Path for decorative CAM

[sliptonic]

I always found it quite normal that depth had to be set manually, because it is nowhere found in the model.

If I use the attachment mode and map a sketch or shapestring to a model face, Engrave should be able to use attached placement to derive z depth. It doesn't. That's something I think we can improve.

[EskiBrew]

I always found it quite normal that depth had to be set manually, because it is nowhere found in the model.

If I use the attachment mode and map a sketch or shapestring to a model face, Engrave should be able to use attached placement to derive z depth. It doesn't. That's something I think we can improve.

That's a good idea

[jbraun]

F-engrave may be able to do this drawing but not definitely, there are a lot of inside/outside decisions involved. Anyway doing this in other software wasn't your goal.

I've been playing with the idea of using Path v-carve on perimiters that seems possible with simple paths but will likely break with a high number of nodes. The idea is to inset/offset the original paths in inkscape to make faces in the draft workbench. In this screen capture there are 2 faces made in this way and they are v-carvable (hey spell check cut me some slack). This is not the solution to your project but I hope it helps in some small way.

[EskiBrew]

F-engrave may be able to do this drawing but not definitely, there are a lot of inside/outside decisions involved. Anyway doing this in other software wasn't your goal.

Thank you, that looks interesting. I kind of get the feeling I am trying to get FreeCAD to do something no one else uses it for and wonder if I am making a mistake there or if it is useful anyway.

I think I've now got on top of how to achieve things in FreeCAD and I have put together a more simple version which I can make a a keyring to test things out. I'll try and cut it tomorrow.

monkey-keyring.png (32.03 KiB) Viewed 1308 times

Entirely unrelated but how do I get rid of the annoying grid which seems to come from the draft workbench

[chrisb]

Entirely unrelated but how do I get rid of the annoying grid which seems to come from the draft workbench

Switch to Draft workbench and toggle it off. The visibility handling of that grid is unfortunantly so unpleasant for me that I switched it completely off in the Draft preferences.

[spanner888]

As your design started in Inkscape, have you tried Path Simplify? Using this multiple times can vastly reduce the number of "points" along the design perimeter without significantly affecting the shape. This might reduce the calculations/delay you noticed. I say might as this has worked well for me, but with different design process (ie not FreeCAD). It might (did for me) also significantly reduce the size of your gcode and time job takes to run.

[EskiBrew]

Switch to Draft workbench and toggle it off. The visibility handling of that grid is unfortunantly so unpleasant for me that I switched it completely off in the Draft preferences.

Thanks, I've disabled it as well now

As your design started in Inkscape, have you tried Path Simplify? Using this multiple times can vastly reduce the number of "points" along the design perimeter without significantly affecting the shape. This might reduce the calculations/delay you noticed. I say might as this has worked well for me, but with different design process (ie not FreeCAD). It might (did for me) also significantly reduce the size of your gcode and time job takes to run.

Ah, thanks for the tip - no, I had not done that - I will try it out

[EskiBrew]

It came out ok. Need to adjust some feeds and speeds but not bad for a first cut.

IMG_20201202_140105.jpg (269.55 KiB) Viewed 1209 times

[mlampert]

This is awesome! Thanks for sharing.

[RatonLaveur]

Sir, thanks! That was an interesting little problem and another good demonstration that Path is great i do love seeing other peoples real creations! (Also it's cute).