Partworks2 !!

[wberminio]

Just got an email from Dianne.
Free grade for Partworks!!
Great new features.

Thanks Vetric and Shopbot

Erminio

[geneb]

Is that available to all ShopBot owners or only the PRS users?

g.

[Gary Campbell]

Gene...
I would imagine that it applies to those that have purchased in the last (XX) months. We purchased VCarve Pro fom SB about 2 years ago and were not eligible for the free upgrade. We did, however, get a very reasonable price for the upgrade to VCPro 5. I am sure that if you look at the features of the latest version, you will have the upgrade.
Gary

[gundog]

I bought mine 4/17/08 I think I read 12 months was the free cutoff I will be looking into it I need nesting bad.

Mike

[knight_toolworks]

yes 12 months do you should get the free upgrade if you did not get the email email them.
better hurry.

[bill_lumley]

I wouldn't get too excited about the nesting in Partworks . I needed it also but it will NOT nest DXF parts that you import very easily if at all .It is really meant for nesting things that are created by Partworks only so I recommend taking the VCarve Pro trial before paying for the upgrade if nesting is what you want.

Bill

[tony_mac]

Bill,

I would like to point out that the new Nesting in PW2, VCarve Pro 5 and Aspire 2 is designed to nest shapes that can be either imported from DXF, DWG, EPS, AI files or drawn directly in the software.

I believe your requirement is for automatic multiple DXF file nesting with automated template based machining, which is quite a different requirement. This is essentially automated cabinet part machining which is not something we claim the software does.

I hope this reflects what you are looking for from a nesting package and helps people understand that the True Shape Nesting is not as limited as you seem to think.

Tony

[gundog]

I draw all my parts with Partworks so I am hoping the nesting will work for me. SB sent me an email with a link to the upgrade but so far I can't get it to work.

[bill_lumley]

Tony , I wan't trying to flame your product
I love my Partworks and use it often . I was just trying to clarify that nesting doesn't always mean the same to all of us . Yes you are correct in that it is what I need and I have been in touch with Ryan Patterson at Shopbot and it looks like one of his products will fullfil that requirement .

Bill

[gundog]

I got the new Partworks 2 loaded but I am a little disappointed in the nesting so far just playing with it. I cut groups of 4" rollers I have already nested them by hand for cutting in the past so I thought I would give it a try. To get the maximum amount of rollers on one sheet I stager the rollers so they fit together very close. I get 80 rollers from a 32x48 sheet nested by hand staggering them. When I nested them with the nesting software it did not stager them and only got 70 on the same sheet and created a second sheet to fit the other ten.

I then tried to nest some of my fillet table tops they have dovetails cut on them that enter the material outside the table with a poly line that starts and stops on the same node and it did not keep them inside the top but grouped and moved those nodes to a different area grouped together. I drew them all on one layer so I may be able to correct this by saving each part on different layers I will play with it some more.

I have also noticed another what seems to be a glitch on my computer it won't let you close the window on the current drawing without closing the whole program. You can choose another file and it closes it and will ask you to save your changes before opening another file. It is a small thing but it did not work that way before.

I am hoping I can make the nesting useful but so far the two items I tried it on will not work for me.



Mike

[john_how]

So I assume this is the upgrade listed on the vetric site as VcarvePro 5? Just trying to read a little about it to see what it's all about.

[Brian Moran]

Mike,

Have you watched the tutorial videos on the Vectric site and read the manual on nesting. It covers what you need to do if you have overlapping vectors for the outer boundary of the parts you want to nest (you will probably need to group the parts).

As we have said in the documentation and the videos, automated nesting will never beat an intelligent and patient human, it depends on how much time you are prepared to spend manually nesting. The automated nesting works best with large numbers of parts with different shapes. If you have a single part the human eye is often MUCH better at spotting possible efficient nesting patterns than a computer.

You can just use File - Close to close the file. The [x] not closing the file was done with the changes brought in for Aspire where the user often has two windows tiled on the screen and people kept closing their file when they only wanted to close the window.

Brian

[cabnet636]

nesting any dxf has been quite easy, i use cabinetparts pro and while it is an excellent producer of cabinet part production and nesting i am more apt to tool path in vcarve/aspire. i create one sheet (4x8) then import my 1st sheet from cpp saved dxf, select all vectors and move it off of the working sheet and place it into the screen area, i repeat this for all sheets.

once i have all sheets on screen i select nesting and choose one copy, after the nest i select layer manager and tool path accordingly
for the value, quality and functions available there is nothing like vectric and CPP for this (unless you want to just pay more)

8115
8116

[gundog]

I have not watched the video but I did read through the help section on nesting. I did not understand the group portion very well so I will watch the video tonight when I get home, I can't view it from this computer. I don't mean to sound down on the new upgrades in all fairness I need to learn how to use it. I have never used nesting software before I could really use it so I hope to get it figured out soon.

Thanks Mike

[gundog]

I watched the video on nesting and it did help me to understand how it works better than before.

I have been playing with the nesting some more I don't think it will ever nest my rollers off set but since I already have them drawn I will keep what I have.

My fillet table tops that have single poly line vectors that start outside the material for cutting dovetail grooves were giving me fits trying to nest with the new software. I have the dovetail poly lines drawn with a start point, a center point, then back to the start point for the end point so the bit enters and exits in the same place.

My dovetail bits are not designed to plunge so I have been drawing a circle at the start / end point of the poly line and just pocketing a hole for the dovetail bit to drop into. This is what was causing the problem even though it allowed me to group all those vectors together when nesting it was separating the poly line vectors with the circles for the pocket from the table tops no matter what I did. I deleted the circles for the pocket and it works just fine??

My answer to this will either be to run a straight bit on the poly line before the dovetail. I think the dovetail bits will plunge if the center of the slot is cut out first, the flutes on the dovetail bit do not go across the center of the bit. I could also go back after nesting and add the pocket circles back in at those start/end node points.

Mike

[gundog]

I just figured out a work around for my problem with my dovetail vectors. I can draw over size circles to plunge the dovetail bit into. If the circles contact the table tops it nests them fine I then can make an allowance when tool pathing and cut the exact same hole it would have by sizing it the right size.

[mitch_prest]

I get the same glitch when I try to close just the part and not the program... it doesn't do anything .... I also have to open another part or start a new one

mitch