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Hi DeltaCad help folks,
Pardon my silly question as I'm new to Cad programs. I downloaded your manual and drew the calculator (such a good idea, by the way.... i was up and using the software for my projects in less than an hour).
I drew a bunch of parts up to send off to a CNC plasma cutting shop that will be brackets for a project were working on. I'm curious... is there an inverse operation to a split in delta cad? Or an inverse operation to "create lines" when you go to edit>shape (square)> convert to lines? I'm just curious because I have a feeling the shapes I have drawn will end up being a bunch of disconnected lines that are not friendly to the G-Code generator.
thoughts? Thank you for your help. (I did search the FAQ first, btw, but I might not know what to call the operation I'm trying to do)
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Welcome, hivizleds
As far as I know, there's no DeltaCad function for connecting existing lines to form a single entity. However, as so often in DeltaCad, there's an easy way to achieve the same end. In the following, I hope I've understood your question correctly:
Let's assume you've drawn a square or rectangle as separate lines. Go to 'Shapes|Draw a rectangle using two corners' and draw a new rectangle exactly over your lines. Next, send your new rectangle to the bottom of the Z-order (think X/Y/Z axes) with Edit|Z(down arrow). Your original individual lines will now be visible on top and can be erased, leaving the single-entity rectangle.
For more complex shapes, 'Shapes|Draw a polygon' can be used. These techniques are useful anyway for when you need to Fill or Hatch.
By the way, to clear up a misunderstanding, this forum has no direct connection with Midnight Software, the designers of DeltaCad. We have their kind approval, but we're just a bunch of enthusiasts.
Regards
John
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07-15-2014, 07:58 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-15-2014, 08:12 AM by i44troll.)
like John i had a bit of a problem understanding the question. I'm assuming that it concerns disconnected lines that are a common occurrence when saving a file to DXF. If that is the case your concerns are understood but unavoidable, however, anybody in the business of converting dxf to code for CNC will have to make these repairs before production. Don't let it worry you. I've been working in Solidworks quite a bit lately and have had to repair many disjointed lines in the geometry of imported dxf's. These "breaks" (dis-joined lines or arcs) are so small that you could not find them without zooming in. Solidworks actually zooms in to the problem automatically but will not automatically reconnect the lines. Mastercam simply stops at the break during the chaining process. Vectric Aspire (my favorite) offers the best utility for this that I have used with four tools for repair, still, you will always encounter this problem regardless of what you use. Best bet is to find a guy running the plasma cutter that won't cry about it when it comes into his shop. I might add that some programs won't "see" a circle unless it is constructed as two arcs that are joined (such as two 180° arc joined at the ends), so if your drawings contain circles you may want to break them in half before you save to dxf.
Chris "i44troll"
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Hi hivizleds and welcome to DeltaCAD users group.
To answer your question (if I understand it correctly) about an inverse operation to "create lines", there is such a function for shapes.
After a "shape" (rectangle, square or circle) has been created, select the Edit tab and then click the Edit button and then select the desired shape. In the dialog box that comes up select the Convert to Lines button in the lower left corner. It will then convert the selected shape into individual lines.
In the case of a circle a second dialog box will appear. In that box choose the number of lines desired and the circle will break up into the desired number of straight lines, great for creating hexagons, octagons and such.
In the case of disconnected lines, I'm not sure I understand any of that. I was/am under the impression that when you join two lines that they are connected. By join I mean, when you draw a line to another line and you terminate that line at the cross hairs that show when you reach the other line's end point. Doesn't that automatically connect the two lines?
I don't usually mess with saving as DXF. I guess that's why it's a little confusing to me.
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Bill, it is common with a dxf file AFTER it has been exported. Not saying that all files transfer with disjointed lines but the majority of drawings that contain arcs are greatly susceptible to problems "re-materializing" once exported. You can spend a great deal of time fixing a drawing once it has been received. If the drawing is simple artwork (which is mostly the case with plasma cutters) you can repair broken and overlapping vectors just by deleting and redrawing to where it looks acceptable. Engineering drawings are a different story since your drawings require dimensions for size, location, and fit. Modifications for engineering drawings require more than an approximate placement of entities. Personally I hate having to use dxf files for anything because of the problems discussed, and when I do have to use them I will always minimize repair time by finding areas of the drawing that have symmetry and delete 1/2 using a line of symmetry, then fix what is left to fix, then mirror the repaired drawing.
