Wooden Clock Gears

[mikemcallister]

I bought a set of plans (PDF) of a wooden gear clock. How do I cut the gears? Do you use the inset on the bit panel and put in a negative number half the size of the width of the bit? Thanks for the help

Mike

[mtylerfl]

I bought a set of plans (PDF) of a wooden gear clock. How do I cut the gears? Do you use the inset on the bit panel and put in a negative number half the size of the width of the bit? Thanks for the help

Mike

To cut on the outside of the lines, just use the "Flip Cut" feature. (That toggles the bit position between either to the inside of the line or to the outside of the line. A Cut Path when originally created, defaults to have the bit placed to cut on the inside of the line.)

[JLT]

I bought a set of plans (PDF) of a wooden gear clock. How do I cut the gears? Do you use the inset on the bit panel and put in a negative number half the size of the width of the bit? Thanks for the help

Mike


Mike M,

If you are planning to import raster images of the gears into Designer, the results will be less than optimal. If you haven't already done so, check out thread http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?t=9075. Post #43 contains a program that will allow you to generate vector based gears. Note that the tooth profile of the program, though, is involute whereas the traditional tooth profile for clocks is cycloidal...

Jon

[jhatcher]

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. I bought a set of clock patterns ( I am almost sure the same ones) but they are in DXF format.
I own a vinyl cutter and the software for it lets me import dxf's and export as a png. I have Paint Shop Pro, open the file and clean the pattern up. Another thing I do is a flood fill and make all the "spaces" black and the part I want to keep white. I use a couple filters to make the pattern black and white (since it will be a cut through, and save that.
I then take the png into the pattern designer, get them to what I want, then make them as a pattern into Designer. I then put the pattern on the "wood" and use the outline mode, then make sure to delete the Raster, and you are left with vector cut paths. All without loosing scale (which is most important with gears).

I know it sounds like a long procedure, but it makes a vector cut path with true scale. If only we could import dxf's with designer or pattern editor.... wishlist!!

Anyone know of a better way for dxf's?

Jeremy

[dbfletcher]

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. I bought a set of clock patterns ( I am almost sure the same ones) but they are in DXF format.
I own a vinyl cutter and the software for it lets me import dxf's and export as a png. I have Paint Shop Pro, open the file and clean the pattern up. Another thing I do is a flood fill and make all the "spaces" black and the part I want to keep white. I use a couple filters to make the pattern black and white (since it will be a cut through, and save that.
I then take the png into the pattern designer, get them to what I want, then make them as a pattern into Designer. I then put the pattern on the "wood" and use the outline mode, then make sure to delete the Raster, and you are left with vector cut paths. All without loosing scale (which is most important with gears).

I know it sounds like a long procedure, but it makes a vector cut path with true scale. If only we could import dxf's with designer or pattern editor.... wishlist!!

Anyone know of a better way for dxf's?

Jeremy


If you can, I would convert the dxf's to Adobe Illustrator format (8.0 or below) and then you can use ai2mpc to convert your vector object directly to Designer vector objects.

Doug Fletcher

[jhatcher]

Does ai2mpc let you carve the region or just the outline? I bought some carving patterns and even though I can't carve them with the machine (yet!!) I would like it to rough out the areas so I can get it there with some gouges.

I've heard about the software but have not tried to get it yet. Where is it?

[dbfletcher]

Does ai2mpc let you carve the region or just the outline? I bought some carving patterns and even though I can't carve them with the machine (yet!!) I would like it to rough out the areas so I can get it there with some gouges.

I've heard about the software but have not tried to get it yet. Where is it?

You can do anything that you could with normal vector object.... as long as it is a closed object, you can apply carve region or even cut path operations.

Doug Fletcher

[JLT]

Does ai2mpc let you carve the region or just the outline? I bought some carving patterns and even though I can't carve them with the machine (yet!!) I would like it to rough out the areas so I can get it there with some gouges.

I've heard about the software but have not tried to get it yet. Where is it?

Look towards the bottom of the following link for the latest version of ai2mpc, courtesy of member jlitz.

http://www.allcw.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=301

Bear in mind that a large amount of vectors will make Designer sluggish, but it will still be functional. Just need some patience...

Jon