working with clones

[freman]

Hi,

I have a part which will need a couple of tool changes and one repositioning. I need 4 off .
This means that doing the complete job one piece and then resetting the work coordinates to do the next one is not a good solution.

What I need to do is the same operation on all four examples, then do the tool change and do the second op. on all four etc.

Is this possible withing FreeCAD?

TIA.

OS: Linux (LXDE/LXDE)
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.19.17672 (Git)
Build type: Unknown
Branch: (HEAD detached at ffb4aa5dc)
Hash: ffb4aa5dcfc0f0b6fb37161fd1c820ade167eb04
Python version: 2.7.16
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.3.0
Locale: English/UnitedKingdom (en_GB)

[chrisb]

You can use a PathArray for each operation. For an example see the attached file.

[freman]

Right, that looks more like what I should be doing.

So I need to wrap the multiple objects in a subtractive box ( probably similar to the stock I have ) in order to deal with a single body to keep FC happy.

Can I add that around my existing model , or will have to start again

[chrisb]

I haven't tried multiple bodies with PathArray, but I don't think you have to change the model. It is rather a question of having the PathArrays in the right place.

In case you really need a single object you can leave everything as is and try to make a Part->Compound. A quick test (never did that before) showed that Path workbench can handle compounds.

If it fails somewhere you can again leave everything as is and create a Part->Fusion.

If bodies are involved, please note that you should use the whole bodies and not any features for creating compound or fusion.

[freman]

Thanks, I tried looking at the blue sheep but on this build the Design WB seems screwed, it posts a bunch of big red errors about String something on opening the WB.

I'm really getting a bit exasperated by this mess. Nothing seems to work any more. I had to go back to Aug 25 build because someone quietly trashed the tooltables on py2 builds and master no longer works. But apparently that August build has issues elsewhere. I suppose I could trawl all my forum posts to try to find what build I was using before it all got messy.

I think I'll just need stick with what I have now and do four copies by hand, it's already cost me far more time without getting one step closer here.

I'm pretty sure what you are suggesting is the right way to go but probably needs to be done from the start. It's a full week I've been going round in circles here and it's beyond a joke.

[chrisb]

I had to go back to Aug 25 build because someone quietly trashed the tooltables on py2 builds and master no longer works. But apparently that August build has issues elsewhere.

Concerning tooltables: https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=39996.

[chrisb]

It seems your version is outdated. You may retry with 0.19.18403.

[freman]

I had to go back to Aug 25 build because someone quietly trashed the tooltables on py2 builds and master no longer works. But apparently that August build has issues elsewhere.

Concerning tooltables: https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=39996.

Thanks but it worse than that. If you have py3/qt5 build it just dumps your tooltable without a by-your-leave. If you have a default py2/qt4 build the toolmanger crashes. It is now totally non functional for anything needing Path WB.

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=39869

bottom line py3/qt5 is now mandatory for master. This means and OS upgrade and probably new hardware for me since I have an older NVidia GPU which does not seem compatible with qt5. FC has just dumped users of older h/w . I have a dual core 3GHz, 4GB system which is fine for this kind of work which has just been obseleted by FreeCAD.

[freman]

It seems your version is outdated. You may retry with 0.19.18403.

It is necessarily "outdated" since that is the last build before the qt3 only tooltable mods started to get merged.

[chrisb]

This means and OS upgrade and probably new hardware for me since I have an older NVidia GPU which does not seem compatible with qt5. FC has just dumped users of older h/w . I have a dual core 3GHz, 4GB system which is fine for this kind of work which has just been obseleted by FreeCAD.

I'm sorry, here I am out. The power of your computer seems to me rather well suited for FreeCAD. I have read that there are two drivers for nvidia cards. some work with the nvidia driver, some with the nouveau driver. Have you tried both? If it is still not working you may consider changing your graphics card.