Re: trimming chains to make them go

Hi all:
Here comes a shameless plug for ...Mastercam...
Yes, Smoke (and others), I know you hate it but here's one thing it does do
better than any other CAM software I've ever run.
It tolerates chain discontinuities better than anybody else.
I used to run Featuremill exclusively, and just like you're describing, I
often had to trim intersections, redraw arcs, look for duplicate entities
and all that time killing crapulous nonsense.
You can blow literally hours tuning DXF files to make them run in most CAM
systems.
Not with Mastercam; set the chain tolerance to 0.0001, blow off duplicate
entities with a command specifically for that purpose and away you go.
I've saved more time with this simple capability than with all the fancy
stuff put together.
So that's my rant, and I'm sticking to it!!
(Hint to software developers out there...get your software to do this
reliably too!!)
Cheers

Marcus

----- Original Message -----
From: "stevenson_engineers" <machines@...>
To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 7:15 AM
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Vector with EMC


> --- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., "IMService" <imserv@v...> wrote:
> > loops and intersections may also be a problem, as well as
> duplicated
> > geometry. This is particularly a problem with programs that have a
> poor
> > DXF conversion capability, like Corel Draw. Also remember that
> when you
> > scale a DXF drawing, the chain gaps also scale.
>
> This is very good advise from Fred.
> Anyone that has to work a lot with DXF files will appreciate this
> advise.
> Construction lines that are on the same layer as the outline are lost
> under it. The CAM system though see's these as two seperate lines and
> it confuses the issue.
> Some CAD/CAM systems do have a delete duplicates command for such as
> these items.
> Also lines tangent to an arc in the Cad system may be accurate but in
> the transfer to DXF their relationship can be somewhat stretched.
> If often pays to zoom right in on suspect intersections to check they
> do actually touch. Join or trim depending on the CAD/CAM system will
> usually cure these errors.
>
> John S.