New operation: Slot [Merged]

[Russ4262]

Morning fellow Freecadians,

Time for a new operation, or comments and voting thereupon.

Path: Add new `Slot` operation #3624
New slotting operation:

• Accepts selection of up to two features.
• Selectable features include: faces, edges, and vertices.
• User may select a single face or edge, or a pair of features.
• The path may be extended at the start and end.
• The path may be reversed.
• The path may be altered to the perpendicular in some cases.
• A unique Slot icon is included.
• Includes simple collision detection with warning message. The collision detection does not yet use ToolBit tool shapes; it uses a simple endmill shape. Collision for ToolBit tool shapes should be a small modification.

Here is the new icon:

Original icon

Path-Slot.png (5.38 KiB) Viewed 2535 times

.
Here is the updated icon:

Updated icon, in current PR

Path-Slot_2.png (5.52 KiB) Viewed 2426 times

.

Images are attached.

Edit: Merged 2020-06-19

Happy slotting,
Russell

Updated: 2020-06-18 - added images and updated details

[herbk]

Hi Russ,

again a great feature ! Thank you.

[Russ4262]

Thank you, Sir.

Images have been added to the OP. Nothing fancy because, well, it is a slotting operation. haha.

I pushed the last dab of updates to the PR and converted the PR back to open, from draft.

Be safe.

Russ

[chrisb]

Thanks for this operation!
Is it also possible to create slots completely inside of a face not reaching the border?

[Russ4262]

Morning, Sir.

... Is it also possible to create slots completely inside of a face not reaching the border?

If I am understanding the question correctly, the answer is yes. The new operation is fairly robust (from my perspective).

In the Property View of the Data tab there are `Custom Point 1` and `Custom Point 2`. These are activated when no Base Geometry is present/selected. The only limitation imposed on custom points is that the points be coplanar horizontally (same Z value).

There are two properties, `Extend Path Start` and `Extend Path End`, so the user may extend the ends of the path, both positively and negatively. These will allow you to change the overall length of the path, at each end respectively. This would allow you to stop the path before reaching the border, or extend it beyond at the start end for a little extra lead-in.

Russ

[chrisb]

Great!

[Russ4262]

Morning All,
As of this post, the new slotting operation is merged!

Discussions with @Sliptonic in the Gitter.im/FreeCAD/Path chatroom yielded the need for a few fixes and improvements. Consequently, they are wrapped into the first fix-related PR for the new operation, [Path] Slot operation fixes and improvements #3636.
Changes in the PR are:
- Add CutPattern feature, defaulting to ZigZag.
- Change inter-pass retractions to SafeHeight for multi-pass operations.
- Fix division by zero instance for particular Perpendicular use case.
- Synchronize property values with inputs in both the Property View and Tasks Editor windows.
- Change LayerMode default value to Multi-pass.
- Improve debug messaging.
- Consolidate code and remove unused code.

There is one exception thrown in specific use cases, but I have not tracked it down yet. It is related to the Tasks Editor window usage. I will likely need to enlist the aid of other devs in the PathWB. The exception does not impede usage, so I have submitted the PR.

Edit: Exception mentioned above has been fixed and the PR updated accordingly.

Russ

[geant]

Works nicely; with dress-up too!

Any plans for Arc/Slot?

[Russ4262]

Evening,

Works nicely; with dress-up too!

Any plans for Arc/Slot?

I hope it helps out some PathWB users. @sliptonic had sent out a slotting model in the Gitter chatroom to stimulate some thinking and I had seen a number of models here in the forum where such an operation would be useful, so, there it is.

I'm not sure I follow your Arc/Slot reference completely. I mean, I assume you are referring to a G2/G3 path operation with similar model feature selection? I'm not a machinist and my CNC router is buried in the garage; when it wasn't buried, I had only cut about half a dozen jobs with it anyhow. So, for this reason (lack of real experience) I don't think I follow your feature inquiry. Perhaps an image or two or external website with references would help.

Enjoy the growing capabilities of the PathWB.

Russ

[geant]

Along these lines:

OringSlot.png (11.63 KiB) Viewed 2168 times

and

ArcSlotRudder.png (9.29 KiB) Viewed 2168 times

Thanks!