Epoxy Volume Calculator

[jlavintx63]

This gadget calculates the volume needed when creating epoxy inlays. This is based on the spreadsheet created by Rob Sandstrom which he talks about on his Generations Custom Creations YouTube series on Multicolor Epoxy Inlays.

Steps to Install:

1. Download the gadget Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.zip that is attached to this post.
2. Rename it from Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.zip to Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.vgadget
3. In Vectric Pro or Aspire click on Gadgets -> Install Gadget and navigate to where you downloaded the file to, select it and click Ok.

It should give you a pop up saying the gadget was installed and you should see Epoxy Volume Calculator in the Gadgets menu.

Screenshot.png

Steps for Use:

1. Select a layer that you want to calculate for
2. Enter the cut depth
3. Enter the percentage of coverage for the area that will be filled in
4. Enter the hardner to resin percentage
5. Click the Calculate Button and the results will be displayed below in the Results Pane.

If you find your values are always the same and different from the defaults setup in the gadget, once you enter them you can click the Save Settings button and they will saved to the registry and loaded each time you start the gadget.

Please leave feedback in the comments to this thread. I hope you find it useful.

[adze_cnc]

3. In Vectric Pro or Aspire click on Gadgets -> Install Gadget and navigate to where you downloaded the file to, select it and click Ok.

It should give you a pop up saying the gadget was installed and you should see Epoxy Volume Calculator in the Gadgets menu.

Unless things have changed with v11 programs you will need to close and restart Aspire/VCarve for the gadget to show n the menu.

[martindg]

So, this is a very timely gadget for me as I am getting ready to do a resin pour and was just beginning to figure out how to estimate the ratios and quantities of resin and hardener that I needed. I can see a gadget like this has the potential to very useful. I have installed it and played around just bit. It seems to me that what this gadget is doing is determining the bounding box of whatever vectors are on the selected layer. The user then needs to enter the percentage of this bounding box that the selected vector outlining the fill area is occupying in order to get an accurate estimate of resin/hardener quantities. This seems to work great for a rectangular (or mostly rectangular) fill areas but I am doing some resin-poured lakes which are anything but rectangular. In essence, to make this work for me I had to come up with a way to accurately estimate the area of my vector to fill and then determine what percentage of the bounding box rectangle that represents.

To get a usable estimate I used the measure/inspect tool to determine the area in square inches of my vector to fill, used the height and width of the bounding box as reported by the gadget to determine the area of the bounding box and then divided the area of my vector by the area of the bounding box in order to come up with a usable estimate of the percentage of coverage value for the gadget calculation. Once this value is determined and entered into the Percentage of Coverage input field the gadget works great for calculating the resin/hardener quantities needed.

The problem with this is either that I don't fully understand how to use the gadget or the need to determine an accurate estimate of the percentage of coverage value is a bit cumbersome. Is there a way to maybe create a layer with a copy of the vector defining the are to be filled and then determining the area of that vector directly in the gadget? Short of that maybe just providing a means of inputting the area of the vector to fill (as can be determined using the Measure/Inspect tool) and then using the cut depth and resin to hardener ratio entered values too determine the quantities of resin and hardener needed for the fill.

Again, I really like what this gadget is doing for me and will use it for completing my fills. I'm just wondering if it could be made just a bit easier to use. Thanks for your time and effort in developing this gadget.

BTW, I was able to run this gadget without restarting Aspire.

[jlavintx63]

Unless things have changed with v11 programs you will need to close and restart Aspire/VCarve for the gadget to show n the menu.

Thanks for pointing that out. I'll see if I can update the original post.

[jlavintx63]

The problem with this is either that I don't fully understand how to use the gadget or the need to determine an accurate estimate of the percentage of coverage value is a bit cumbersome. Is there a way to maybe create a layer with a copy of the vector defining the are to be filled and then determining the area of that vector directly in the gadget? Short of that maybe just providing a means of inputting the area of the vector to fill (as can be determined using the Measure/Inspect tool) and then using the cut depth and resin to hardener ratio entered values too determine the quantities of resin and hardener needed for the fill.

You have it right, in that you have to estimate the percentage of coverage of your vectors for the bound box, which will result in a larger volume than needed in most cases, especially if you get it wrong. I like the idea of getting the area of each vector on a layer by using the measure/ inspect tool. My only problem would be coming up with an algorithm that would subtract the volume of any vectors inside of other ones. Clearly there is a lot of room for improvement. I know in Aspire you can convert toolpaths to model components and through some additional manipulation you can get the volume of the component. Rob Sandstrom shows this in one of his YouTube videos, but that way is only good for users who have Aspire.

In the meantime, I'll look at adding additional fields a radio button that would allow you to input the area from the measure/inspect tool and calculate the same thing.

I'll also look at seeing if there is a way that I can calculate the volume based on the area of the vectors and see if we can subtract out the area of any vectors that lie inside others.

Thanks for the feedback.

[jimandi5000]

Hello Jlavintx63,

First and foremost, great job on the gadget! I don't how long you been coding, but it's good to see so many others writing gadgets.

Keep up the great work!

[adze_cnc]

A quick note: for each closed vector instead of using a bounding box you might look into the “.area” for “Contour” to see if that is more accurate. I believe it’s on page 79 of the PDF file for the SDK.

[jlavintx63]

A quick note: for each closed vector instead of using a bounding box you might look into the “.area” for “Contour” to see if that is more accurate. I believe it’s on page 79 of the PDF file for the SDK.

