Easy import of Corbels, parts, etc. for eCab

[Al Navas]

Kerry,

I was going about it in a totally wrong way, by trying to convert the 2D drawing itself to STL. I forgot you can use DXF format files in the Shape Manager.

I think I now know a little bit about how to approach this task, and will keep trying until I manage to get it right at least once. THEN I can start really playing with it!

Thanks a bunch, Kerry!


Al

[Peter Walsh]

Al,
No one answered your query about how you show the presentation imagery to the client. I suspect everyone has a different perspective on this but I show the project renderings ONLY on my notebook PC. I do not leave images printed out with the client. I offer to come back as often as they want to look at the renderings.
The reason of course, is some folks will take all your work that has all the customer indecisions and problems all sorted out and hand it over to another shop to build in Mexico or whatever.
If the client insists on a copy, he has to pay for all the design time used to make it. If he signs the order with a down payment he can have all the copies he wants either print or digital.
Never lost an order because of this policy, but it might be different in your area because of competitors giving theirs away.

regards,

[Michael Yeargain]

I like the idea Al,

This has been something that has been on my mind a lot lately. But I didn't know how to go about it.

I have some word of mouth clientele, and a few contractors who only build high-end homes in a gated community. Most of the \"word of mouth\" clientele are from that gated community who's builder lets them \"shop around.

What do I do?

Do you have any solid position about a situation like this???

I know that any input is just that; and I try to get other people's input based on their experiances. I make my own decisions using these responces to give me a different angle.

That's what I love about this forum...!!!

[Peter Walsh]

Mike,
What is the question? Is it that the customers can \"shop around\", or is it how to get new ones? A little puzzled here.
regards,

[Al Navas]

...You bring the Osborne 2D .dxf file into the shape manager where you delete some of the lines and use the Move Tool to turn the profile "Inside Out" so to speak. You then add the deleted lines back in to create a closed contour. You may also have to use the extend and trim tools to connect many of the segments to get a closed contour. Some of their drawings are created from many segments. For those I just use their tool as and outline to trace a new tool then delete the original to eliminate some of the segments.
Here is a screen shot of one of the tools created from an Osborne file.
The first leg in the picture is rendered view of the Osborne 3D file converted to .stl and the second leg is one created in eCabinets using the tool I created. You can see the difference but as I said it is a lot of work to get there...

Kerry,

Thanks again. The following might sound like a really dumb question:

HOW does the tool run along the edges, such that it creates both straight edges and portions of the leg, and also rounded parts?

I am having a hard time visualizing this entire process, and how eCabs is able to create both types of features. I can visualize the profile created when you run along one side of a board, and then on another side. And yet it creates the curved surfaces, as if turned on a lathe!

BUT, I cannot visualize HOW, once it the tool turns a corner, it creates the rounded features.

I am still trying to make this feature work.


I would appreciate an explanation - the simpler the better . Thanks again.


Al

[Al Navas]

I like the idea Al...

I am with Peter on this one, Mike.

Do you like the way I do it, that is, leaving one copy with the client, and marking MY copy? Or it something else? I will assume you like my way of handling the design concept(s) and drawing(s).

The easy answer is that I trust the client to NOT go to someone else. And if they do, then I just lost out on a job without a way to recoup the time spent on design. At this point it becomes what Kerry has mentioned elsewhere, free design on behalf of clients.

On the other hand, I never really thought about it much. But Peter and others have a much better approach than my approach. As an engineer, I never had to worry about this when I worked for a large corporation all over the world. So, due to my inexperience in this business, that is how started doing it, since THAT is how I did with my clients within the corporation.

As you know by now, I have not being making cabinets for very long at all. So, I may have to change the way I do business if I get burned. But the clients do seem to like to get a copy to mull over, I get mine all marked up,and we both have a good reference if we visit on the phone.

I will be the first to report if something happens to make me change things. AND I will start trying Peter's approach, too.


Al

[Rick Palechuk]

Think of the tool more as a scraper than a rotating tool. In the case of a table leg, your tool path would be around the top or bottom of the object. So it becomes key to have the display cube in the right orientation before you bring it in to the editor. HTH

[Kerry Fullington]

Al,
This Thread explains the whole process.
Kerry

[Al Navas]

Thanks, Rick.


Kerry,

Thanks for the link. That is a terrific thread! I saved it as a Web Archive file, *.mht . I will be studying this and practicing the procedure a bit this coming week.


Al