did everyone just give up on this ?

hello is thee any reason why the dxf exporter makes the size of the file that has been imported and worked on scale up by a couple hundred thousanths of an inch ?

is this a fault in the exporter ?

thank you for the reply
setting the options to inches on import seems to have solved the import issue
but i still get a 200 thou size increase on all exported DXF files when i bring them in to any other CAD program and i have tried all the export options no luck
has anyone checked this out ?

hello

i have created several DXF files using another cad program and they import and export well
to several cad programs
however when i import them into sketchup the scale is all wrong they are not the size. why would this be is there a problem witrh sketchup and DXF's?

also when i export DXF from sketchup to other cad programs the files do not show up
is the export filter no good as well ?

i cant believe that people could deal with these problems and still find this a useful program

anyine know how to fix these issues?

hi and thanks for all your interest in this subject
the point of all this Milling tools plugin stuff is so that i can create several step by step simple process for people to design certain types of products.FABS
they need to be able to do this very simply with minnmal sketchup experiance.
this will help people who are stuck at home make some extra income online making real products.

the reason i have chosen SU is that it is free for them to dwonload and learn and is well supported and hopefully will continue to be. if they take to the subject they can move on to more well suited CADCAM software as they make money from thier designs.
so simple easy to use methods need to be developed that are mostly a few clicks only to achieve the results. this bpoly command needs to be scripted in such a way that it can detect all faces inside a given area if the user clicks inside that area.say one of the areas in the picture i posted above then the next click produces a clone of that shape and moves it aside by a given amount where the user can after erasing the master export those single parts as DXF file

some of these projetcs can get very complex having hundreds of parts so a quick easy way is essential to the sucess of such a method. i dont know if this is beyond the scope of SU as a program you all would be able to tell me that.
you are right about arcs being better than segments for CNC but is it possible for SU to have plugin that replaces the segments in a drawing with arcs? or perhaps a simple external program could take care of this problem when sending the file to the CAM program for the toolpaths.
again this is one of several methods i would like to see created that could open up the world of FABS creation to everyone the dogbones plugin is a great step in the right direction but a single script that handled several of the most comon proceses would be ground breaking stuff and help make the FABS revolution happen
my two cents
thanks

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hello

i am not a pro with sketchup so please bear with me
the files i want to use are imported from another cad program as DXF files if you imagine
a pattern and you want to be able to break it apart in to its parts so you can cut them on a CNC machine but the original DXF is made up of layers and not islands as in the drawing so if you select the polylines you dont get actual parts i hope i am not sounding too confusing here .
you need to be able to seperate the parts to be able to cut them indervidually with a CNC machine and put them, back together later.
i can do this with autocad but i want to get a sketchup system happening to do some of my ideas so that everyone can make cool projetcs that can be cut on Robotic tools without having to spend a ton of money on high end Cad Cam software so i have many plugin tools in mind for sketchup and developiong your milling tools plugin would be one way that could cover that but i think it would be a big job so i have perhaps a way to help compensate you for this effort if are you interested in working with me ? or anyone else out there
that might be interested and has the right skills please email me info<at>makecnc<dot>com

thanks

Paul Campbell
http://www.makecnc.com
http://www.fabscity.com

Join the Revolution !

Hey Thomthom

this is looking really good right on track for milling tools for use with sketchup
can you email me as i would like to talk with you about a really cool project i am working on that may interest you

info@makecnc.com

thanks

keep up the great work!

Join the Evolution !

Hello all

there is a little known fuction in autocad called bpoly and it works like this .it is basically an island detection and seperation function here is some info on it

BPOLY command description:
Creates a boundary polyline
Use the bpoly command.after using this command, a dialog box opens and you have to pick a point inside the closed area.Please note that this works only for "closed" areas.
A polygon is formed at the boundary of closed area.
you can now erase the original entities and use the closed polygon thus formed.

