Autocad V-groove XL

PirateMike

Grumbler in Training
Joined
Apr 1, 2005
Posts
3
Loc
Alberta. Canada...eh?
Hi folks. I found this forum while searching for a solution to an AutoCAD problem I've enountered. I hope someone here can help me.

I'm making a duck in autocad for an Eclipse XL CMC to cut out. I can make V-grooves on the 11th layer of the file but any v-grooves on the layers after that (12 and up) doesn't show up in the cut program. Can someone please help me?

Also, incase someone knows, does anyone know how to reverse the vertex count to go clockwise without having to explode and rejoin every line until it works?

Thanks for the help. :D
 
Mike,
Welcome to the Grumble!
I don't know anything about Eclipse at all but do know AutoCad very well, perhaps I can help.
As a starting point;
What version of AutoCad are you using?
Do you have to use so many layers?
Can you use polylines?
 
It's Autocad 2004.

Hehe, yes it needs that many layers... sorta. See with the Eclipse XL program, every layer up to layer 10 is a cut out and every layer labled 11 and up is done in a V-groove. Sort of nifty in that I can draw a single line in layer 11 and the cut program will turn it into the 4 lines needed to cut a Vgroove.


I've only labled each layer that I need. For example I had an image with only 3 layers but they were labled, 1, 2 and 12. The 12th was to be a V-groove but it didn't work.


Just to clarify, 11th layer translates to the 1st mat with a v-groove. 12th layer is 2nd mat with vgroove.

I hope all that helped.
 
Hey Mike,

Did you get your problem with your duck fixed yet?

Here are some tips:
On the Eclipse the layering goes as follows: Layer 1 in AutoCad is used to cut openings on the top mat of your design. Layer 11 is used for cutting v-grooves on the "top" mat. Layer 2 - openings on the 2nd mat. Layer 12 - vgrooves on the 2nd mat and so: 3/13, 4/14, 5/15 etc.

You can not have a v-goove layer without a cutting layer. For example if you are just drawing on layer 12 and not on layer 2 - that won't work. Draw/Cut a little square opening on layer 2 somewhere on layer 2 so that when it is cut on the mat it won't be seen in the finished mat assembly.

There is not a single command that will reverse the vertex order of the polyline. There are only two ways to do this. If the cutting path is simple just create a new polyline by tracing over the existing one but create the polyline in the opposite direction. However if the cutting path is complicated and made up of a lot of items then I would suggest the following. Explode the existing polyline. Start creating a new ployline by tracing over the first several item in the cutting path, say maybe the first ten items. Then end the polyline command. Next type in "pedit" on the command line. Select the incomplete polyline that you have just drawn. Next choose the Join option within the pedit command. Now you can drag a box around the remainder of the items and they will join on to the initial polyline and keep the same order (or cutting direction) as the this inital polyline. You can type in CP at the "select item" prompt and create a selection shape other than a box if that will help you.

VERY IMPORTANT: When making custom shapes to be cut with a blade all arcs and lines must be tangent to each other unless you want the blade to pull out of the mat and repostion like it does when cutting a sharp corner as in a square.

The DXF file must be an AutoCAD version 14 DXF file. 2004 should output this type you just need to look down the export file type list for it.

Also, starting with 2000 a new type of polyline was added to AutoCAD. The format output in the DXF file is different than the one understood by the Eclipse s/w. You can read about this in the polyline formats in the AutoCAD help files. There is a switch in AutoCAD that you can set so that it will output the older format. The AutoCAD command for this is PLINETYPE.

Don't beat your head on the wall if things aren't working out. I've been doing this for along time now and I still find little gotchas in the Eclipse DXF translator software. There are so many of them that I could give a 2 day class on them.

Another tip: start with something simple. Can you draw a simple 1 and 2 layer square and get that to go all of the way thru the process and cut on the machine. If so add a square v-groove on each layer and get that to work. Next create the same programs but for an Oval and Oval v-groove. Once you have the simple stuff like this working then try your duck again. You will be past most of the problems by then.

If you would like I can fix your design for you. Just e-mail me the file and I will go thought it.
There will be a small fee - typically $25 per layer.

I hope this helps.

If there are enough people interested I would be glad to give a class on this subject. Please let me know.
 
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