Hi
This is a great plugin! I have installed it and its generating gcode. I am now attempting to edit it to write gcode correctly for my SCM router which uses Xilog. I have no programming experience.

My first problem is that the stock size that the script generates is incorrect(stock size is required in header of my particular router):

Line generated: ( Stock Size: 3.93700787401575 x 3.93700787401575 x 0.62992125984252 )
Should read: (100x100x16)

I am working in mm and have set the units in model info to mm.

Is there a simple fix to this problem?

Once I have completed editing the script to output correctly for my router I will make available on this forum for other users of SCM routers.

Best Regards
Stephen

Hi Bert

I have an SCM 5 axis machine which I use to cut a wide range of CNC components in solids and panels which I have modeled in sketchup. My work flow is as follows.

i)model in sketchup an entire assembly with various parts as solid components
ii) save individual components in their own files
iii)open individual files and export as iges using a iges export plugin (available through sketchucation tools)
iv)import iges solid into Alphacam (not sure what CAM software you are using but most decent packages will allow importing of iges solids)
v)tool path and cut

Please Note: Sketchup does not create true arcs, circles or splines- it breaks all of these geometries into segments. You will therefore never get other software to recognize geometry from sketchup as holes without some form of editing in the software that you are using to import the geometry. My typical work around in Alphacam for this is to ensure that when I draw the circles or arcs in sketchup I have very high segment count, Alphacam then has a utility which creates true arcs and circles by a kind of "best fit" process. Mostly though I dont even try export circles or arcs from sketchup as the results are unpredictable, I usually just draw them in alphacam.

If you would like some further advice I would be happy to look at one of your models that you are looking to use foor cutting- just private message me the model or upload it here.

Best Regards
Stephen

Excellent design solution, do a fair amount of this type of work myself and intend using your solution, great work on the modelling and rendering BTW. Thanks for sharing

Heres a glass cabinet I manufactured from lasercut mild steel with the model I used to have it cut. Hope you likeupper drinks shop.skp

Hi Marina

I do this type of work all the time, design in sketchup and then have parts lasercut or CNC routered -I can give you a few pointers.

The first thing you need to know and understand is that sketchup does not create true arcs,circles elipses etc. All of these geometric entities are broken into segments. Sketchup is especially poor at exporting solid 3d models for this reason and there are very few instances where exporting a 3d is useful in other software packages especially where one intends using the model for any type of CNC cutting.

However I get very good results using one particular plugin for getting machines to cut stuff for me its called- Tak2hata: Create Section Drawing. Install it by searching for it with the sketchucation tools- a plugin you must install if you havent already

How it works is: a)you create a section through the part you want to cut b)right click on the section you have created c)create section drawing

This exports a 2D dxf of the section you want cut as well as skp model of the 2D section. It eliminates all kinds of problems you may experience getting goemetry or faces on the right planes and really solves a lot of headaches for me.

Note though: As I explained earlier- sketchup does not export true arcs or ellipses and you would therefore get very staggered unatractive arcs if you did this with the model you have uploaded. My solution is to increase the number of segments SU uses to describe an arc or elipse. This has to be done with the geometry BEFORE you extrude it.

Method as follows a) draw arc/ellipse b)right click on it and select [entity info] c)you are then allowed to increase the number of segments in the entity info dialog box. This will give you something which comes much closer to the geometry you really want cut.

Please note: after you have extruded an arc or ellipse you cannot edit the number of segments which describe it.

Hope this helps
Stephen

Nice idea, will give it a go. Thanks for sharing!

Excellent work and much appreciated! I am using an SCM machine with Genio and Xilog I suspect that much of what you contribute can be applied to my workflow. Thank you

I have noted the sales strategy of Autodesk etc with some disgust at my local university.

Essentially a bunch of clueless, impressionable students get a "free" version of some incredibly complicated expensive software. They think they are scoring becuase clearly they have got something of great value for nothing, they then proceed like good little consumers to invest the enourmous amount of time it takes to learn do even the most basic design work in this "free" software. By the time they leave school and are ready to go to work they have to believe that all the effort they have made to learn a particular package is worth something and therefore feel obliged to buy the useless piece of crud or go work for someone(read:previously suckered student) that puts a value to their investment in it.

This process is something akin to handing out free cigarretes to schoolchildren as far as I am concerned. The fact that universities accept sponsorship from these predatory companies so that they can flog their dubious wares is a scandal to my mind.

It also explains the attitude that these "suckers" have to sketchup. To them its like a slap in the face being shown that they have been duped and the emporer actually doesn't have clothes on. Nobody wants to be told that they have made the wrong choice especially after they have invested so much in it.

The fact is no other 3D software competes with the returns on investment you get with SU. First off it costs almost nothing to purchase and you only do that when you are actually seeing financial returns already, secondly it takes so little time to learn how to do usefull stuff with it that you cant really lose even if you only use it a little. Finally if you do choose to invest a lot of time and go and install all the extensions which make it brilliant in your particular field chances are you will find it just as powerfull as anything out there.

Just dont try and tell someone who is already hooked on some other package that-they just dont want to hear it!

Never posted any of my work here and thought some of you guys might like what I have done.

