i am very new to google skechup and the forum so i dont really know if this will even come close to working but maybe you cool cats can help me out a lil
below is a skp file for a whole bunch of control horns all on one sheet of 12"x6"x1/16" of any kind of wood
i would use birch ply
i have not downloaded any plugin for a multipass so i dont have that but anything you can see to improve my file would be awesome
im just learning so i would like to see what i did wrong
thanks guys
~alex

 

haha i forgot to add it to the previous post lol :? :roll:

Attached files control horns.skp (136.7 KB)Â

 

Alex - I don't mean to sound short with you, but it's very late for me and I often become in-gracious when I'm tired. You've got a good start, but I see a few issues that experience would have shown to you in a heartbeat.

1) You've left 3/16" between the parts, which means if you use the standard 1/8" diameter cutter, there won't be ANY supporting web remaining between the parts at all, because part of the opposing cutter paths will actually overlap. Even if you used a 1/16" cutter, the remaining 1/16" will not support the material well enough to get a clean cut. So the parts are going to be dropping down into the slots of the PP and getting caught, despite the fact you left a tab on each part. You should probably separate the rows vertically by at least 1/4", then delete the last control horn from each row and separate them horizontally by at least 1/4", also. I hate to waste material too, but if a piece drops out and hangs up the material on the bed, the entire sheet will be ruined, and you'll get no parts at all.

2) The area of the parts that will get snagged in the PP are the vertical cuts, so if you can, you really want to put the tabs there - and tabs will easily fit on the vertical ends of these parts.
That's because the material is sliding back-and-forth (left-and-right) as it cuts, but it doesn't move up-and-down at all. I'd put another tab on the horizontal end of the parts and leave the diagonal section pristine, just to be sure the parts didn't drop.

3) "V" tabs are quicker to cut than "T" tabs. After you've selected the "Tab" tool, typing "T" or "V" (no quotes) will change the tab type. You'd have to delete each "T" tab and replace it with a "V" tab.

4) You haven't applied the pz Safe Area Tool to the file, to the PhlatScript won't know what to generate the g-code for. After doing so, you should decide how you're going to index or hold the plywood material in your PP, then place the sketched piece of wood exactly in the correct place, so your cut-path starts on your plywood. In other words, if you were going to make a "picture-frame" that holds the wood 3" up and 3" in from the corner of a foam carrier, then your sketched piece would be indexed at X=3, Y=3 THEN tell it to generate the PhlatCode file.
Get it?

Like I said, it's really late for me. Maybe tomorrow I can edit the skp file in Sketchup, but maybe somebody else here will do it sooner than I can get to it. I certainly wouldn't be offended.

 

That is more in line with Dennis' suggestions. I didn't change the material size. I left it 12"x6"
I also made two holes for the link. Might as well. Why do it by hand, right. Attached files control horns.skp (268.3 KB)Â

 

Yes Yoram, that is what I was talking about! You may need to separate the rows vertically a little more yet, as the cutter paths will still overlap from the lower corners of each part to the upper corner of the part below it. Good job.

 

Alex, multipass is already in the phlatscript. You just need to check the box in the parameters menu. -Kwok

 

wow thank you guys
i need to learn more but one of the main reasons i posted these was to get a lil bit of constructive criticism
"ask and you shall receive" is what i heard
thank you guys and i hope these come in handy for others as well
i dont know about anyone else but i cant stand cutting out control horns by hand
and i have no more need to if my dad bought a phlatprinter
i hope to get realy good at sketch up so that way i can be better at something than my dad is
well thank you all and ill be back to post and reply

 

Nice trick with the V tabs, didn't know about these! :ugeek:

If you're going to cut these out of ply, I'd for sure use the multicut path!

Martin