Messages

1

Bug Reports / Re: Might be a bug in the website...

« on: April 22, 2020, 09:36:27 am »

Is there something fishy in the new web-soft that's causing this to repeat like this?

Hi Lloyd,

As part of the forum upgrade, I enabled the mail queue option (as well as changing the mail server that sends the mails).

I'm not sure what happened to delay things, but if you don't get a new post notification when you think you should, give me a shout and I will check the mail queue to see
if there are problems.  If your email program allows you to view the mail headers, that may also give some clues, such as when it was originally sent. 

Thanks for letting me know!

2

Lathes and Turning / Re: Newbie starting out - need a kick

« on: April 18, 2020, 15:36:25 pm »

Hi Carl,

Help - View Samples will open up the samples folder.

And a hint for people using CamBam in evaluation mode... dragging sample files from explorer onto the current open CamBam window will open the file without starting a new CamBam session and using up an evaluation counter.

3

CamBam help (General usage) / Re: create an stl file

« on: April 18, 2020, 11:45:59 am »

As promised here are the pictures of the machined stringers with a 5axis cnc. They look great but the stl issue remains even on the last version. Probably due to the software used . Alphacam seems only to be able to work with solids. STL is a collection of triangles. Hopefully a solution on this in the future.

Wow!  They look beautiful!  Thank you so much for the photos... that staircase is going to be a work of art!

Is that beech wood?

It is a shame about the STLs... so Alphacam didn't even like the manifold solid STL I posted... hmmm 
Just going to have to crack on with the STEP export.

4

CamBam help (General usage) / Re: create an stl file

« on: April 16, 2020, 15:30:29 pm »

I am still working on getting a CamBam V1.1 development release ready, which should make your life easier.

With this you can create the main stringer block as one surface, the steps as another, then subtract the steps from the main block.
Everything is driven from the stringer and step oultline drawings, so no manual steps needed.
The resulting solid is also a nice manifold, which should keep most CAD programs happy.

I have attached a manifold STL created from your previous drawing using V1.1, in case there are any problems loading the other one.

STEP exporting is a little way off, but will be added eventually.

If testing goes to plan, I'll aim to get an early V1.1 preview release out next week.

5

CamBam help (General usage) / Re: create an stl file

« on: April 16, 2020, 13:34:18 pm »

Try this one...

There was a boundary line (ID=170), where the top point did not quite match up with the corner.

6

CamBam help (General usage) / Re: create an stl file

« on: April 11, 2020, 07:45:16 am »

Thanks a lot, it works and indeed what a work on these faces. An automation would be very welcome.

I have a version working with the development version of CamBam that I may be able to adapt to V1 that reduces some steps.

So I think I managed this new one but why is my shape so distant from my 2d Dxf? In your file, they were much closer together. Did I align in the wrong way?

The shape is wrapped around the Y axis, which becomes the center of the cylinder.
In your first drawing the outer radius was ~250mm.  In this one it is ~900mm, so the result is much further away from the axis.

I spotted another problem with this method.  The CamBam surface join function in V1/0.98 is not very smart and only tries to connect common vertices,
so the edges are not completely connected.  I am working towards getting a CamBam V1.1 development release ready that will fix this problem (and make the whole process easier).

7

CamBam help (General usage) / Re: create an stl file

« on: April 10, 2020, 11:37:13 am »

Looks great !! So if I have to make other shapes can I just use this file and enter other shapes in the layers scr-top, stringer and step with an import dxf and run the scripts ?

Sort of, here are some general guidelines...

'src-top' layer
The script in the top of the drawing contains two lines...

Code: [Select]

arc1 = doc.FindPrimitive(60)
arc2 = doc.FindPrimitive(58)
So if those two arcs get replaced, the IDs will also need to be updated in the script.
It may be easier just to hard code in the radius like this...

Code: [Select]

radius1 = 212.5
radius2 = 157.5
Then the 'src-top' layer isn't needed at all and can just be used for reference.

'stringer' layer
Each edge segment must be a single polyline.  I did this by using edit 'explode' on your source drawing, selecting all the shapes in one edge, then using edit join.
...or just ctrl+p to turn the line segments back into polylines.

The left hand edge needs to be aligned on the Y axis.  The Transform - Move command (CTRL+M) is handy for this.  If you hold down the CTRL key when selecting the source points you can select 2 source points on one edge, then line them up when selecting destination points.

'step' layer
Again, each edge segment must be a single polyline.

