Sequence of parts, plunge position, cut direction

[gerald_d]

Over in another topic (http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/29/1451.html?1048564084) of this Forum, I was wondering (http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/29/1451.html?1048564084#POST8482) if Parts Wizard allows you to control:
- parts sequence on a sheet
- the plunge point in each part
- the direction of travel around the part.

Could the wizards explain it in the context of the 17 ellipses on a board that was used on the other topic? Thanks.

[Sallye@ShopBotTools.com]

Hey Gang, I just read the thread in "another topic", and wanted to give a bit of info about Part Wizard. SO, I will answer the above questions in reverse order.
1) The direction of travel around the part is determined when you toolpath the art. If you are profiling (moving the cutting line outside or inside the design line to allow for cutter waste) or machining along vectors (cutting right on the design line), it asks if you wish to climb cut (travel the same direction as the bit rotation or clockwise) or conventional cut (counterclockwise, against the bit rotation). In hand routering, counterclockwise is safer, with CNC, climb will give you the smoother cut (usually) and make your bits last longer. When area clearing in the contour mode (follows the design line), you also have the option of moving from inside to outside or vice versa, and climb or conventional.
2) If you put the cursor on any point in a vector (design line), and right click, you will bring up a menu that allows you to change the start point of the cut. The start point is green. Now, whether Part Wizard actually believes you is another matter. By the way, look at all the options when you right click...you can add or delete points, smooth a point, which means change it into a bezier curve, and more (Pay attention to which of the hot keys allow you to do these things from the keyboard). Try right clicking on a span (line between points)...you can change a straight line into an arc very easily. (NOTE: if you are importing something from another program, it comes in as a "grouped" object and is all in magenta (pink). You must first "ungroup" it to see the individual lines and points that make up the object. UNGROUP and GROUP are found in Vector Editing)
3)Part Wizard has its own logic in determining the sequence of cuts IF you select everything and toolpath it all at once. There are a couple of ways to get around that. BJ is changing the order of cut after SHE has created the actual sbp file. I think she is using the File Edit in ShopBot and moving chunks of code around to cut out in the order she wants. You can do the same thing from PW with a bit of trickery. Select the set of items you want to cut first, and toolpath them, name the toolpath and calculate. Leave the window open, with the finish depth and bit selected, and select the next set of objects to cut, name (another name) and calculate, etc. When you generate the sbp file, put the individual toolpaths in the order you wish them to cut out and save them into one sbp file. As for the pesky business of it going back to HOME in between each individual toolpath...the easiest solution is to use FE in ShopBot, and either scroll down the file, or use Alt+E...search to find all the J2 lines that take you back to 0,0 in between toolpaths. Put an apostrophe ' in front of the line, or delete the lines, and the BOT will move from one toolpath to the next without going back to 0,0 in between.
'Sorry for the length of this post, but I hope it helps to get you going with Part Wizard. My suggestion for exploring the program and finding all sorts of features is to put the cursor on an object (point, line, object) and right click to see what some of the options are. We find stuff all the time. While Insignia allows you to do some things automatically, Part Wizard is pretty powerful with a few clicks and creative ways of thinking. Good luck and have fun, Sallye

[gerald_d]

Sallye, are you seriously telling me that Parts Wizard selects its own parts sequence, PLUS it insists on going HOME after each part? And that I must edit the files manually if I want them to be any better? . . . . . . . .I am stunned.

In other words, if we want to cut 250 circles of 4" diameter from a 8'x4' sheet and HOME is set at the bottom left corner, the total jog distance will be 180 feet! (Unless of course I go and delete 250 lines of code).

*checks calendar to confirm that April 1st is not this week......*

[rookie432]

Well not exactly Gerald. It will cut all the same parts using the same endmill before going home. If there is an endmill change then the program will send it home. As far as editing parts sequence ...yeah.. seems like lots of extra work ... Partwizard is good for one ups for me but if I were to design a "part" that I need mass manufacture then Cad/cam or Vector. I'm not discounting Partwizard I'ts just a kindof take what you get kind of program that does a good job for what it was designed for.

Bill

[bill.young]

Sallye,

I never knew you could change the start point... you learn something every day!

Gerald,

I’m no Part Wizard “wizard”, but I’ve been happy enough with it that I didn’t install Vector when I got a new computer in the fall. Sallye’s right about the logic that Part Wizard uses to order toolpaths… it does indeed use some "creativity" at times. I tried your example this morning and did an array of 264 4" circles in TurboCAD. Saved them as a dxf file and imported them into Part Wizard. Selected all of them, created the toolpath, and ran it in preview mode.

