[craigrobbo]

Hello,

My issue is when i import my part from Autodesk inventor using several exporting formals including IGS, STEP, DWG & STL that when the part imports and all looks well when i come to select a boundry almost all round faces are split into several smaller arches.

Okay so thats not a major issue i can just select all untill i have a full circle, but no - It will not accept any boundry.

When i want to machine a particular part of the model i will select th eportion i want the toolpath to take, but when i do it still selects the entire model.

Now all the above is done in 3d mill mode.

My next (well more of a continuation) issue is when i come to use 2d milling.

A similar part i want to machine in 2D again import the part (the drawing is in the 3d but i assume since i am not selecting 3d faces it should be ok?) now this time because of the previous issue in not being able to select boundrays this time it does not let me select the face or line i want to machine.

For example i import a round circle and want to pocket it, no matter which edge i select it just does not accept.

I do thefollowing 'select geomatry' right clock and 'ok' to confirm however, after conformation it just doesn't accept the selection of the part i want to machine, and its the same issue with the boundry.


Now then, if i draw a part in bobcad all seems to work fine, however alot of my files are made in inventor and my choice of CAD software, mainly because i find it the easiest to use.

Thanks

Craig

[aldepoalo]

Hello Craig,


2D Machining:

1) 2D machining is based on wire frame

Sample video: Standard Profile - adepoalo's library


Use utilities >extract edges in order to "get" the wire frame from a surface or solid.

TIP: It's always a good idea to create a new layer and make it active when extracting edges. It makes it easier to select the wire frame for features, because you can "blank" the solid layer leaving only the wire frame showing.

[aldepoalo]

"My issue is when i import my part from Autodesk inventor using several exporting formals including IGS, STEP, DWG & STL that when the part imports and all looks well when i come to select a boundry almost all round faces are split into several smaller arches.

Okay so thats not a major issue i can just select all untill i have a full circle, but no - It will not accept any boundry."

If the software is not letting you use the boundary, it's because the boundary is "bad"

Bad =

1) It is not a closed shape
2) It's not trimmed properly
3) There are double entities
4) Tangent issues

It's ok, we have tools to fix this... Example, if you chain is made up of tiny little segments, you can optimize the chain into larger segments, or use fit arcs which will help bring the entities count down.

Like you said you had a whole bunch of tinny segments, are you sure you selected them all? Did they chain... these are the things you want to look for.