The bookcase is for a "foundation phase" reading room. The design specifically seeks to address a few of the shortcomings-to my mind anyway-of more conventional bookcases used in junior libraries:

a)The kids who use this library are not interested in looking at the spines of books as they are just learning too read, they are drawn by the covers. The chances of a child finding a book that interests them is greatly increased by seeing more of the covers.

b)The school has an enormous number of books and therefore need a lot of storage but they only need the storage at the beginning and end of term when all of the books are out of circulation. During the school term most of the books are in circulation and the shelves would be empty in a conventional library-not very attractive.

c)A conventional bookcase construction usually requires a backing to keep it square under the loads it is put under. This ment kids were often obscured from the teachers view behind bookcases. It also made the space feel stuffy with large bland surfaces breaking it up. Using the mild steel for the shelves eliminated the need for backs.

d)One thing about all of the furniture I had seen before in libraries was how tacky they looked after a short while becuase labels applied to the surfaces were applied with "Prestic" or double sided tape leaving oily residues over everything. The steel shelves allow the use of cheap sheet magnets- which are printable -to denote categories etc. leaving no marks when moved around.

e)Lastly- i was able to manufacture and supply this bookcase at the same price as the conventional MDF "box" which was proposed. The plywood and pre-galvaised mild steel sheet are far more durable than MDF especially in the humid conditions we experience in Durban

Design was completed in sketchup, presented with layout, imported into Spaceclaim for sheet metal dxf files and Cnc routing files. My suppliers struggle with the segmented curves and holes that sketchup creates in dxf exports.

Hail Chief

Been a while since I downloaded and started using your plugin and I would like to make a few observation and suggestions if I may:

1. So brilliant being able to upload all of my materials from Cutlistplus- I have an enormous raw materials database.

Suggestion: would it be possible to upload the "other items"? I have a huge database of the fittings,fixtures,finishing supplies which I would dearly love to have use of in sketchup so that my model truly contains all of the information required. For instance I have a standard drawer assembly which i use over and over and having the drawer runners specified whenever I use it would be awesome.

2. I am finding the process of adding atributes through the extended entity info dialogue box a little bit tedious. My models generally have nested components as I find this the easiest way to design and edit kitchens for instance. This means that in order to make use of the cutlist bridge I have to burrow down into nested components to assign a material to a drawer rail for instance.

Suggestion:
It would be amazing if the plugin could assign the material by picking up its texture from sketchup especially with Fredo's Thrupaint which can paint individual faces within components. The process I envisage would be as follows: one creates a materials collection in sketchup from the cutlistplus database file (not sure how one would do this but its really about getting the names to correspond to cutlistplus's database). You then "paint" the components in your model with the selected material from the collection which would have a folder for each material type rough lumber,sheet good,edge banding, etc. Cutlist bridge then assigns the relative attribute in the extended info from the texture name on the faces of the component. This would mean one could paint edges with the desired edge banding-a feature i would pay money for. It would also mean that one could- at a glance -see if you had missed any components or if components were assigned the wrong material.

A further advantage to this workflow would be the ability to do instantaneous cost comparisons by substituting materials of certain components within the design. For instance painting internal components in a cheaper sheet material and seeing how much it would save on a project, without leaving sketchup.

Thank you for sharing your plugin it is already making an impact on my productivity

Kind Regards
Stephen

Hail Chief

Been a while since I downloaded and started using your plugin and I would like to make a few observation and suggestions if I may:

1. So brilliant being able to upload all of my materials from Cutlistplus- I have an enormous raw materials database.

Suggestion: would it be possible to upload the "other items"? I have a huge database of the fittings,fixtures,finishing supplies which I would dearly love to have use of in sketchup so that my model truly contains all of the information required. For instance I have a standard drawer assembly which i use over and over and having the drawer runners specified whenever I use it would be awesome.

2. I am finding the process of adding atributes through the extended entity info dialogue box a little bit tedious. My models generally have nested components as I find this the easiest way to design and edit kitchens for instance. This means that in order to make use of the cutlist bridge I have to burrow down into nested components to assign a material to a drawer rail for instance.

Suggestion:
It would be amazing if the plugin could assign the material by picking up its texture from sketchup especially with Fredo's Thrupaint which can paint individual faces within components. The process I envisage would be as follows: one creates a materials collection in sketchup from the cutlistplus database file (not sure how one would do this but its really about getting the names to correspond to cutlistplus's database). You then "paint" the components in your model with the selected material from the collection which would have a folder for each material type rough lumber,sheet good,edge banding, etc. Cutlist bridge then assigns the relative attribute in the extended info from the texture name on the faces of the component. This would mean one could paint edges with the desired edge banding-a feature i would pay money for. It would also mean that one could- at a glance -see if you had missed any components or if components were assigned the wrong material.

A further advantage to this workflow would be the ability to do instantaneous cost comparisons by substituting materials of certain components within the design. For instance painting internal components in a cheaper sheet material and seeing how much it would save on a project, without leaving sketchup.

Thank you for sharing your plugin it is already making an impact on my productivity

Kind Regards
Stephen

Fredo has released an update to his library, have you installed it?

Wow Al that looks like an awesome feature. Have you released it yet?

Hail Chief

This is friggin awesome. I have been using a sketchup through cutlist plugin to cutlist plus workflow for years. You have just radically upped the efficiency of that imperfect system. Well done!!!!!

Havent sunk my claws into this thing just yet but I can already see massive potentiol in terms of timesaving, accuracy, and enhanced sharing of info. One of my biggest problems with my old workflow was maintaining revisions across the network (i employ a druaghtsman and another designer) locking the pertinent information to a single source ie. the model means the mishaps I have had in the past where design revisions werent updated in the cut list plus file resulted in huge costly mistakes in procurement.

Can't thank you enough I will be feeding back as I begin to use the system.

Regards
Stephen