Since they were created in rows and copied up the sheet, I figured that they would cut that way...cut one row from left to right, then go to the start of the next row and cut that from left to right. I was surprised when it cut the first row from left to right, then cut the second row from right to left, and alternated all the way up the sheet... a much more efficient way of doing it. Since I selected all the circles when I created the toolpath, it only went home when it had cut the last circle.

Sometimes, though, you don’t want it to be “creative”, and need to select individual entities or groups of entities, create multiple toolpaths, and save them in your Shopbot file in a particular order. That’s where the “going home” problem arises… it always wants to go back to it’s home position between individual saved toolpaths, even when they’re combined into one ShopBot file. Whenever I need to create several toolpaths and want to remove the “going home” parts, I open the file in NotePadPlus or WordPad and use the REPLACE function to automatically find all the instances of…

J3,0.000,0.000


change them to …

‘J3,0.000,0.000

and then manually un-comment the last one if I REALLY want it to go home at the end of the file. It only takes a minute or so. It’s a pain, but a minor one.

To get the kind of control over the toolpath that you’re looking for, though, you’re probably better off drawing the whole toolpath in your CAD program like your isometric drawing in the “Can ShopBot do very small parts” thread, with z-moves and offsets already done. Then it’s just a matter of importing it into Part Wizard, picking the start point, and using the “machine along vectors” tool to create your toolpath and ShopBot file.

Bill

[gerald_d]

We are rather proud of the "bread-slicing method" that we have pioneered, and this method would be impossible if we didn't know with exact certainty the sequence and plunge points of the parts. With Vector it is dead simple and with Parts Wizard it seems to be a hit & miss affair. We are long past the stage where we preview or air cut files first, or do any FE editting.

The .sbp file that I gave over in the other thread was literally produced in less than 2 minutes on Vector - and I have the confidence to publish it without having previewed, or air cut it myself first. That is the level of faith we have in the software, and cannot see why anyone should accept anything less.

(If anybody would like a step-by-step explanation of what was done in those 2 minutes with Vector, just ask and I will explain it in a new thread on the Vector topic.)

[Sallye@ShopBotTools.com]

Gerald...I'm very happy that you have been happy with Vector. I use it frequently for situations when Part Wizard will not do (see the elephant on the ShopBot spotlight.)

However, I also teach the beginning ShopBot classes here in Durham, and I can tell you that Part Wizard is a MUCH easier program to introduce CNC to folks.

In terms of pocketing or area clearing, there is no comparison. Part Wizard wins hands down.

My 9 year old daughter uses Part Wizard to import vectorized clip art and place it on the material in the location she wants. She then toolpaths it so she has a sign with V-carve lettering and art work ready to cut in about 10 minutes. There is no wondering if the origin is in the right place, and no confusion about whether the cutting file will fit on the material. What you see on the screen is what you get.

In the training tutorial, we lay out an array of trays in which we pocket out a circle, and then cut out the trays. In the sbp parts file, it pockets out all the circles before it returns home, then starts off again to cut out all the rectangles. If I don't want it to go home in between toolpaths, then there is one line to remark out. I could also figure out the last position in the "pocketing" toolpath and make that the home position in my "cut out the rectangles" toolpath...but which is more time consuming?

We then use the Tranform function to create a vacuum template to hold the rectangles in place. The centerpoint of each rectangle is the same (so there is an exact fit), but the size of the rectangle is "transformed" to be slightly smaller to create a hole under the part. The bit cuts through the material, and into the template to keep from losing vacuum and destroying the vacuum fixture. We then use the drill point function to mark where the mechanical holddowns to attach the template to the vacuum fixture should be so that no bit comes close to hitting a sheet rock screw.
So, with the click of a few buttons, we design the original file, toolpath it, use the original art file to create a template for direct vacuum under the parts that will be cut out, and design in a safety feature that ensures that the bit will not hit a mechanical holddown. When you get used to Part Wizard, you can do it all in a matter of minutes.

As you can see from the thread, the beauty of ShopBot is that there are multiple ways to do things. Thank you for your input on how to create a file in Vector. And thank the others for their input on other CAD/CAM programs. There is a place for all the ways to do things. Thanks, Sallye

[gerald_d]

Sallye, I have no doubt that Parts Wizard is a much easier program to learn. And that it is great for vacuum tables. But we have developed a way of working that will not be as easily compatible with PW and that came as a big surprise.

(I have received some e-mail requests to show the Vector method, and I will do that in the next few days)

[gerald_d]

The "Vector method" (http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/401/1469.html?1048874165)

[wingnut]

:o Thanks Gerald maybe you should have written the Vector manuals