Nesting problems

Having problems with or questions about SheetCam? Post them here.
Post Reply
Brian Lamb
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:04 pm

Nesting problems

Post by Brian Lamb »

Hi guys,

I really haven’t used nesting much and am trying to program a bunch of parts to be cut on a 4’x4’ router. I have imported the 4 parts (right and left of two parts) and laid them out on the sheet. I think I did ok there. But when I go to try to drill all the holes it’s showing only the holes on one part, not the duplicates and not the three other parts. I have the dxf broken into three layers, holes are all on the “center” layer, outside profile on the Visible layer, centerline roughing pass down the slots is called “Dashed” and the profile of the slots is Continuous.

The plan is to drill all the holes using a .185” drill, then rough the slots with a 1/4” End mill, finish the slots with the same end mill, then profile the parts out of the sheet with the same end mill.

I can’t figure out how or why I’m not getting all the holes in all the parts when I set up my drilling operation… haven’t even tried the other operations yet. I’ve attached the job file….

On edit, I did do some of the cut paths, but again, they only apply to the first part and it's duplicates. I have highlighted each other part and clicked "enable part and duplicates" but no joy so far.
TL1_M TL1 TL2M TL2.job
(52.43 KiB) Downloaded 81 times
User avatar
Les Newell
Site Admin
Posts: 3661
Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 8:12 pm

Re: Nesting problems

Post by Les Newell »

Hi Brian,

Parts are independent of each other. In your job file you have only set up cut operations on the first part. If you select one of the other parts you will see the operations disappear because they have no operations defined.

Duplicates take all of their tool paths from their parent part but in most modes they aren't shown. This is to speed up drawing and help you see the original part. In nesting mode you should see all of the tool paths if 'enable part and duplicates' is turned on.
Brian Lamb
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:04 pm

Re: Nesting problems

Post by Brian Lamb »

OK, I see the cut operations disappear, do I have to do all the cutting specifications again for each part group? Or how do I select all four parts for the machining operations to apply to?

As a secondary question, when it drills the holes it drills top, middle and bottom on each part, can I specify it to drill all the lowest holes, then the middle holes and then the top holes, rapid from side to side in the X direction instead of so much Y movement.

I have nested a few parts before, but it was always one particular part covering the whole sheet, so this four parts on one sheet is new to me.
User avatar
djreiswig
Posts: 475
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:47 am
Location: SE Nebraska

Re: Nesting problems

Post by djreiswig »

I don't do mill work, but in plasma cutting you can select the order of the start points. Right click on the material area and select Quick Cut Sequence and select the order you want the different areas cut.

On the operations, you can right click in the list and copy them to the different parts.
Brian Lamb
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:04 pm

Re: Nesting problems

Post by Brian Lamb »

OK, I figured out how to copy the operations to each group of parts, will try the Quick cut sequence in the morning.
Brian Lamb
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:04 pm

Re: Nesting problems

Post by Brian Lamb »

I have managed the nesting and tool operations, but have a question. These are longer parts, have two or three holes drilled in each part. when I nest, the drilling operation does each part individually instead of jumping the shortest path to a hole on the next duplicate or part. Can this be done? Otherwise I have to output the code, then sit and manually type the holes into the order I want them... pretty time consuming.

Probably would ask the same of the next couple of operations, would like to rough the slots, finish the slots on all the parts, then profile them out of the sheet last. How would I go about accomplishing this?

Forgot to add the job file
Attachments
TL1 TL2 full sheet.job
(68.08 KiB) Downloaded 72 times
User avatar
djreiswig
Posts: 475
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:47 am
Location: SE Nebraska

Re: Nesting problems

Post by djreiswig »

In order to do the same operation on multiple parts and repeat with the next operation, you may have to nest your parts in a single drawing and import it into SheetCam as a single part. The only other way I can think of is to pick the drill operation and run the post, then pick the next operation and disable the drilling and run the post again. You'd have 2 gcode files to run.
Brian Lamb
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:04 pm

Re: Nesting problems

Post by Brian Lamb »

I had thought about having to create a DXF file with all the parts nested in it, but honestly, I can probably hand re-write the code in the order I want it faster than going to all of that trouble.
User avatar
djreiswig
Posts: 475
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2016 4:47 am
Location: SE Nebraska

Re: Nesting problems

Post by djreiswig »

Les might be able to modify a post to go through each part operation by operation. Hopefully he will reply.
WyoGreen
Posts: 257
Joined: Wed May 07, 2014 10:02 pm

Re: Nesting problems

Post by WyoGreen »

Combining all the parts into one dxf drawing should be just a simple copy and paste operation in the original dxf. Shouldn't take more than a few seconds per paste.

Steve
User avatar
Les Newell
Site Admin
Posts: 3661
Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 8:12 pm

Re: Nesting problems

Post by Les Newell »

Parts are processed separarately so to get the optimization you want I am afraid it would all have to be nested on one drawing. If laying it out in your cad is difficult you could use 'no offset' operations on all of your layers then use the dxf post processor to turn those tool paths into a drawing. It is a bit ugly but it works.
Brian Lamb
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2018 11:04 pm

Re: Nesting problems

Post by Brian Lamb »

OK, I tried duplicating in Alibre and it worked to a point... I had a right and left part, mirror images, then made rows of duplicates and after 5 rows of duplicate parts the CAD software started doing weird things, inverting the parts and giving partial shapes and stacking new ones on top of old ones... so who knows what the issues is there.

For this one group of parts, I just posted all the hole locations and then sorted them in ascending/descending values based on a common X or Y value, so all holes in a row would be done using the shortest distance. Took maybe a half hour to sort out and re-type by hand, so not a big deal to save huge amounts of long rapid moves jogging back and forth over all the parts. The mix of parts was 44 total on the sheet and some are 28" long and have three holes in each, but if I could go from part to part in the stack, it's less than 2" of rapid between holes.

I have some more questions and will ask them in a separate topic....
User avatar
Les Newell
Site Admin
Posts: 3661
Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 8:12 pm

Re: Nesting problems

Post by Les Newell »

Brian Lamb wrote: Wed Mar 14, 2018 7:03 pm OK, I tried duplicating in Alibre and it worked to a point... I had a right and left part, mirror images, then made rows of duplicates and after 5 rows of duplicate parts the CAD software started doing weird things, inverting the parts and giving partial shapes and stacking new ones on top of old ones... so who knows what the issues is there.
You can use the dxf post processor to generate a dxf from tool paths. If you do 'no offset' cuts on your nested job then use teh dxf post you will end up with a single drawing containing your nest. You can then load that dxf back in to end up with everything in a single part. It's a bit long winded but I have used that trick a few times.
Post Reply