Thanks for pointing that out, I found it in the docs after a couple of hours of digging. That works so much better and allows me to get rid of the estimated coverage value. Now, I just to come up with a good algorithm to handle the nesting of contours within contours within contours. The first level of nesting is pretty easy, but its the subsequent levels of nesting that gets hard.

I'm wondering if there is a way to get the area of a toolpath that way I could let Aspire handle the nesting.

[jlavintx63]

Version 1.2 of the Epoxy Volume Calculator

This version now calculates the area of all contours on a layer and subtracts out the nested contours to give you an accurate area calculation. You no longer have to put in an estimated coverage for the layer. It is much more accurate overall.

Version-1-2-Screenshot.png

Steps to Install:

1. Download the gadget Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.zip that is attached to this post.
2. Rename it from Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.zip to Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.vgadget
3. In Vectric Pro or Aspire click on Gadgets -> Install Gadget and navigate to where you downloaded the file to, select it and click Ok.
4. Close out Vectric Pro or Aspire and restart it so the gadget is available for use.

It should give you a pop up saying the gadget was installed and you should see Epoxy Volume Calculator in the Gadgets menu



Steps for Use:

1. Select a layer that you want to calculate for
2. Enter the cut depth
3. Enter the hardner to resin percentage
4. Click the Calculate Button and the results will be displayed below in the Results Pane.

If you find your values are always the same and different from the defaults setup in the gadget, once you enter them you can click the Save Settings button and they will saved to the registry and loaded each time you start the gadget.

Please leave feedback in the comments to this thread. I hope you find it useful.

[jlavintx63]

Version 1.3 of the Epoxy Volume Calculator

This gadget calculates the volume needed when creating epoxy inlays. This is based on the spreadsheet created by Rob Sandstrom which he talks about on his Generations Custom Creations YouTube series on Multicolor Epoxy Inlays.

What's New in Version 1.3

1. Changed field names to help clarify their meaning
2. Added ability save out an epoxy job sheet that lists each layer and the required resin amounts.

Version-1-3-Report-Screenshot.png

Version-1-3-Screenshot.png

Steps to Install

1. Download the gadget Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.zip that is attached to this post.
2. Rename it from Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.zip to Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.vgadget
3. In Vectric Pro or Aspire click on Gadgets -> Install Gadget and navigate to where you downloaded the file to, select it and click Ok.
4. Close out Vectric Pro or Aspire and restart it so the gadget is available for use.

It should give you a pop up saying the gadget was installed and you should see Epoxy Volume Calculator in the Gadgets menu

Steps for Use

1. Select a layer that you want to calculate for
2. Enter the cut depth
3. Enter the ratio of hardner to resin
4. Click the Calculate Button and the results will be displayed below in the Results Pane.

Report Creation

1. Enter the cut depth
2. Enter the ratio of hardner to resin
3. Click the Create Epoxy Pour Sheet
4. Pick where you want to save the file and Click Ok
5. The Epoxy Volumes will be calculated for all layers in the project and saved to the file selected. You can view it with your default web browser.

Save Settings for Future Use

If you find your values are always the same and different from the defaults setup in the gadget, once you enter them you can click the Save Settings button and they will saved to the registry and loaded each time you start the gadget.

Please leave feedback in the comments to this thread. I hope you find it useful.

[karlowitz]

Hi,

I'd love to install this gadget but I can't seem to get it to work. I followed the instructions exactly.
When I run the "install new gadget" it doesn't see the file.

I'm running Win 11 and Aspire 11

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?


Paul K

[Adrian]

It might be that you have "Hide extensions for known file types" turned on in Windows explorer. If that is set when you rename the file it ends up as Expoxy_Volume_Calculator.vgadget.zip rather than ending in vgadget only but you can't see the .zip on the end.

[karlowitz]

Bravo!!!!!!!!!! You nailed it.

Installed just fine.

Thanks for the assist.

Paul K.

[jlavintx63]

Version 1.4 of the Epoxy Volume Calculator

This gadget calculates the volume needed when creating epoxy inlays. This is based on the spreadsheet created by Rob Sandstrom which he talks about on his Generations Custom Creations YouTube series on Multicolor Epoxy Inlays.

What's New in Version 1.4

1. Cleaned up fractions on all numbers.
2. Default minimum epoxy pour amount to 0.25 ounces.

Screenshot-Version-1-4.png

Version-1-4-Report-Screenshot.png

Steps to Install

1. Download the gadget Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.zip that is attached to this post.
2. Rename it from Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.zip to Epoxy_Volume_Calculator.vgadget
3. In Vectric Pro or Aspire click on Gadgets -> Install Gadget and navigate to where you downloaded the file to, select it and click Ok.
4. Close out Vectric Pro or Aspire and restart it so the gadget is available for use.

It should give you a pop up saying the gadget was installed and you should see Epoxy Volume Calculator in the Gadgets menu

Steps for Use

1. Select a layer that you want to calculate for
2. Enter the cut depth
3. Enter the ratio of hardner to resin
4. Click the Calculate Button and the results will be displayed below in the Results Pane.

Report Creation

1. Enter the cut depth
2. Enter the ratio of hardner to resin
3. Click the Create Epoxy Pour Sheet
4. Pick where you want to save the file and Click Ok
5. The Epoxy Volumes will be calculated for all layers in the project and saved to the file selected. You can view it with your default web browser.

Save Settings for Future Use

If you find your values are always the same and different from the defaults setup in the gadget, once you enter them you can click the Save Settings button and they will saved to the registry and loaded each time you start the gadget.

Please leave feedback in the comments to this thread. I hope you find it useful.

[jlavintx63]

I just posted a video over on YouTube on how to install and use the gadget. Hopefully you all will find it useful.

You can find the video here: