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Author Topic: Oval pockets  (Read 7914 times)

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Oval pockets
« on: February 23, 2009, 07:12:23 PM »
helllo all,
I am curious if any one has come up with a wizard or something that helps  with writing code for cutting Oval pockets. I dont really need a cam program otherwise but Id like to cut a few oval pockets in an up coming project. I saw an older post on this subject but it looks like the solution ended up being that Grahm ended up just posting the code that the guy needed.

Bathgate

Offline Hood

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Re: Oval pockets
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2009, 07:24:13 PM »
Have you tried LazyCAM? I have not used it much but quite a few do and they can get it working well, so a simple thing like that shouldnt be a problem.
Hood
Re: Oval pockets
« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2009, 08:30:58 PM »
well to be honest, I tend to do things the old fashioned way (pencil and paper) then type it out by hand. So I dont even have a drawing to import for it. What do most people use to draw up simple shape drawings like that anyway, Something I could pick up real quick because a full blown CAD program isnt really worth the effort or money for what i would use it for.

Re: Oval pockets
« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2009, 09:08:59 PM »
well to be honest, I tend to do things the old fashioned way (pencil and paper) then type it out by hand. So I dont even have a drawing to import for it. What do most people use to draw up simple shape drawings like that anyway, Something I could pick up real quick because a full blown CAD program isnt really worth the effort or money for what i would use it for.



I use QCAD (about $35 from www.Ribbonsoft.com) for CAD, and SheetCAM (about $150 from www.sheetcam.com) for CAM.  Both have downloadable pretty much full-function (limited number of lines of G-code output on SheetCAM) demos.

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.
Re: Oval pockets
« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2009, 09:11:01 PM »
I'm using Vectrics Cut2D program. With what it sounds like, shoot me a drawing of the sizes you want and I'll shoot you back the G-code. Something like this will take about 10 minutes tops.

Offline docltf

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Re: Oval pockets
« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2009, 12:55:54 AM »
bathgate
what size oval you want.i will send you one.a dxf and a g-code.give me a size length and width.

bill

Offline jimpinder

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Re: Oval pockets
« Reply #6 on: February 24, 2009, 02:57:14 AM »
The mathmatics of an oval are well know and can be looked up in Wikkipedia, so you could soon write a bit of VB script to give you the relative x,y positions. The problem is then running it on Mach3, becasue there is a circle command, which, I assume constantly changes the x in relation to y as the cutter moves, but that is all.

All other "shapes" come from many short lines, all joined up, not a smooth transition.

There must be a way to control say the x axis in relation to the y axis smoothly, becasue it is already done for a circle, but how you do that on the fly, so tp speak, with a different equation,  I do not know.

We would certainly be getting beyoud the bounds of the original CNC machines then.
Not me driving the engine - I'm better looking.

Offline ger21

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Re: Oval pockets
« Reply #7 on: February 24, 2009, 09:13:04 AM »
Everyone keeps saying oval, but what you really want is an ellipse, right? A true ellipse is difficult unless the control has a built in ellipse g-code, which Mach3 does not. So what you have to do, as the previous post mentioned, is approximate it with short line segments. Some CAD programs can approximate a true ellipse using arcs, which is much more efficient, and very close to a true ellipse. AutoCAD can do this.
Gerry

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Re: Oval pockets
« Reply #8 on: February 24, 2009, 09:39:14 AM »
We manufacture foil balloons. The machine I have makes any shape you can think of. When I've thrown ellipses (any shape for that matter) at it the code from Vectrics is always very small and concise. Cut2D will take a PDF as the vector file. Our creative department designs in Adobe Illustrator. I've been up and down the DXF, DWG road too many times (I use Solidworks but can't do all the drawings/shapes they need). The best and NO TROUBLE format I've used is PDF. Cut2D translates these perfect.
Re: Oval pockets
« Reply #9 on: February 24, 2009, 06:39:07 PM »
Well thanks to everyone who is offering to write the code for me. But what would I learn by having someone do it for me. I did eventually want to suck it up and take the time to learn CAD, so I guess now is as good a time as any. I looked at the QCAD  software. I realize that everyone uses something different and everyone will say that what they use is easiest.(or at least that has been my impression). But is I was hoping people could point me at something that is relatively straight forward and not to complex, 2D is really all I require right now.
CB