A question about laying shapes out for CNC routing

gthorne

Hi everyone!

I've gotten really active in my local Fab Lab, and really enjoy a ShopBot table. For my last couple designs, I mocked them up in SketchUp, then went over to Inkscape to lay out the 2D version. Today, I found a really good source online on how to go from a 3D model to 2D, but I'm missing a step. I like to "assemble" the model virtually first, and I'm having trouble going from the assembled model to the flat layout. What I'd really like is a plugin that takes all selected groups and components, and rotates them and moves them to be flat on the "ground". It would be great if it also drew guides for a 4x8 sheet of plywood (to show you how many sheets a project will need). I've searched the forums and found a couple of plugins that I think will work, but they end up doing a 2D projection or something else that I'm not wanting.

Is there a plugin out there that does what I'm describing?

Thanks!

TIG

Parts of the code exist but not is a single tool.
For example my Slicer5 tool has an 8pro option to export the slices as individual 'flat' DXF files.
I have also written similar tools for some customized CNC cutting of panels.

So... your wish is for a tool to take your 3d model lay all components flat and draw 4x8' outlines so you can adjust them within those, for export manually to DXF ?
How is it to know what's 'flat' ?
If you model all of your components so that their axes are in the right orientation for 'flatness' - you can of course adjust any component's axes after it's made by using the right-click context-menu 'change-axes'...
Then when you have everything assembled there's a simple tool I wrote that places all of the Model's components flat on the ground, spaced apart
[ http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=412568#p412568 etc ]

a version of that will quickly do that for you...
It's then easy enough for you to make a component for a flat 4x8' rectangle and position instances that as you need to manipulated the layout of the parts...

Dave R

I think I'd look at CutList 4.1.1 for this. You can use the SVG Layout output in Inkscape and it'll draw the plywood panel outline. Another option would be CutList Plus for doing your the layout of the pieces and optimizing the usage. You could use either CutList 4.1.1 or CutList Bridge to make the jump from SketchUp to CutList Plus. CutList 4.1.1 is, I think, easier to use but CutList Bridge offers some additional settings that you might find useful such as the ability to specify grain orientation on the sheet materials.

gthorne

Cut list looks cool, I'll play around with it. I could see it being very useful.

TIG - I think your plugin is simple enough for my needs. As for how the hypothetical plugin could know which way is 'flat', there's a number of methods that it could use. If I'm designing out of 3/4" plywood, one dimension of the object will be 3/4". It could assume that whichever way the 3/4" is oriented "up" is flat. Or, it could just point the smallest dimension up.

gthorne

@TIG - I like the simplicity of 'components to grid', but how do I get it to work for groups as well as components?

Dave R

Why not just make components? They're easier to name and identify and if you need to edit the model, modifying one copy will modify all related instances.

TIG

You are almost certainly going to have some repetitive 'parts' ?
...AND utilizing components instead of groups will allow you to edit their axes... so when they are laid out their RG/XY plane [Z/Blue=up] is as you desire, but any already located parts are unaffected by this axes tweak...

gthorne

Ok, I'll start using components then. Thanks for the help.