I also needed to trim the lower step that you had drawn overlapping the stringer shape.

wrap_edges and surface_wraps
These should automatically update if the top level script changes or when the document is reopened.
Otherwise you can highlight all the scripts and press 'F5' to update.

I have just added a script as the first object in the drawing tree, with 'Execute on Update' set 'False' and code...

Code: [Select]

doc.UpdateChildScripts(True)
Selecting this script and pressing F5 will then refresh all the scripts in the drawing.

Now things get a bit more tedious sorry!

'wrap_edges_exploded'
Select the script in 'explode_wrap_edges_F5' layer and press 'F5'.
This will replace all the edges in the 'wrap_edges_exploded' layer with the recalculated edges from 'wrap_edges'

Unfortunately, this means all the following scripts that used the IDs of these edges will now need to be manually updated.
There are also 4 line segments in layer 'manual_edge_draw' that will need to be updated.
Probably easier just to double click the existing ones and drag the end points to the updated positions.
(I was planning to automate those but ran out of time)

'manual_surfaces' layer

The first script in this layer (script 165) has the following code
(I've added some comments to identity which sections do what)

Code: [Select]

# top step pocket edges
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([134,78,133,94],False))
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([133,81,138,97],True))
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([138,80,136,96],True))

# middle step pocket edges
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([82,141,98,142],True))
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([141,85,146,101],True))
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([146,84,144,100],True))
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([144,83,142,99],True))

# bottom step pocket edges
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([150,86,149,102],False))
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([154,92,152,116],True))
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([152,87,150,103],True))

# left hand edge
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([158,170,134,95,136,171,159,132],True))
# right hand edge
this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([157,131,160,169,154,124,149,168],True))

The numbers are the IDs of the polylines that make up the boundaries of those faces.
I found it easier to have a copy of the script open in another program (such as notepad), then click on the edges in the drawing for each boundary and type in the ID
into the corresponding script.

If a surface looks grey, you may need to reverse the True/False parameter to invert that surface.

The other two scripts in this layer create the top and bottom swept surfaces.

The code for the top one is...

Code: [Select]


# front edge
polyA = doc.FindPrimitive(125)
# rear edge
polyB = doc.FindPrimitive(129)

this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.BridgeFillPolylines(polyA,polyB,True))

'all_surfaces' layer

Once all the manual surfaces have been updated, you can refresh the script in this layer.
Hide all the layers other than this one, then export the file to an STL.

8

CamBam help (General usage) / Re: create an stl file

« on: April 10, 2020, 08:06:34 am »

Andy,

In light of what you said, I think the best way forward for CamBam would be to implement a system like Grasshopper for Rhino.
It is in fact almost there when you take script entities into account.

Looks interesting... similar to Blender's shader definitions.

One thing coming soon that should make life easier is the addition of 'Inputs A', 'Inputs B' properties to scripts that will be similar to the 'Primitive IDs' property of machining operations.  This way people can use a common library of scripts without having to bother with the details of the script itself.
Subtract all shapes in 'Inputs B' from shapes in 'Inputs A' for example.
... or from this drawing: PlaneFill boundary formed by shapes in 'Inputs A'.
The inputs list also needs to be improved to support layer names as well as sub-objects (select an individual polyline segment for example).

9

CamBam help (General usage) / Re: create an stl file

« on: April 10, 2020, 07:52:17 am »

I just attached a new version of the drawing in my previous post... the original had a couple of inverted faces.

In scripts like manual_surfaces. script (165), there are lines like...

Code: [Select]

this.Entities.Add(SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs([138,80,136,96],True))

The last parameters : 'invert' (True/False) inverts the generated surface.

SurfaceFiller.PlaneFillPolylineSegs is one of the helper scripts that takes an array of polyline IDs that form a boundary, then fills it.
The function assumes all the segments are contained within the same plane.
Functions like this will get absorbed into the core CamBam functionality soon.

10

CamBam help (General usage) / Re: create an stl file

« on: April 10, 2020, 00:52:29 am »

Attached is my working drawing for current CamBam V1, including some helper scripts.

I have tried to keep the drawing as parametric as possible, but there are a number of manual steps involved.
The aim is to reduce/eliminate these manual steps (V1.1 will help with this soon).

The drawing relies heavily on Script Entities.  I am currently working on more examples and documentation regarding these.

The first three drawing layers 'src-top', 'stringer', and 'step' contain copies of the drawing objects in your 'developped 2D nesting.dxf' file.
These shapes have been rotated and oriented about the origin for convenience.  They have also been split into edge segments as this is helpful for further steps.

