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freddy12
12-05-2014, 01:56 PM
Hi Iam new to the forum, purchased a rebuilt machine so I could cut out gears, I have a gear generator, I can get the gear into the designer OK but I cant get the cut path tool to highlight. I searched the forum quite a bit and couldnt find anything that would help me. Can some one please show me the proper procedure, Thank you in advance
Fred

blhutchens
12-05-2014, 02:20 PM
Go to the top of the screen in designer under view and toggle non-endpoint to see it is a closed vector. The cut out tool will not work if there are non endpoints in your vector


Brent

fwharris
12-05-2014, 02:43 PM
Make sure you are highlighting the gear pattern and outlining it. If done and still no cut path tool the do as Brent stated.

freddy12
12-05-2014, 03:08 PM
Thanks for your responses I will give those a try, and report back if I have it figured out!

freddy12
12-05-2014, 06:42 PM
OK I tried Those things and still no luck, I believe its something I did wrong in the pattern editor, thats not letting me do a cut path. Here is what I did, meybe someone can help me out. I imported the picture of my gear to paint, then I saved it to my pictures, and then imported it to project designer, I had to invert it to get it to show, but no cut path? Help!

fwharris
12-05-2014, 06:48 PM
With out seeing it it is kind of hard to say. Maybe you can post either the project file or the image.

CW-HAL9000
12-05-2014, 06:58 PM
if you are trying to do it from a ptn then you need to highlight the ptn and go to tools and then choose outline patterns then when it outlines your gear (it may have more than one outlines) pick the one that fully outlines the gear, then once you choose that one you can then choose the cut path option. If this does not work then you need to post the MPC or the PTN or even the MPW from pattern editor, with any one of these we can see what is happening better, other than that it is all guessing.

freddy12
12-05-2014, 07:01 PM
73247 @ FW Harris I am not sure i got this right, I may have to try several times

fwharris
12-05-2014, 07:04 PM
You have to remove the image background so that just the gear is the pattern. When importing the image into designer use the "lower" button in the import window.

SteveNelson46
12-05-2014, 07:04 PM
OK I tried Those things and still no luck, I believe its something I did wrong in the pattern editor, thats not letting me do a cut path. Here is what I did, meybe someone can help me out. I imported the picture of my gear to paint, then I saved it to my pictures, and then imported it to project designer, I had to invert it to get it to show, but no cut path? Help!

Here is a link to a short video that I made awhile back. It may help.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0jR3LNRxqJeeFAtMDY4WFZrbjQ/view?usp=sharing

freddy12
12-05-2014, 08:40 PM
OK my frustration level is going off the charts, I cant find a tab anywhere to remove image background, Steve I watched your tutorial and was able to do that with a random pattern, no problem, but I still cant get my gear to work. grrrrrrrrr....

blhutchens
12-05-2014, 08:46 PM
In pattern editor there are two arrows at the top use them to lower the pattern until the background goes away then save it.

Brent

bergerud
12-05-2014, 09:21 PM
I think you have to get the gear generator to output a DXF format instead of a bitmap picture. If you cannot do that, maybe you could post the bitmap itself and we will see what can be done.

freddy12
12-05-2014, 09:38 PM
ON post no. 8 I placed an MPC

bergerud
12-05-2014, 09:39 PM
Is this the type of thing you want?

freddy12
12-05-2014, 09:43 PM
And thanks Brent for your help, I was able to get rid of the background ( finally) but what I was left with was pretty ragged looking, I mean if that is what my gear is going to look like I might just as well use an axe!!

freddy12
12-05-2014, 09:46 PM
@ bergerud, Almost, why does yours look so good?

bergerud
12-05-2014, 09:52 PM
I have Gear Generator 3 (which I assume you are using as well). I export from the gear program as a DXF (vector file not a bitmap file). I then import the DXF into Designer using the Carvewright DXF importer.

I think you need to buy the DXF importer if you want to get into cutting out gears.

