Drawing Feature??

[Greg_J]

Is there a drawing feature that would allow you to draw a boundary around your part while having the diameter of the tool on the cursor. Using the cutter diameter as a guide?

 

Greg

[George Simmons]

Is Xform, Offset Contour what you are looking for?

[Greg_J]

So you draw you boundary right on your part and then offset it the amount you want?

 

Greg

[Ocean Lacky™]

Greg, to answer your question specifically,...No.

 

You can use Xform/Offset Contour on an edge curve as George stated above. Also, you could do a 2d contour toolpath, backplot it and save the toolpath as geometry that you could use as a boundary. Silloutte Boundary will construct a 2D boundary around a group of surfaces which can then be used as a containment boundary.

 

 

HTH

[Greg_J]

Thanks, I like that feature I wonder if MC would add that to X3?

 

Greg

[Ocean Lacky™]

Submit it as an Enhancement Request.

[Lee.]

Greg,

 

I'm not sure I undersatnd what you mean by

 

quote:

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while having the diameter of the tool on the cursor

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[Thad]

Search the forum for Ai Freehand by Takashi Sato, from Ai Solutions. It's a chook that not only does what you want, but also allows you to then use that created geometry in a contour toopath. Very nice!

 

Thad

[Greg_J]

Lee,

When you want to draw a boundary it would prompt you the size of the diameter and on the mouse cursor the circle would appear and represent the cutter that you want to machine with. You then could make a more accurate boundary and you could see where you can fit certain tool and where they may not.

 

Greg

[Greg_J]

Thad,

Would you happen to have link to that site???

 

Greg

[Michael Sullivan]

+1000 for freehand contour!

[Michael Sullivan]

You can download it in the old thread here:

 

http://www.emastercam.com/ubb/ultimatebb.p...t=026533#000000

[Greg_J]

What's the name of that C-Hook? Is it Ai Freehand? If so, when I went to that site and downloaded the freeware and installed it, it's not there. I have never used C-Hooks, so I am alittle green, help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Greg

[Thad]

Yes, it's called Ai Freehand.

 

You should find a few files (Ai Freehand.dll and Ai Freehand.ft) in C:mcamxchooks. To use them, open a session of MC, hit Alt+C to bring up the list of chooks. Select "Ai Freehand" and OK. You'll now be prompted for a cutter diameter. Type it in and move your mouse around. As you click, lines will be created and the area that the cutter would have cut will be shaded out. Click around until you're done. If you goof up, hit backspace and the last move will be removed. When you're all done, hit Esc. You'll then be asked if you want to use it in a contour toolpath.

 

EDIT: Use Alt+C to bring up the chooks. Edit made above.

 

Thad

[Greg_J]

This is all I have after downloading and installing the file from his site.

 

Greg

[Thad]

Greg, your picture isn't coming through.

 

You've got mail.

 

Thad

[heavychevy2155]

Thad, is this something you use much or just past exp.?

[Thad]

Heavy,

 

I don't use it alot, but when I need it, it really hits the sweet spot. I use it for toolpaths, not for creating boundaries.

 

I used to use Gibbs. They have this feature for creating geometry and I always thought it was neat. It works great for cutting odd shapes when using a contour with multipass would cut too much air and closing it in to make it a pocket doesn't quite do it either.

 

If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it.

 

Thad

[Takashi Sato from Ai Solutions.]

Hi

Unfortunately, I've removed freehand.zip from our website, because that chook is not a freeware anymore..(my boss's order! )

I'm sorry.

 

But, if you already have it, you can use it freely.

[Greg_J]

Thanks for your help.

[Thad]

Greg,

 

Did you get it to work?

 

Thad

[Greg_J]

Yes, It works great, but I never used one that was shaded before. Can put that C-Hook in a toolbar?

 

Thanks,

Greg

[Thad]

quote:

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Can put that C-Hook in a toolbar?

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It sure can. Just like you'd add any other feature to a toolbar....Settings-Customize. Hit the dropdown menu and search for Ai Solutions. From the list of icons, drag the one you want onto the screen. When you're done, in the left pane, right click and name the toolbar. Make sure you put the toolbar where you want it and click "toolbar states." Save the toolbar state. Then at the bottom left click the disc icon to save the .mtb (toolbar file). Save and exit.

 

I recommend "Ai Utility," another chook from Takashi. This one is freeware. You can get it by clicking the link in his sig and browse to the chooks page. It has some other very helful features.

 

Thad

[Greg_J]

I did what you said yesterday but I couldn't find anything, but today I started a new sesion of MC and then I noticed at the top a new tab called Ai Utility. I was able to put Ai freehand in a toolbar. I guess I need to restart MC after I install add-on's.

 

Thanks again,

Greg