Profile Modeler

[Josh Rayburn]

I think the profile modeler has got it's pants on backwards or something
http://screencast.com/t/mPg92aAIsF
jnr

[jason galbraith]

I like how you did that demo. You made the profile modelling look simple through re-doing actions. Good work.

[Kerry Fullington]

Josh,

The Part Editor is a funny animal. When you click on the lower left hand corner of your part, the red dot on the arrow shows the direction of travel which in this case is clockwise, therefore your tool must be in the yellow portion of the tool view to cut the part.
When you click on the lower left hand corner the direction is then counter clockwise and the tool must be in the blue area of the view to cut the part.

[Josh Rayburn]

Yeah I could swear that it used to be the opposite but honestly I haven't used the profile edge tool in the part editor in quite a while. I always thought that if the tool didn't hit the blue spot then it wouldn't cut the part. Oh well, I guess I forgot to do everything in the part editor backwards to get what I really want

[Kerry Fullington]

Josh,

It all depends on your start point and the direction of travel how your tool behaves.

[Scott G Vaal]

Gentlemen,

Josh is correct, this is a bug. It appears that ever since V6 Bld 9, the tool geometry is getting flipped/mirrored in this circumstance. This has been this way for a little over a year now, and will only be noticed if the tool is asymmetrical. This is listed and will be corrected for a future build. Don't worry, if it looks correct on your part, it WILL cut it that way at the machine. Sorry for the confusion.

[Kerry Fullington]

Scott, Josh,

the Profile Edge in the Part Editor has always been difficult to understand. Quite a while back I had someone from Thermwood explain it to me. (I think it was Dennis but can't remember for sure)
The gist of it was that you always take notice of your starting point and the direction of travel.
When Josh clicks on the lower left corner of his part that is the start point and the dot shows the direction of travel which would be clockwise.
Now before I always thought that the yellow area in the tool view was the part and the blue was off the part. I was informed that this is not correct, the yellow and blue simply reflect right and left off your centerline which is the tool path.
Now back to Josh's example, With the starting point at the lower left traveling clockwise then the part being cut is right of the centerline. This means the tool must be moved to the right of center to cut the part. That is exactly what happens in the example.
When Josh clicks on the lower right corner of the part as his starting point going counterclockwise then the part being cut is on the left therefore the tool must be moved to the left of center to cut the part. That is what happens in his example.

I hope nothing is broken because it took me years to wrap my head around this technique so I could consistently get the results I needed in the part editor and I would hate to see this change.

The best thing that could happen is to lose the yellow area in the tool view so that we do not confuse that with the part being cut and have simply a right and left of centerline designation.

I have to add that I guess the Yellow area does have some significance in the tool view when drawing a tool. The yellow area does represent the part when looking at the tool design. The tool profile that is on the right side (yellow area) will be what is cut when using the technique above.

[Kerry Fullington]

I just tried an experiment this morning using one of the stock asymmetrical tools in eCabinets and everything works as it should using the technique described above.

Kerry

[Josh Rayburn]

Ut-oh look what I started
Well once I got the part to look right in the cabinet editor, it machined properly, just like you said Scott - and that's what's important at the end of the day!
Thanks all,
jnr

[Scott G Vaal]

Kerry,

I checked using the tools in the MDF Asymmetrical Tools directory and some work as they should and some do not. Not sure the difference, but we are guessing it could be a sheet body normal that is automatically set on the *.tol giving it the quirk. Regardless, all will behave the same with a future eCabSys release.

Don't worry, I do not believe you will have to re-learn anything. The way it should work, is when you select the profile edge or geometry, you imagine you are standing behind the Red Direction Line facing toward the Red Dot. Now, when you select the tool in the tool selection dialog, the way you see it in the view is the way it will cut (when facing as described above). Josh's example was doing everything correct, but the tool was just mirrored. Try going Clockwise around the outside of a cabinet back using the tool MDF_ASYM-4.tol, Comp Right, Plunge Depth -.45". You should see that the bead side of the tool got applied to the innermost side rather than the outermost. Now, if you use tool MDF_ASYM-3.tol in the above steps, it will cut as expected. Hope this makes sense.