Help turning two lines into one chain

[jonathan joseph]

Again as always a novice question, thanks for the patience. 

I've attached a file here. In the third operation you'll see there are two chains. I want those two lines to be one chain because it is stopping at the end of the first one, lifting up and re-entering the second line. Waste of time and also I want to lead out of the second line but as two chains in the same operation it will lead out of the first one also. How do I make this happen?

Using X8 router

TIA

Jonathan 

2inchDUNNAGE.mcx-8

[Pete Rimkus from CNC Software Inc.]

You've got a third line that overlaps with one of the lines, so after you pick one, chaining doesn't know which way to go .. it's a 'branch point'.

When it tells you its reached a branch point, pick the second line and it'll make one chain.

[jonathan joseph]

37 minutes ago, Pete Rimkus from CNC Software Inc. said:

You've got a third line that overlaps with one of the lines, so after you pick one, chaining doesn't know which way to go .. it's a 'branch point'.

When it tells you its reached a branch point, pick the second line and it'll make one chain.

Pete,

I need it to stop at that next intersection. If I choose chain single it still makes two chains and if I don't do chain single it goes past that intersection. I guess maybe I can blank that other line out? 

[Pete Rimkus from CNC Software Inc.]

I think there was a Chain-Partial option in chaining in X8... pick the two lines as the 1st and last ...

[jonathan joseph]

Pete, you da man! That was it. Chain partial solved it. You made my day...no week! 

Really appreciate it. 

 

[AMCNitro]

4 hours ago, jonathan joseph said:

Pete,

I need it to stop at that next intersection. If I choose chain single it still makes two chains and if I don't do chain single it goes past that intersection. I guess maybe I can blank that other line out? 

When I need to that and chain partial doesnt work, I just draw a perpendicular line at the endpoint, that way it forces it to ask me

[Colin Gilchrist]

3 hours ago, jonathan joseph said:

Pete, you da man! That was it. Chain partial solved it. You made my day...no week! 

Really appreciate it. 

 

When you are in "partial chain mode", by default Mastercam asks you to pick the "start" of the chain, then prompts you to select the "end" of the chain. This can be problematic, if your geometry isn't perfect. (gaps, overlaps, branch points, etc.)

There is a "Wait" Checkbox on the Chaining Dialog Box. When you are in partial chain mode, you can enable that check box, to make the system "pause" during chaining, at each branch point the system encounters. It can be very helpful, since you can "start the chain", and then pick "each next branch" in succession. Mastercam won't "end the chain", until you press the "end chain or apply" button.

Also, when you get a file that has lots of "entities which lay on top of each other", I typically do the following:

• Run the "Delete Duplicates" command.
• Run the "Find Overlap" Chook. (This is an add-in program to Mastercam, that ships with the software. Press "ALT + C" on the keyboard, and choose 'FindOverlap.dll' from the list. This only works on Lines and Arcs. It does not work on splines, but it can be super helpful to find these "phantom" entities, that are connected at the Branch Points, and causing your Chain to stop.