Epoxy Volume Calculator

[jimandi5000]

Very nice video.

[jlavintx63]

Very nice video.

Thanks!

[Tex_Lawrence]

Version 1.4 of the Epoxy Volume Calculator
... Please leave feedback in the comments to this thread. I hope you find it useful.

Jim, I struggle with being pedantic. My "Art 'N Glow" epoxy uses a 50/50 ratio by volume. Your gadget requires me to convert these volumes to weights. This requires an experimental endeavor to determine the weight of a given volume of resin and hardener, (which I've already done for the obvious reasons.)

Is it possible to provide a ratio, for a personal choice of epoxy, of volume to weight? This would allow you to provide the volumes of resin and hardener to use along with the weights of each part. (Not that that isn't trivial to do, but it is a gadget, right?)

Then this brings us to the main reason for this post. The confusion, in the gadget, of the word "ounces" used for both volume and weight.

Also, I have a layer with multiple, un-nested contours that I fill with epoxy. It isn't clear to me that your calculations are including every item on that layer. They are small, so the gadget suggests the minimum of 0.25 "ounces" for that layer. Even if I double the items on that layer, it still suggests the minimum. (I haven't taken the time to keep multiplying the items until I see a change.)

As far as the "Epoxy Pour Sheet", I would much prefer that it be based on the selected layer instead of including every layer in the project. For me that could mean 20 or 30 layers that will never have epoxy fill. If you can, follow the Vectric Job Sheet format where they add the sheet name to the file name; so, add the layer name to the file name?

Thank you for your valuable effort! +1

[jlavintx63]

Is it possible to provide a ratio, for a personal choice of epoxy, of volume to weight? This would allow you to provide the volumes of resin and hardener to use along with the weights of each part. (Not that that isn't trivial to do, but it is a gadget, right?)

Actually you can ignore the resin and hardener values and just use the Fluid Total which is a volume measurement in fluid ounces. I'm not totally sure that the conversion from fluid ounces to weight is 100% correct since it all depends on the specific gravity of the resin and hardener to get totally accurate. So really that is probably more a measure of how much resin vs hardener you need to make the total volume.

Then this brings us to the main reason for this post. The confusion, in the gadget, of the word "ounces" used for both volume and weight.

I will look at cleaning up the labels to make it more clear. I think I'll change the Fluid Total label to say fluid ounces and the resin and hardener labels ounce by weight.

Also, I have a layer with multiple, un-nested contours that I fill with epoxy. It isn't clear to me that your calculations are including every item on that layer. They are small, so the gadget suggests the minimum of 0.25 "ounces" for that layer. Even if I double the items on that layer, it still suggests the minimum. (I haven't taken the time to keep multiplying the items until I see a change.)

Since some areas are so small I thought it best to have a minimal amount for a pour. I was seeing 0.0XX ounces by weight being calculated which I thought no one is ever going to be able to use since most off the self scales only give you weight down to hundredths of an ounce so I just picked a value out of thin air, hence the 0.25 fluid ounces. If there is a better value let me know.

As far as the "Epoxy Pour Sheet", I would much prefer that it be based on the selected layer instead of including every layer in the project. For me that could mean 20 or 30 layers that will never have epoxy fill. If you can, follow the Vectric Job Sheet format where they add the sheet name to the file name; so, add the layer name to the file name?

I was thinking of looking to filter the layers out by requiring either a symbol or keyword to the layer name. But we could also look at providing a series of check boxes that allows you to select which layers you want included in the pour sheet. I figured I would wait to hear back from people using the gadget before doing anything yet.

Thanks for your feedback.

[Tex_Lawrence]

Since some areas are so small I thought it best to have a minimal amount for a pour. I was seeing 0.0XX ounces by weight being calculated which I thought no one is ever going to be able to use since most off the self scales only give you weight down to hundredths of an ounce so I just picked a value out of thin air, hence the 0.25 fluid ounces. If there is a better value let me know.

The question wasn't really about the minimum. "It isn't clear to me that your calculations are including every item on that layer."

... I was thinking of looking to filter the layers out by requiring either a symbol or keyword to the layer name. But we could also look at providing a series of check boxes....

"I would much prefer that it be based on the selected layer instead of including every layer." You already have the layer selected at the top. Why do you need additional selection boxes?

[jlavintx63]

"I would much prefer that it be based on the selected layer instead of including every layer." You already have the layer selected at the top. Why do you need additional selection boxes?

I'll look at adding another option to just save the current layer as a pour sheet. I'll probably add the option next to the Calculate button. That way you will have the choice of both options.

One way to check, If I'm capturing all the areas is to use the measure tool, select span and add up the area of each contour on the layer that should match the area I'm calculating. The only difference would be if there are contours inside other contours, which I subtract out their area to get the total area.

Again, thanks for the discussion and suggestions to make this gadget more usable.

[mickecarlsson]

I just downloaded and tested this gadget.
I selected the layer that I wanted to pour and it calculated that. I then pressed Create Epoxy Pour Sheet and when I opened that I got two layers there, the one that I selected and one more that contained my cutout.
I have four layers, bitmap layer (not visible) layer 1 (visible, contains my carve) Hole and cut (not visible) and Dimensions (not visible).
The pour sheet includes Hole and cut, please see attached image.

[tomblackmon]

What do I need to fix to not get this error and no worksheet?

New.crv

(93 KiB) Downloaded 294 times

[adze_cnc]

Are any of the object that you are trying to get a volume of grouped together?

An aside: you could have just posted just the image file rather than embedding it into a CRV file.

[BrooksM]

Jim and Rob, great work on the calculator.

As Adrian so well pointed out in the Wish List thread version 11's release, Aspire will calculate the volume of a model. One of those feature which seems to be undocumented.
Maybe you'll be able to incorporate that process be within the calculator.
The process is mill one pocket, Create a component from Toolpath Preview. Then highlight that newly created component ONLY and press
CTRL-ALT-Shift-V. The CTRL-XXX seems intermittent. Then two steps are necessary to get volume of the pocket. Calculate the volume of the blank stock. In the example the job size is 5" x 5" x 1" = 25 cu inches, then subtract the volume of a model which Aspire and maybe V-Crave Pro, not sure if its in V-Crave, generates. Then you'd need to convert that to fluid oz.

Just a thought.

Its seems with all the epoxy projects being done, we could Vectrics make the volume of a pocket a one button option.

Brooks

[dhesel]

I have downloaded the zip file and change to .vgadget went to install get an message

FAILD TO INSTALL GADGET
failed to extract the vgadget archive

Im running aspire 9.5
not sure how to proceed with this
Thanks Don

[adze_cnc]

See this post.

[Kurt_WI]

I'm about to start with epoxy inlays, downloaded the latest gadget, however two things.

1. I show the gadget as v1.3 when the post says 1.4
2. I'm getting an error when running the gadget, see attachment for screen shot of error.

Running on Windows 10 and Aspire 10.515

V1.1 worked, the rest have not and give errors.

Thank you,
Kurt

[SanderCreations]

I've found that the Epoxy calculator grossly over estimates what I actually need. I made doubly sure the settings were correct and that the layer selected only had what I wanted to calculate for. After hitting calculate it said I needed 51 oz, I only used just over 4 oz. Luckily 51 oz didn't pass the smell test and I only made 5 so I didn't waste much of anything. I tried it again on two other layers and each time it wanted me to make at least 30% more than what was actually needed.

[tgunr]

Would be nice to have only one version to download. Or put the most recent one at the top.