You need 6 spokes?

freddy12
12-05-2014, 09:59 PM
so the problem is with the gear generator? I guess I will have to go back to square one, and try again. Thank you all for trying to help!

bergerud
12-05-2014, 10:03 PM
The problem is with the process. Bitmaps are no good. Do you have the DXF Importer? (Sorry out now for dinner.)

blhutchens
12-05-2014, 10:06 PM
I have done what you are trying to do …..but you have to blow the picture up as large as you can get into designer, make your pattern, then outline and scale it back down to get a decent gear.
I built an entire wooden clock doing that….never got a tick tock. the gears came out elliptical an ragged.
I spent two weeks on it then gave up……. bought DXF importer shortly after.

Brent

freddy12
12-05-2014, 10:07 PM
Our posts overlapped, yes 6 spokes, Thank you for your information, I see now what my problem is, A computer geek I am not, I am hands on all the way, but cutting gears by hand is too labor intensive, so I will learn this no matter how long it takes!

bergerud
12-05-2014, 11:23 PM
If you tell me exactly the gear parameters you want (screen capture of the gear generator?), I can import the gear and post the file for you. That way you can give it a try before you commit to the $200 for the DXF Importer. (Alternatively, if you post the gear generator DXF we can import it into Designer for you.)

freddy12
12-06-2014, 06:18 AM
@bergerud Thank you, would it be possible to cut the last one you posted? I am interested to see how clean the detail will be on the teeth? I am not asking you to cut it , it looks like I will have to change the board size!

bergerud
12-06-2014, 09:02 AM
I made the board 1/4" thick and assigned the 1/16" cutting bit. The board size as well as the cutting bit size can be easily be changed. Play around with it.

If you want to cut a smaller gear for a test, let me know. What bits do you have and how thick do you want the gear?

DickB
12-06-2014, 09:53 AM
As an alternative, I've designed and built a few clocks using the free gear generating tools in this post: http://forum.carvewright.com/showthread.php?17794-Make-Gears-with-Radial-Vector-Generator&p=149795#post149795 DXF importer is not required. Works with Designer 1 and 1/8" cutting bit.

bergerud
12-06-2014, 10:08 AM
Does that also require the ai2mpc converter? And if so, could the ai2mpc also be used with the gear generator 3?

DickB
12-06-2014, 11:08 AM
It does. It too is available free and is integrated quite nicely into the Radial Vector Designer - one click and it generates an mpc of the gear. I don't know about gear generator 3.

freddy12
12-06-2014, 12:07 PM
My gears will be 1/2 baltic birch ply, they are for a hand crank alternator I made for charging small batteries, cell phones etc. Thanks everyone and dick B I will check that out, as I too have gear generator3

bergerud
12-06-2014, 12:59 PM
Dick is talking about a different gear generating program which is free and would not require you to purchase the Carvewright DXF Importer add on. It would not be as "user friendly" as Gear Generater 3 and DXF Import. I guess it depends what you plan to do.

For now, what do you want to try? Cutting out a gear from 1/2" birch using the 1/8" cutting bit? You could try and attach a DXF (the with polylines option) of the gear you want.

freddy12
12-06-2014, 02:05 PM
Bergerud< I would like to try cutting out the mpc you have on post #18, I realize I would have to have 3.5 inches extra on each side of that. I would also like to make 1/16 inch passes, because I think the bit would break otherwise. For the final piece I believe I Will have to go with A 60 tooth, 12" dia. for the large gear and a 2" diameter small gear with matching teeth , that way I can keep my 6:1 ratio

bergerud
12-06-2014, 03:15 PM
Ok, give this a try. I made it 1/8" per pass. You can change it to 1/16" if you want. (Most people would, I think, do 1/4" per pass.) I would just use piece of 12 X 20 MDF for the first try. Put some masking tape on the bottom for better belt grip. Use place on center. You could also scale it down if you wanted to use a smaller board.

freddy12
12-06-2014, 03:22 PM
Thank you Sir: But I now have other problems, my machine which I just took out of the box is giving me an error message Y axis stall. When it rains it pours!!!!

