gerald_d
10-31-2002, 05:33 AM
In this week we have had a couple of posts (1 (http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/1038/1170.html?1035998275#POST7084),2 (http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/315/1112.html?1036048559#POST7072)) which promote TurboCAD as a viable option to the CAM software that is supplied with the ShopBot (Vector & Parts Wizard).
Peterk summarised the process well when he said "draw the part the easiest way, explode all and join polyline,offset line for the cutter , delete original, save as dxf and convert to shopbot code." RonV made it clear that it must be TurboCAD version 6.5 or higher.
It is quite clear that this process works well enough for many people, but I wonder about the following:
1. What direction does the ShopBot choose to cut? We normally want to cut anti-clockwise around a profile, but sometimes we want to go clockwise (to do with cut quality at sharp corners - cut a square of pine ply in both directions and see the difference).
2. Where does the ShopBot start the cut in the profile? We want to be able to decide before hand where the ShopBot will start and finish a cut, because we sometimes have to move clamps.
3. If 20 parts (of different shapes and sizes) are nested together on one sheet, which part will the ShopBot cut out first?
4. If you receive a client's dxf drawing that was badly made, and the lines do not connect perfectly together, can you force TurboCAD to join them together as a polyline? We need a facility to set a tolerance for what will be forced and what will not. (it could be 30 000 lines with 12 000 bad connections - doing it by hand is out of the question)
In our work we need to be able to control exactly the starting point, direction and sequence of all cuts on the table. If we can do this, then the issue of clamping the sheet down is very much simplified. See this post (http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/29/892.html?#POST5711) to illustrate the problem. If the tool had plunged at the 3 o'clock position on each platter (instead of at 9 o'clock), we would have needed a full vacuum table.
Can somebody please tell us how you handle these issues if you only have TurboCAD and nothing else?
Peterk summarised the process well when he said "draw the part the easiest way, explode all and join polyline,offset line for the cutter , delete original, save as dxf and convert to shopbot code." RonV made it clear that it must be TurboCAD version 6.5 or higher.
It is quite clear that this process works well enough for many people, but I wonder about the following:
1. What direction does the ShopBot choose to cut? We normally want to cut anti-clockwise around a profile, but sometimes we want to go clockwise (to do with cut quality at sharp corners - cut a square of pine ply in both directions and see the difference).
2. Where does the ShopBot start the cut in the profile? We want to be able to decide before hand where the ShopBot will start and finish a cut, because we sometimes have to move clamps.
3. If 20 parts (of different shapes and sizes) are nested together on one sheet, which part will the ShopBot cut out first?
4. If you receive a client's dxf drawing that was badly made, and the lines do not connect perfectly together, can you force TurboCAD to join them together as a polyline? We need a facility to set a tolerance for what will be forced and what will not. (it could be 30 000 lines with 12 000 bad connections - doing it by hand is out of the question)
In our work we need to be able to control exactly the starting point, direction and sequence of all cuts on the table. If we can do this, then the issue of clamping the sheet down is very much simplified. See this post (http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/29/892.html?#POST5711) to illustrate the problem. If the tool had plunged at the 3 o'clock position on each platter (instead of at 9 o'clock), we would have needed a full vacuum table.
Can somebody please tell us how you handle these issues if you only have TurboCAD and nothing else?