At the top of the drawing tree (in the 'stringer' object), the 'Script' property imports some helper scripts (included in the .zip file) and sets up some contstants such as the cylinder radius and step inset depth that will be referred to in later scripts.
Note, the helper scripts need to be saved in the same folder as the .cb drawing.

The layer 'wrap_edges' contains a bunch of script objects that handle wrapping the source drawing segments around cylinders.
There are also a couple of scripts here that generate the joining edge segments.

The layer 'surface wraps', generates a few surfaces based on cylindrical wraps of various edges.

So far everything is pretty parametric.  You can change the step and stringer outlines, bend radius etc, then refresh the scripts (by selecting and pressing F5).

Layers after this get a bit messier and more manual.

We want to be able to select individual edges to make boundaries for various surfaces, but currently there is no way in CamBam to select 'sub edges' from the scripts above... this is something in development.  So the easiest way to do this currently is to make a copy of a script object, then use Edit - Explode to extract it's component parts.  The script (77) in layer 'explode_wrap_edges_F5' is provided to automate this somewhat.
It's 'Execute On Update' property is set 'False', so the script will only run manually by selecting it and pressing F5.
This script will clear the layer 'wrap_edges_exploded' and fill it with all the edges exploded from the scripts in 'wrap edges'.

The scripts in 'manual surfaces' have entity ID's from 'wrap_edges_exploded' hard coded in, so unfortunately when the above script is run, these IDs will need to be manually entered, which is rather tedious.

Lastly, the script in layer 'all_surfaces' just joins all the surfaces generated in previous layers into one contiguous mesh.
If all the other layers containing surfaces are hidden, the File - Export will export this surface to an STL file.

Sorry, no STEP file export yet, but this should be coming in V1.1.

I have tried to keep these steps as automated as possible using the current V1 release, but it is rather complicated.
V1.1 will help simplify things and working through this is also helping to identify areas that need more work.

I've skipped over a bunch of details regarding the scripts, but will try to explain and document these more soon.

I hope this helps!

Edit: I just attached a new version of the drawing... the original had a couple of inverted faces.

11

CamBam help (General usage) / Re: create an stl file

« on: April 09, 2020, 16:34:28 pm »

Hello Michel,

I have been having an experiment generating this shape within CamBam.

I have attached an STL file that was completely CamBam generated.

I'd be happy to share the CamBam file and process but just wanted to first check if this was along the right track.

I notice my STL is different to EddieCurrents one created in Rhino, particularly around the edges of the cylinder.
Mine seems closer to your original STL... but not sure if that is good or bad. 

Things like this will be easier in the CamBam version, currently in development, but may be possible in current V1 version with a bit of coaxing.
STEP export is not yet available, but is another thing on the TODO list.

12

Latest News / Re: Forum upgraded!

« on: April 09, 2020, 16:08:19 pm »

I suggest that you set notifications on by default, and make sure to post a reply when approving a post so they get a notification. I think this may help relieve some of the frustration of the unknown wait time for a question to be seen.

Another good idea, thanks Bob.  I have pretty much put in place your initial suggestions regarding registration and it seems to working nice!

I have just set the following membership registration flag...
Enable "Allow the administrators to send me important news by email" by default.

13

Latest News / Re: Forum upgraded!

« on: April 08, 2020, 15:51:38 pm »

Why would someone join a forum if they had no intention of posting a message in it ?

Maybe same reasoning that led me to get a gym membership one time? 

The number of new members seems to have taken off lately.

Yeah, mostly spammers... settings are locked down better now, so looks like it is easing off.
New members now need to get their first post approved and can't edit their profiles until they are approved.

If things look OK, will probably clear out old registrations at some point.

14

CamBam help (General usage) / Re: Trimming

« on: April 08, 2020, 12:17:59 pm »

I have just uploaded a quick screen capture of using the Edit - Trim function.

https://youtu.be/m8vf-YdTWoA

Does that help?

15

Latest News / Re: Forum upgraded!

« on: April 06, 2020, 21:28:50 pm »

Is there a way to change all "old" links so they still "falls" on the right message in the forum ?

ex: on this topic.
https://cambamcnc.com/forum/index.php?topic=8403.0

Should now be fixed.  However, if you have previously clicked a link, you will need to clear your browser cache to get the correct link.
For example in Chrome - More tools - clear browsing data, then just clear 'cached images and files.