Designer 3 - MPC converted to a pattern - now different?

[Mike58]

Can someone please explain to me how to create a pattern that will be exactly the same as the piece it is created from? I am working on a light socket pocket to be cut into a board. Needs to be pretty much exact so the socket will fit and the wires will not be pinched on the bottom between the socket and the wood. I think I finally got something figured out - but wanted to save it as a pattern so I could position it on a board wherever I needed as a whole rather than as the individual components that are involved in creating it. I tried to do this yesterday by using the carving bit, but not happy with results and as I thought about it last night trying to go to sleep - it occurred to me that I could use the cutting bit and cut straight sided walls into the wood which is what I need.


So here are two pictures to show what I am getting.
This is the mpc file - note the feather in the vee shape on the left side -
here is the pattern from the mpc file. The tapered vee area is gone and there is a ridge inside the bottom between a stepped edge that isn't in the mpc. If I apply a feather to the pattern I loose the sharp edge I need in the round pocket. Is this do able somehow to keep everything locked together so it can be positioned on a board as needed?

I thought I had an understanding of this, but it seems not.....

[bergerud]

It may be a combination of things.

Consider:

1. Feathers do not save as part of a pattern.
2. Feather may need to be turned off on the new pattern.
3. Floor feather is also applied to new patterns and may need to be turned off. (the ridge is from floor feather)

[Mike58]

I didn't know the feathered area couldn't be saved with the pattern, and you are right about the floor feather being the ridge in the pocket. What function does floor feather do? And the feather I guess defaults to 1/4" and the nice sharp vertical wall turned into a salad bowl with it on. I did turn it off to get the round part back straight walled. So then it seems there is no way to have a tapered area like the feather is giving on the vee part. I have tilted the bottom of that also to slope upward as it gets narrower. That is for electric cord wires to come out from below the socket and not get pinched between the socket and wood. Guess this isn't going to be as easy as I had thought and hoped. I am much more familiar with Corel Draw and grouping within it locks everything together so you can move the group once you get everything where you want it. Copy and paste, or another function step and repeat after creating something really speeds up laying out things (for me to cut or engrave on our laser).
I see this is going to be somewhat a disadvantage for me to unlearn some things I am use to doing a certain way in CD and cannot in Designer.

Thank You for the help.

[bergerud]

The floor feather drops the boundary of a pattern to the same depth as lowest point of the original boundary. The reason for this is to make for a smoother feather on patterns which have poor, jagged boundaries. It can be an annoyance when it applies to patterns which do not need it.

Try grouping objects together that you want to keep together. That way, you can select them as a group even though they are mixed up with other patterns.

[Mike58]

I've had the components all grouped together. Haven't had any luck selecting all the group to move them it seems for some reason I only ever move one component and leave the rest. But - funny I just tried again by coping group and pasting into new project and after removing the center x & y from them I was able to move them all around. So perhaps I am trying to do things faster than the program will let me??
When you figure out all the ways to screw up and all the ways that don't work - you can master things - eventually. It's going to take time no doubt. I've done this for 8 years with Corel Draw through various versions and taught myself by a lot of trial and error - sort of like I can see is going to be the case here.
I try to figure things out before crying for help, but after messing with things for hours for different reasons sometimes it seems best to cry a bit sooner and get something done.

I've cut out a pretty good socket pocket just now. And after spending hours fiddling with it - I don't like it, and think I want to start over with another idea. Practice, practice....