Profiling a oval shape

Moderators: Jason Susnjara, Clint Buechlein

Kerry Fullington
Wizard Member
Posts: 4718
Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Amarillo, TX

Re: Profiling a oval shape

Post by Kerry Fullington »

Gary,


An oval or ellipse has two different radius so I don't think a circle would work. (I don't think eCabinets has the ability to draw a circle from three points anyway. Just from a radius) There is some trigonometry to draft an ellipse but it was over my head.

Have you tried it? Your drawing just looks like a circle.
Gary Puckett
Wizard Member
Posts: 1324
Joined: Mon, May 19 2008, 1:39PM
Company Name: The Woodworkery
Location: Saint Charles, Missouri
Contact:

Re: Profiling a oval shape

Post by Gary Puckett »

It is your DXF file you made in Delta Cad with a 17" dia and a 15" dia
HP Pavilion
Vista home Premium 64bit S. pack 2
AMD Phenom-X4
9850 Quad-Core Processor
6.0GB/Go Memory
1 TB/To Hard Drive
Nividia GeForce 9800 GT
George Davidson
eCabinets Beta Tester
Posts: 1585
Joined: Tue, May 17 2005, 1:16PM
Location: Norwood Pa.

Re: Profiling a oval shape

Post by George Davidson »

Kerry I see how slow your DXF is in e-Cabinets but then when I put it in ViaCAD and save it as a DXF from VC it is alot faster in EC ?
When I put your DXF in my DeltaCad and bring it out it will not work in EC? Then I took the DeltaCad DXF into VC it opens it all up. Here is a picture of it all opening in the oval.Try the DXF from VC I didn't do anything to it in VC
Attachments
oval_VC.zip
(6.01 KiB) Downloaded 936 times
Shot1.jpg
Neville Bastian
Guru Member
Posts: 622
Joined: Fri, May 20 2005, 6:48PM
Company Name: Classic Cabinetry
Location: Albany Western Australia
Contact:

Re: Profiling a oval shape

Post by Neville Bastian »

Hi George, I had a look at ViaCad and there are 3 versions of the program. Which one do you use? I have had noticed a few cad programs mentioned on the forum and I end up being confused or relunctant or willing to spend big bucks on a infrequently used Cad program. We get most things done with Ecabinets... well except doors but thats another thread.
Regards

Neville
Neville Australia
Kerry Fullington
Wizard Member
Posts: 4718
Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Amarillo, TX

Re: Profiling a oval shape

Post by Kerry Fullington »

George,

ViaCad created the oval as just sixteen arcs (Instead of many, many straight line segments) which works great.

It works fine in eCabinets. I am supposed to be able to draw an oval/elipse in Intelicad with arcs but I haven't learned how yet. From what I have read, if an oval is created using seegments it cannot be converted to arcs. it must be drawn using arcs.

Neville,

I am going to get to play with PanelMetrix for nesting MDF doors in the next couple of months. I will let you know how it goes.

Kerry
Neville Bastian
Guru Member
Posts: 622
Joined: Fri, May 20 2005, 6:48PM
Company Name: Classic Cabinetry
Location: Albany Western Australia
Contact:

Re: Profiling a oval shape

Post by Neville Bastian »

Hi Kerry,
Looking forward to feedback on panelmatrix. Had recently made enquirees about the product but there is no trial program and basic literture. Well thats my excuse but I guess the true reason is one of my builders is unable to pay for a number of kitchens so money is tight.
So what version are you using in Viacad that works with Ecabinets? I really want a easy learning curve program that doesn't require School training.

Regards

Neville
Neville Australia
George Davidson
eCabinets Beta Tester
Posts: 1585
Joined: Tue, May 17 2005, 1:16PM
Location: Norwood Pa.

Re: Profiling a oval shape

Post by George Davidson »

HI Neville
I us Punch! ViaCAD Pro v6
I started with ViaCad 2D&3D Punch sells it for $99.00 it will do anything you need for e-Cabinets.It will export DXF & DWG and STL and convert file.
They have Tutoriols with Videos
http://www.punchcad.com/c-12-consumer-cad.aspx
I buy a lot of my software from NothingButsoftware
They have ViaCAD Pro v6 right now for $199.00
http://www.nothingbutsoftware.com/catal ... ode/123487
Staples did sell ViaCad 2D&3D for $69.99 they don't have it on there Web.page anymore but they tell me that some of there stores still have some on there shelfs
Attachments
Tutoriols with Videos.jpg
Dennis Englert

Re: Profiling a oval shape

Post by Dennis Englert »

An ellipse is one of those geometric shapes that is very complex mathematically. Since I'm not a math guru I wont' get into that.

First, the geometry for a counter top will not export with the cabinet or job file to create the .twd file for the machine. So if you don't have CAD/CAM software with a post, you would need to import a dxf file using Control Nesting to cut the counter top.

My thoughts are that the geometry for a 3 point arc would get you close particularly for display purposes in eCabinets, but maybe not for machining. Of course, the more arcs you use the closer you'll get, but that could be a lot of work, if you had to draw each arc. For one, the intersection of the arcs would probably be out of tangency enough to cause a chatter mark or some mark at the intersections. You can use Tangency Factor codes to nullify some of that or maybe not.

If you are using Autocad there is a system variable for an ellipse called "pellipse" that can be set to 0 or 1. I don't remember which, but it was usable with our old DXF translator and would cut a nice ellipse. So you may be able to import dxf file of an ellipse from AutoCad with the setting changed. Worth a try. Someone mentioned IntelliCad, that product is very, very similar to AutoCad, so that may have the same variable.

Another option for machining on a Thermwood and not for display in eCabinets would be to create a diamond, i.e. four straight lines. When the NC file is created from Control Nesting find the four straight lines in the program. Change the G01's to G12 (clockwise ellipse) or G13 for a counter-clockwise ellipse. When you create the geomtry you will need to account for the radius of the bit for tool compensation, since a G41 or G42 can not be used with a G12 or G13. Anyway, this would provide a smooth ellipse with actually very little trouble for a counter top. It would probably be more difficult to locate the NC code on a nested job, but is doable.

Keep in mind that "G" code programming and editing is always an option. At times, this is the quickest option.


Dennis
Post Reply