freddy12
12-06-2014, 06:11 PM
Well I cut the gear, there are some issues with it, I believe the bottom traction rollers are slipping not sure though. One side of the gear looks pretty good, the other half not so good. I will attempt to put up some pictures73258732597326073261

bergerud
12-06-2014, 06:49 PM
Did you put masking tape under the board? You should also check the head pressure with an old bathroom scale.

freddy12
12-06-2014, 07:08 PM
I did not use masking tape on the baltic birch as it was pretty rough on the bottom, I should have taken your advice and used 1/2 " MDF I will try that tommorrow. Here are some pictures of what I am trying to make.
Keep in mind that this is just a rough mock up or prototype.73262732637326473265

FWMiller
12-06-2014, 08:26 PM
I use half inch Baltic birch a lot and need the tape. Even though it's not really smooth, the hardness makes it difficult for the brass roller to dig in and get a grip.

FWMiller
12-06-2014, 08:29 PM
That looks like a cool project. Did you come up with it from scratch or get the electronics as part of a kit?

freddy12
12-07-2014, 06:13 AM
I came up with the Idea from scratch, I scrounged all the parts from surplus stores or garage sales. the only thing new are the neo.s (magnets). This will be a teaching tool, for young people to learn how electricity is made. But also a useful device. The coils are wound so that the machine will start producing power at very low rpm. It has a 3 phase AC output, rectified to DC. There are 36 led,s above the gauges, and I can light them all very easily by barely turning the crank. Under a no load condition, I had it up to 15 volts@2 amps, pretty impressive for three small coils. But the gearing you see in the picture I cut by hand, and it is pretty uneven, which causes a lot of vibration. Thats why I am trying to cut them on the carvewright!

CW-HAL9000
12-07-2014, 11:29 AM
Really nice.

freddy12
12-08-2014, 12:00 PM
bergerud , Could I possibly talk you into making a couple of mpc,s for me? I will gladly pay you for your time, I cant afford the 200$ for the DXF software right now, since I only need two gears that I will use all the time.
The sizes I need are Large wheel- 12 inch dia. 50 tooth Small gear 2 inch and some way of marking the centers so I can hand drill them. If you cant no problem, no pressure Thank you sir!

bergerud
12-08-2014, 12:31 PM
No problem. I am at work now. I will do it when I get home. Since we both have gear generator 3, maybe you could make the gears you want, save and upload the .gear file to the forum. You would have to zip it.

freddy12
12-08-2014, 12:46 PM
Thanks bergerud I will grt right on it!

freddy12
12-08-2014, 01:02 PM
OK 2nd try7329273293

bergerud
12-08-2014, 06:56 PM
Here are the gears. I had trouble with the small gear. The dxf from gear generator caused the DXF Importer to crash. I had to import and export through another program to fix it. (Poor code from the gear generator I suppose.) Also, it is hard to center the small gear since it has a odd number of teeth!

I was thinking that, on the big gear, you might want to make the spokes thicker and make a boss for the crank handle.

Anyway, see how these work.

freddy12
12-08-2014, 07:35 PM
Thanks bergerud: I will cut them out first thing in the morning, by the way I tried the tape on the MDF and the gear came out much better!!

ktjwilliams
12-09-2014, 08:04 AM
Dan well done as usual ...

freddy12
12-09-2014, 06:26 PM
@bergerud : I cut out the mpc,s this afternoon, and I must say they are 10 times better than the hand cut one,s I did. Although they still dont quite mesh as well as I would like, Taht being said I dont think it,s the mpc,s. I think I need to add more head pressure( have to look up a tutorial) and take three passes instead of two. I noticed when the machine was doing 1/8 in passes there was very little vibration on the drive shaft. I also think a3/16 bit would be better. But all in all I am a happy camper please let me send you some money for your effort, Thank you very much!!!!

bergerud
12-09-2014, 07:30 PM
That is great. No money required! Just post some pictures when you get another one made.

(By changing the inset, you may be able to tweak how the gears mesh.)