Molasses and duck down

[GripUs]

Have you ever put molasses on a baby’s fingers and then given him a bit of duck down? He will amuse himself for a long time as he picks it off of one hand only to have it stick to the other, and the process repeats itself. That has been me with a modeling problem the last 72 hours.

I am trying to make a model in a dished out area, much like the B style of James’ VectorArt3D models. I then want to put a rope border around it and there is the rub. Let’s just say the rope border is 18 inches in diameter and .25 inches high. That means the surface in the middle is .25 inch lower. My component I want in the dish is .4 inches in height and I want the dish .4 inches deep. In VCP, I would import the Cut3D models/toolpaths and have a “start depth” of .25 for the center component/model. I have tried changing the base height and actual height of all the components until my keypad has no more numbers on it and my space bar has a notch. I always heard if you give an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of typewriters, eventually one of them would write “Gone With the Wind.” Maybe so, but I have tried this combination of numbers, heights and thickinesses an infinite number of times…twice…and I am still pulling my hair out. I have been able to get it toolpathed right a couple of times when I notice something in the model that needs tweeking and then it all comes apart like a ten cent watch and I can never get it back together right. Any help??

Regards,

Joe

[BrianM]

Hi Joe,

You don't need to mess with any start heights at all for this, the process is much easier in Aspire but it is different to the way it had to be done using VCP and Cut3D.

I would approach this as follows

1) Draw your 18" diameter circle for your dish
2) Apply a rounded negative shape using the shape editor and the 'Scale to exact height' option set to 0.4"
See attached image for settings
3) Make the dish into a component
4) Import your model that you want in the centre of the dish and size and position using the greyscale preview
5) Use the component manager (F8) to set the exact height you want
6) Import your rope border and size and position the greyscale preview
7) Use the component manager to set the exact height you want.
8 ) If your rope border overlaps the edge of the dish, set the combine mode for the rope border to 'Merge'

That should be it!


When you go to set up the model for machining you should see the model thickness is about 0.65" (0.25" above the modeling plane for the rope border and 0.4 inches below the modeling plane for the dish).

Aspire will drop the model into the material by the amount required (0.25") and you can adjust the depth with the slider or edit fields on the material setup form.

If you want to go back and change the relative sizes of any of the components you can scale them, drag them, rotate them etc. without any limitations.

I've attached images showing the various stages

Hope this makes the process clearer


Brian

[CRFultz]

Joe I'm guessing that your trying to hold very specific heights. When you change the height of one component from the Component Manager are you only selecting that one component? Make sure the other components are unchecked. Here the rope is .25 tall and the dished out area is .4 deep. The eagle is .4 in height.(+/- a few thousands). Overall height is .625 inches. Once the components are in place I make sure they are all selected in the Component Manager and then I tweeked the overall height to .625, this in turned changed the dish and the model a few thousands. If I wanted to then go back and tweek the dish back to .4 it would probably change my overall height a few thousands.

I would probalby decide which height is most important (.625 overall?) and go with that.

[cabnet636]

i have been stuck on exactly the same thing, i am trying to make a new sign for the outside of the business and have yet to find the way to ask the question. i'll try it today

jim

[Greasetattoo]

Brian,
Nice little pictorial tutorial, you have there..
I think it should help a lot of us..

thanks...

[GripUs]

Brian,
Thank you so much for such a comprehensive answer to my question. I followed your instructions step by step and they not only worked just fine, but led me to several discoveries as well.

Regards,

Joe

[calgrdnr]

Have you ever put molasses on a baby’s fingers and then given him a bit of duck down? He will amuse himself for a long time as he picks it off of one hand only to have it stick to the other

I am going to have to find a baby to try this on

I bet you put peanut butter on the roof of a dogs mouth too .

Thanks Brian for the tutorial

[GripUs]

Well...yeah. And Scotch tape on the bottom of cat's feet.