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Can't achieve a counterbore.

Discussion in 'SketchUcam Help' started by Roy Rogers, Jul 31, 2014.

  1. Roy Rogers

    Roy Rogers New Member

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    I'm a very newbie.

    I downloaded and have been trying SketchUcam. It is very interesting to me. My previous (limited) experience is using AutoSketch to create DXF files, and importing those into Lazycam. I had the version of Lazycam that comes with Mach, so I don't have cutter comp. or anything. So the SketchUcam looks very appealing to me.

    One of the first things I wanted to try was creating a counterbore. This would (I guess) require a pocket that has a through hole.

    So I made a little square, lifted it .5", then I made a hole through it in SketchUp. Now I added a slightly larger concentric hole, and recessed it .25". Then I tried to use the SketchUcam pocket tool to turn that recess into a pocket.

    But I found I can only create a pocket if my object doesn't have a through hole within the pocket?

    Am I doing something incorrectly? I don't want to just create counterbores but sometimes I want to create a 3" long slot (.25" wide) that has a recess of .25" all around. This allows me to add a recessed slighting machine screw.

    So I'm thinking I need pockets with through "slots," but like I said I'm a newbie and maybe approaching this incorrectly.

    TIA for any help.
     
  2. swarfer

    swarfer Moderator Staff Member

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    Hi
    Your first mistake was to create things that are 'lifted'. SketchUcam does not work like that.
    It is designed around FLAT drawings and adding cut lines around or inside those outlines.
    (though it does have a 'generate 3D' mode that does a very rudimentary 3D carving, do not use this if the article needs to be the right size!)

    To do what you want to do, you can approach it from a number of directions.
    One way is to use copies of the master drawing, do the hole on one copy, do the pocket on another drawing, generate gcode for each one, run the gocde sequentially, or manually combine the files and run it all together.

    You can achieve the same thing using groups, since groups can overlay each other without interfering (much).
    Firstly never place a plunge hole intersecting a horizontal line, you can draw a positioning line to help find the center, so long as it is not horizontal. I do little triangles that are smaller than the bit size.

    1 - draw the counterbore
    select the plunge tool.
    type 20 and press enter. this sets the depth to 20% of material thickness
    hold down SHIFT and click the center of the hole
    you are prompted for the diameter, enter 8 (I work in mm)
    you see a circle and a purple horizontal line, select all that and group it.

    2 - put in the center hole
    select the plunge tool, the default depth is already set to your inside/outside overcut %
    do not change this if you want the hole right through the material.
    point at the center of the counterbore and click.
    select the small circle and its purple line, group it. (you can give groups names under 'entity info' and the names will be visible in the gcode output. groups also affect the order of cuts so the read the help about the group reorder tool)

    Now the gcode will cut the counterbore and then the center hole.

    To get up to speed on using this plugin you really need to read the help (big blue question mark in the toolbar), and then watch the various videos linked from the install instructions at
    http://www.phlatforum.com/xenforo/threads/sketchucam-download.3128/

    Happy cutting
     
  3. MGarber

    MGarber New Member

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    Is there any particular reason why the plunge tool comes up with a dia .01" greater than the Parameter tool dia?
    Should this number be left alone, or adjusted by -.01"?
     
  4. MGarber

    MGarber New Member

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    Correction: Is there any particular reason why the **Set Tool Diameter** comes up with a dia .01" greater than the Parameter tool dia?
     
  5. swarfer

    swarfer Moderator Staff Member

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    to quote the help for Phlatbones (big blue question mark in the toolbar!)
     
  6. swarfer

    swarfer Moderator Staff Member

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    Some further info on counter boring:
    since version 1.2a plunge holes are automatically grouped for you so you don't need to group them manually.
    The auto grouping prevents background geometry interfering with the gcode generation EXCEPT
    when there is a horizontal line from the center point extending to the RIGHT, ie, underlying the pink 'here is a hole' line.
    However, after placing your hole, just delete the underlying line (NOT the PINK ONE!) and it will work just fine.

    If you are not running the latest version of SketchUcam you should be!
     

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