be a nightmare to learn and use, which I think I'm find out its not going to be, then I think that i my just stick with that as a pure design software, then later down the road I can start to use something like Corel for my more abstract ideas.

Erik

[jay_mack1@hotmail.com]

Erik,

It would be interesting to see some of your work.

If ya'll can't tell, I'm a picture guy.

Jay

[jimmythethief]

OK...here we go...as of right now I'm designing my first Shopbot cabinet in PartWizard...I figured out a way around needing to weld the lines at this point, but now I have a pattern in side a large pannel that will be cut out, and a .375" dado cut around the outside of the pannel...the only way I know how to get Partwizard to clear the dado is by grouping the vectors of the Outside edge of the pannel and the .75" offset...the problem is, there is no way as far as I can tell, to group the dado...without grouping the pattern on the middle portion of the pannel...that would totally suck. That would mean I would have to delete the pattern on the inside of the pannel...group the dado, then redraw the pattern...there isn't a way to make a list of vectors you wish to group including some and leaving out others? Seems pretty stupid if you can't. Maybe its past my bed time and I should just leave it alone for the rest of the night and figure it out tommorrow.

Erik F.

[kerrazy]

Erik,
If you would like you could send me the file and I will take a look at it and try and assist you. I am pretty profficient in Parts Wizard.

Dale

[jkforney]

Erik, or is it jimmy
Don't exactly follow your description but if you
hold the shift key and select any number of elements they become grouped and can be tool pathed. This is true even if you don't group them. If you work from the center, and have all your pattern centered, you can move any part out of the way and then hit F9 and recenter the pattern. Any shape bounded by another shape can be dadoed by using area clearance. Perhaps you could describe your part in a little more detail and we could help.

John Forney

[jimmythethief]

THE SHIFT KEY!!! YAY! That did it...I thought I read the whole manual but I guess not...Thanks alot.

Erik

[Lonnie Prince]

When using Part Wizard I select Area Clear on the Toolpath and expect the area outside the part to have a toolpath. The toolpath always will be inside the part.

What am I doing wrong? I would like to have a raised part off the work but can't get the toolpath to go outside the part.

[harold_weber]

Lonnie, John Forney showed this on Saturday. You must select a bounding area as well as the letter(s) you want to have raised. Hold down the shift key while you select them. Recall that John had a rectangular box around the letters - that was the bounding area. The tool will then clear out the material between the bounding box and the letters.

Maybe you are thinking that the option in the area clear menu called "Start From" where you select inside or outside determines what will be cleared. I'm not at my machine with Part Wizard right now, but I think that is just selecting whether the tool first starts cutting material at the letter border or the bounding box border of the area to be cleared.

[Lonnie Prince]

Thanks Harold, great seeing you there, its like old home week during these get togethers. I like making new freinds and seeing old ones and I always come home smarter. John Forney is an excellent host and I enjoy his freindship and knowledge. Are you going to the New Jersey mini show? I'm not sure yet, have to see how things go around my shop.

I now remember the box that Cathy had drawn around the text, wasn't clear why she done that and then the subject was changed before I clarfied, but figured I would look at the process when I returned. Hmm, should ask more questions.

Your suggestion worked great. As soon as I get down time on the machine I will make a sign. Can't wait, its always fun to learn new things on the bot.

Take care
Lonnie

[jay_mack1@hotmail.com]

ShopBot Part Wizard - File formats

Under the Menu - File, there is a Save AS. What formats will Part Wizard save to? Dxf?

[harold_weber]

StickMan, Part Wizard will save what you create in the following formats: .art(ARTCAM Model)
.bmp
.tif
.pcx
.gif
.jpg

Never had a need to save the files in any other format but .art

I bring in .dxf files, create tool paths, and use part wizard to EXPORT the tool path files in .sbp format so I can cut parts.

[jay_mack1@hotmail.com]

So, Part Wizard will not export to dxf?

Are there any cost effective softwares that inport .eps and convert to dxf? I've found a couple vector convert programs, but nothing too impressive..

[kerrazy]

Corel Draw, Adobe illistrator. TurboCad???

Dale