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Tool Size Setting

Discussion in 'Planet - CNC USB Software' started by NeilBlanchard, Sep 5, 2012.

  1. NeilBlanchard

    NeilBlanchard Member

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    Hello,

    I'm using a 5/32" upspiral RotoZip bit, and when I enter the tool size into the PhlatBoyz toolbar settings in SketchUp it gets rounded up to 3/16". At first, I thought that would be a good thing, because I'll get a little "extra" material which gives a little fudge room. BUT, I now know that this messes up the jigsaw joints I'm using -- the convex part is too big and the larger it is, the more it pushes the concave part outward. :(

    So it will still work, I think, but I will have to put more glue in the space and sand off the protruding bits.

    Can this bit setting get tweaked so the size you enter is the size used to generate the g-code?
     
  2. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Hi Neil,
    I tried to recreate this issue and could to some degree. I entered .15625 which then was rounded to .1563. Not bad, but I asked myself why was it doing this rounding at all? So I went on the hunt for the answer and this is what I found.
    If you go into the Window>Model Info menu and select Units from the list. You will see your default units set up window. This is where SketchUcam pulls its units formatting from, so what you change here is changed in all the units settings of SketchUp.
    I had (in the example above) the Precision: field set to 4 decimal places but that was not enough for the 5 I needed in 5/32 @ .15625 so like above it just rounded it to .1563 to make it fit. It seems to do this same behavior if you are using fractional as well.
    So to make this work, I set the Format:
    field to decimal/inches and the Precision:
    field to 0.00000" (5 places) and tried entering 0.15625" again the SketchUcam parameters and hit ok, opened it back up and this time no rounding :good:
    Hope this helps
    Mark and Trish
     
  3. NeilBlanchard

    NeilBlanchard Member

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    I will measure the tool bit and enter that in -- it is actually a 4mm I think? [Edit] My very first drafting job in High School was converting metric drawings to inches -- the conversion factor is 0.03937 aka 1 / 25.4 = 0.039370078740157 ;)

    I'm about to start the g-code for the back part of CarBEN EV5...
     
  4. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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