[dnelso]

I have a file to engrave on a piece of wood using v carve feature on a flat piece of material it works fine. The wood that needs to be engraved is not flat so i scan wood and create surface. When generating curves to surface parts are missing. I have attached the iges file.The curves that do make it as a chain wont machine with vcarve. The entities show as one chain but i get an error that says find large open loop.
Thanks Dave

[BurrMan]

Hi dnelso,
When you select the geometry, use a single "shift click". If the entire entity doesnt select, it will be an indication of where the chain is open and needs to be closed. Here I worked the upper letters closed (about 3 of them I think) as I went through the entities to get each one to toolpath. Notice in the "N" that is not toolpathed, the area that I highlighted, needs to have attention. Once this entity is a closed chain, it can be oincorporated into the selected geometry and V-Carve feature. You will want to go through and be sure that ANY selected entity is a closed chain.

[dnelso]

BurrMan,
I understand how to fix it. Im just wondering why if the the chains are closed to start with why after projecting the curves are so many missing. It will take so long to repair the flower it wont be worth the effort. V23 has so many features that i like but when i really need the software to work it wont. I do appreciate you trying to help.
Thanks Dave

[dnelso]

Finally got the problem resolved. Had to use solidworks to project a surface then extract the edges with bobcad. delete surface then use v carve. Still dont understand the problem with projecting curves to surface.
At least its done.
Dave

[BurrMan]

Rats,
Was going to show you I did it in BobCad:



For sure Solidworks has some features in it for helping things like this. Like treating all those little entities as one to do a "fitting process" when the projection happens. (Guess thats why they get paid the midrange bucks )

[dnelso]

BurrMan,
How did you fix the little line segments and keep them on the curve of the surface?
Thanks Dave

[BurrMan]

Hi dnelso,
I just rebuilt the curves as one single entity. I was going to post the file that would illustrate what was going on with the "seperate little segments" when they were projected onto the curved surface and how they were seperating. With the single curves, projected down onto the surface, you can switch to "top view" and actually see the geometry change! It kindo makes it more clear and yo can even see perhaps what SolidWorks is doing for you when it completes the projection.

THe final file with all the features for toolpath turned up to be about 60 MB. You would need at least a gig of ram to open it.

I could post a file with the reworked curves, and the projected curves so you can see if you want. I would also post a link to the completed file if you wanted to see what I did. (I didnt because you said you had already moved on).

Anyway, nice job...Talk later,
Burr

[dnelso]

BurrMan,
I really do appreciate you help. I would like to know how you fixed it for future reference. Maybe you could just show a small portion of the flower.I dont have much experience with drawing or surface work in bobcad. I do my daily work with solidworks and use bobcad for machining. Solidworks is not perfect. It has limitations also. I use a combination of solidworks rhino and bobcad to get some jobs done.
Later Dave

[BurrMan]

Hi dnelso,
Sure I'll show you how I traced . I find the best tool for this type is spline interpolated. Basically for the flower, I just created 2 new layers, then chainselected the largest mass and moved to one, then put all the rest on the other. Then blank all other stuff and start tracing.. click, click, click, click....Pan...Click, clcick....Pan...Ha! It seems daunting, but it really doesnt take that long, just start pluging. If I wanted to be a perfectionist, I may plan out a few day's to be exact. For an example, I may just click through pretty close...

I'll see if I can put something together to illustrate a bit later.

[dnelso]

BurrMann,
I just looked at the code i generated before cutting and noticed that the g code does not follow the curve of the surface. Did i miss a step, the purpose of this was to follow the curve of the wood.
Thanks Dave

[BurrMan]

Hey dnelso,
I didnt even think of that or consider it. It seems it does not act upon 3d stuff. Looks like your stuck with 3d engrave only for this.

[BurrMan]

THe only other option is to see if BobArt can create an emboss with the effect you would be trying to get out of the Vcarve feature. You would start with emboss from surface to get the wood surface, then emboss from texture to add the geometry to the surface with the desired angles and use a 3d toolpath to cut it.

[dnelso]

I was so happy to get code i never even looked. I thought because it was in 3d menu i was good. oh well it was fun trying. Still would like to see how you fix chains. I did learn a few things you cant deform lines if you are not at z-0
Dave

[BurrMan]

Hey dnelso,
I'll do the trace a bit later tonight and post it.

You can use the deform tool (Which I did a bit in the tracing) but you will want to create a UCS that you can modify to the geometry you are about to work on. So create a UCS with a name of deformer or something, then when you get to geometry you want to manipulate, right click the UCS and choose modify-3 points, then set it to the spline you are about to work on. It does work "planar" though, so you will want to place it with care because it moves the entity to the Zero of the current UCS. For the most part, I can place it to be able to do what I need and this type of stuff.

If you really need to deform something that is out of whack with a planar setting, You can use "Point on Entity" then select a percentage/Distance and create some kind of resolution, then translate the points (Thinking enters here, but it's a good coords exercise) and use them as pick points to create a new spline. FYI.

[dnelso]

Thanks

[dnelso]

Here is finished product. Found a flat piece of wood and just used vcarve. Burned the wood with a torch before engraving.
Dave

[BurrMan]

Holy crap Dave, Thats a nice outcome! Sorry I havnt posted anything yet. I've been in a bit of overwhelm. I will post something for you soon though,
Burr