If you have several segments in a drawing that you want to extract and you want to make closed polygons, that you can seperate away as pieces see the drawing attached and think i would want to click inside any part of this drawing and it would create a copy of the boundry polyline that would then offset itself as a clone that i could move aside
in this manner i could make up seperate parts of the drawing that could be a puzzle that could be put back together to create the original drawing. these puzzles could be made very quickly using a script to automate all or much of the island detected polyline copys.
could a plugin be written ? if so very large and complex puzzles could be made very quickly which is what i am hoping for can anyone solve this problem and is it possible to write this sort of plugin?

i have attached a drawing to show what i mean about drawing that needs to be broken simply into parts

thanks for reading

that will work fine. thanks for all your work on this

and to you tig thank you for your work and input as well did you end up finishing anything?

and to everyone els who took and interest thanks much

merry xmas

thanks for your help so much
i did notice that when you apply the dog bone or t bone to a set of poly lines it made them
at every single intersection of polylines which is not what is needed only on the inside corners is it needed as that is where the cutting tool raduis is a problem for getting fits
the cutting tool can make sharp outside corners no problem .
if you take a look at the picture i uploaded you can see which places need dog or t bones in them and which do not
is there way to make the script only apply the t or dog bones to inside corners of a drawing as shown in my picture
i hope this makes sense?

and thanks again for all your help

hey it would be perfect to have both options to process all and also indervidual corners
can this be done?

Hi all

to answer your question you do not need control over the parameters other than setting the tool radius before you start

so it would be the same every time

Hello again and thanks for all the input
to better illustrate what the needs are for this plugin i have drawn a picture of the typical use of these fillets in a bit of sheet material say 3/8 inch MDF
while T bones would be good they are not critical .
however the dogbone type fillets are as you can see. t bones are just another way to get the same result.
when i drew this i noticed that the weld and trim comands were different for the inside square and the outside trims just thought i would note that..as the mathe must be different for both?
the options shown in the picture would be typical of the actual uses. i have uses a larger arc for this drawing but in real life the arc would be usually say 1/4 inch if cutting 3/8 thickness sheet material say plywood or MDF. i hope this better shows what i am trying to achieve..some of the projetcs i have in mind have hundreds of parts so doing it all by hand with circles etc would be a nightmare hence the need for a plugin to help automate this process. if you imagine when drawing if a guy or gal enter a radius then could point to the coner intersection of a square or inside corner then click and it would be selected then click again and presto a fillet appears one would be in CNC heaven

Hi and thanks

once more for all the interest
i am lost with all the math but i did draw apicture to illustrate
it is here.

this is what is needed
to be able to create the fillets just by a single comand in sketchup where you point and click the corner point of the slot or square then choose the raduis for the arc. which would be the same as the raduis of the tool you would use to cut the material on the CNC router

Hi thanks for all the replies
you are on the right track
the picture looks about right
but you want to make it so you remove as little of the corner material as possible without
losing the abilaty to fit the square peg in the round hole so to speak.

t bone is similar but a t shape instead of the dogbone shape pictured.
both have the same result.

a router can cut square outside corners but not square inside corners so to allow all sorts of square parts to fit into other square holes and slots.

does anyone know if a plugin could be written to carry out this operation on a 2D drawing using just a point and click routine and also being able to set the radius prior

hello all if you can help me ?
i am trying to achieve somthing that i think would benefit myself as well as many other people who would like to make things on cnc routers that use sketchup
the problem is that because router bits are round you can not get square inside corners when cutting out sheet materials like MDF.
a way to solve this problem and allow one to clip parts together with slots etc is to draw somthing called a dogbone or t bone fillet

The 'Dog-Bone' and 'T-Bone' fillets allow toolpaths to ‘notch’ the inside corners of slots and grooves, allowing mating parts to fit flush against the true base of the pocket. This technique allows the radius of the cutter to be removed from the bottom of slots.

what i am talking about is how hard would it be to write a plugin that you could click on a corner in a 2d line drawing and create a fillet like this where you could set the radius of the fillet and have both a tbone option and a dogbone option,

could someone write this?

you can email me if you can help paul@thelostradio.com

thanks