Discusion on profile modeler

[Forrest Chapman]

This is mostly directed toward individuals who have used the PM feature. What are some of the dos and don't s that you have encountered while setting up and using this feature. As an example should I always go a certain direction around the part when applying the profile? What are some of your personal settings and tool sizes at the machine to increase speed of cutting. I see no reason to reinvent the wheel here, so any info will be greatly appreciated by me and I'm sure by others in the future.

Thanks,
Forrest

[Josh Rayburn]

Forrest,
DON'T smash the screen when it doesn't work
jnr

[Forrest Chapman]

I'm hoping to avoid as much of that as possible.

[Kerry Fullington]

Hey Josh,

The profile modeler worked great this morning during class here at Thermwood.

[Josh Rayburn]

Kerry,
Please share ALL the secrets!!!
We do use PM frequently, and I have suspected that there are some conflicts with a certain CAD program that we use. It's sometimes like this and sometimes like this
In short, it's technology that's brilliant when it works.
Kerry, are you getting a router?? Or just brushing up? I was thinking of that huge 30 foot long template you made a while back, that would make anyone think about getting a router....

Forrest,
There are so many variables that it's hard to set a bunch of ground rules that covers them all. I've had some difficulties and lots of success too. There's also a lot of ways to trick things into machining the way you want them, as opposed to just making it look right on the screen. I'd be happy to try and help you out if you've got a specific problem (and I'm sure Scott would too) but in general it's pretty much trial and error at the start...Hard to say since it's such a vast list of things you can do with it.
Best of luck!
jnr

[Kerry Fullington]

Josh,

I won't have any practical experience using the Profile Modeler for a couple more months so take my observations with a grain of salt.

I plan to create all my profile tools in the Shape Manager and model the parts in the Part Editor. I think this will give me the best results using the PM. The Profile Modeler lives by the "Garbage in = Garbage out" rule. This is where importing .dxf files goes wrong. If you take the time to insure your .dxf's are clean and properly set up. Make sure your .dxf's contain only lines and arcs and that you have a closed contour. zoom in to see if your cad program has created an arc or a segmented arc. If your file is clean I can see no reason it wouldn't work. I have had people send me .dxf files in the past that wouldn't work for them and it turned out to be a lot of open spots and multiple lines layered on top of each other. I have found that if someone sends me a .dxf and it takes a long time to load in eCabinets, it is drawn with a lot of extra lines and segments. You will also need to insure that your tool group includes every tool that the modeler might need to model that part. Look at your profiles carefully when creating a tool group. I think most problems using the Profile Modeler are going to be caused by the user.

No I am not getting a router. I am helping a shop in Amarillo (90 miles away) integrate eCabinets and nested base manufacturing into their production. This will give me access to a Model 43 to process all my box parts and learn the capabilities of the machine. We are also planning to incorporate inset carvings to some parts so we should get some use from the Profile Modeler. I have designed some furniture pieces in the past using many of the Thermwood moldings and I hope to model these also. (depending on what machine time costs me )

[Josh Rayburn]

Kerry,
You're absolutely correct with your observations, no salt necessary.
I've found that even with a CAD/CAM package that is designed to trim properly and close chains, etc. using only lines and arcs as you mentioned, leaving them open and trimming in the shape manager actually seems to solve a lot of problems.
If I had the patience to do it all in the shape manager I might be ahead of the game on some days, but I just can't bring myself to do it....

The only note to add is: never have any part of an arc hit the top surface of the material. This will depend on how deep you plunge the tool of course, but a good thing to keep in mind.
I guess my overall complaint with PM is the error trapping - it just hangs when there's a problem, and I have no idea what the problem is, I just know there's a problem. I hope this aspect is improved in the future.
jnr

[Forrest Chapman]

Hey Josh, I have been designing some profiles in the shape manager and getting better and faster everyday. Can you explain the arch in top of material thing alittle batter.

Forrest

[Josh Rayburn]

If you were to make a "bead" and plunge it into the material (like the bead around a faceframe for example) you would have to plunge it down past the top of the material surface. Remove a little extra material off the surface. Does that help?

[Will Williamson]

Twice now I have made rather lenthy answers to your post on this subject and lost my connection so Call me 810 310 1111 Will Williamson
I consider my self an advanced user of the PM. I will eventually recover the cost of my machine with just the Profile Modeler. In the last year I have began combining Dxf files in Control Nesting with the profile modeler and had some Fantastic results.

[Josh Rayburn]

NO do not call!! Make him post it all!!!!

[Forrest Chapman]

Will, I'll call tomorrow.


Forrest

[Kerry Fullington]

Will,

I would like to hear what you have to say also.

Kerry

[Will Williamson]

Creating your tol. file is the first area that if you don't get this right from the beginning you will have problems all the way through the process . Like Kerry has said if in the profile modeler this file is slow to load or takes a long time to create the tool this will be your first indication something is wrong. Most of my problems in the beginning originated in the file that I used to create the tool. This was because I used the Dxf file supplied by my client
So the larger the Dxf file is. The larger the tol. file is and it just keeps escalating as you get farther and farther into the process. It will eventually cause E Cab to crash or you mite make it all the way to the profile modeler where it will not write a tool path. And now you have no idea where the problem is . And Right away you will think something is wrong with the profile modeler. And you call Tech support and tell them the PM is not working . I,m going to post in installments so next post I will start from Scratch with designing your cutter

[Daniel Vonderheide]

here's some of Will's work done with PM and dxf files. There's alot more pics, but I have to resize them first.