Error with Shelf Holes

[Nat Wheatley]

On the attached cabinet, each row of shelf holes is getting drilled twice, for some reason. When I have one of the sides in PE, then go to return to the Cab. Editor, I get the message "The operation... violates the ideal tenon or dadoes. You may see some unexected results". (There are no tenons, or dadoes).

The shelf holes were all created with the top adjustable shelf.

Custom 1.hsf

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[Nick M Singer]

Nat I dont see that the holes are being drilled twice. Do you mean that you have a CNC and they are physically being drilled twice or do you mean it just looks that way in the eCabs drawing? If you are refering to the wireframe you are jut seeing the surface and the bottom of the hole. As far as the PE error is concerned I see you are using a KD pattern and your cut out extends into the region of that joint, this is probably giving you the warning message, although it seems you have achieved what you set out to do, so no harm done there.

[Nat Wheatley]

On the CNC it's drilling each row of holes twice.

The RTA fittings for the top have a stud that was in line with the shelf holes, which seemed to be causing the problem. I can use the shelf holes for all my RTA studs and sidestep the issue, for now...

[Leo Graywacz]

Do you have multiple shelves in this cabinet? When you put the shelves int he cabinet did you uncheck the shelf hole box after putting in the first shelf? I don't have a clue if this makes a difference or not. But I have had cabinets with weird sets of holes because each shelf had holes associated to it. It is possible that the holes are off by a few thousandths and the CNC is re-drilling them offset by that much.

[Kerry Fullington]

Nat,

It doesn't look like there are too many shelf holes when I look at the nest. The side I looked at had 119 holes (9-128) and I then removed all the shelves except your top shelf that you use to reference the holes and there is still only holes 9-128.
I noticed that you are drilling the holes 1/2" deep. Is there a setting at the machine where it would think it can't cut that deep with the tool you are using in one pass? That would cause the double cutting.

You have shelf holes too close to the ends of your part is probably why you get the error message. Remove on set of holes from the top and bottom of your pieces and this will most likely cure the error.

Kerry

[Kerry Fullington]

Nat,

I happened to pick up the August 2008 issue of Cabinet Maker magazine while cleaning the office and guess who I found in there. Great article. I should probably take some of the advice you give in the column, I would have to turn out 16 kitchens a year to reach your sales volume. I can't turn out even half that amount of work What caused you to switch to eCabinets?

Kerry

[Nat Wheatley]

Thanks Kerry.

I have a Shopbot, and I was treading water, trying every route I could think of to avoid paying the $22K to for the CNC add on to my CabinetVision software. Then along came the SB/E-Cabinets Link. I hadn't used E-Cabs before, but ordered it when I heard of the Link becoming available, then purchased the link shortly after. I'm very pleased with both.

Switching to frameless cabinets has made a major difference in terms of volume, and I've gotten my frameless kitchens to the point where I really like the look of them. l do some inset/framed cabinetry, but I'm amazed how much quicker I'm able to turn around the frameless work.

Admittedly this year has been incredibly slow so far. I have a fair amount of commercial work bid at the moment, and have got my fingers crossed that some of that comes in. If nothing else I've had a good chance to learn the software, and 'dial in' my machine and shop. Ready to start cranking out cabinets again though...

[Nick M Singer]

Nat do you have a setting for max step depth on your CNC? Maybe that is causing it to drill twice.

[Nat Wheatley]

Nick,

No setting for max. step depth. Something's buggy. This cabinet was just one in nest a nest of several, all had the same shelf hole depth, and this is the only one that ended up getting drilled twice. This is the only one thatI used a shelf to generate the shelf holes for, though.

I've added studs to the RTA hole patterns for the top and deck, and stopped the shelf holes short of the top and bottom of the ends. Won't know for sure it's working until I'm able to air cut a file at the shop.

Thanks very much for the input.

[Kerry Fullington]

Nat,

Is the one side that is causing the double drilling a different material to your other sides that are cutting correctly?

This could be an eCabinets problem but I think more likely it is an eCabinets Shop Bot Link problem.

Do you have access to the Shop Bot Link Beta forum. You might want to report the problem there in case it is a link bug. If not, report it on the Shop Bot Forum and maybe some of the Beta Testers will have a suggestion.

[Nat Wheatley]

Kerry,

I do think the error is coming about within E-cabinets. I changed a number of things back and forth, but think that the error message within PE, was consistant with the parts that were drilled incorrectly. I cut the parts today, eliminating the stud from the hole pattern for the RTA fitting, and had no double drilling. I think it's an issue of the stud being in line with (but not overlapping) the shelf holes.

If I get a chance I'll try to duplicate the error, and save a file that I can send to Thermwood to check out.

Nat