Silhouette SD

[Dave Schneider]

Remember, this is not a competition, it is only an exhibition — please, no wagering

Best wishes, Dave

[pnolan48]

Ian,

Thanks for the tip on Delftship--I guess I'll be firing up my PC once again or booting up the new laptop with Windows or running it on the old G5 under emulation (which is not bad, btw, but that PPC is really loaded).

I never used AutoCad enough to get the hang of 3D with it. I've had suitable results with 2D plan, profile, and section views, and hope to use the precision of the cutter to make cuts more--uh--precise. I plan to cut both a Benson- and Fletcher-class destroyer and see how long it takes to build them, and how hard it is. I think I can use cardstock instead of styrene for much of the superstructures.

I've enjoyed learning Illustrator over the past few weeks. It's very different from Canvas at first, but then became quite similar once I got the hang of it. I'll be setting up over the next few weeks.

[Iain]

Rob, for some reason the Delrin sheet was shipped to my address here.  I'll be mailing it to you shortly.  Meanwhile, I'm having to re-design the trucks as originally I had planned on piecing them together with bits of etched brass and plastic.  I am designing these trucks to use Kato parts because the engineering is slightly easier.

[Zox]

Rob, for some reason the Delrin sheet was shipped to my address here.  I'll be mailing it to you shortly.

 

No problem.

[/quote]Meanwhile, I'm having to re-design the trucks as originally I had planned on piecing them together with bits of etched brass and plastic.  I am designing these trucks to use Kato parts because the engineering is slightly easier.
[/quote]

In the meantime, could you send me (or post here) some information on the prototype trucks? It would help me get started thinking about how to do things on my end.

[Iain]

http://rr-fallenflags.org/ns-s/ns-s1504.jpg

Here's one of the locomotives I want to model.  When I get home, I'll get you some general dimensions.

[pnolan48]

Need some help here, as I am a blithering idiot when it comes to Illustrator (and many other things).

I drew the forecastle deck plan for a Benson-class destroyer using Illustrator's Pathfinder capability. That is, I drew two circles intersecting a rectangle for the aft gun tubs, and "added" the shapes together. Voila, a very nice and precise drawing. Except the Illustrator plug-in for the Silhouette insisted on cutting the entire circles, rather than the composited path. How do I get around this?

Not a big problem, as the cutlines were accurate, and I can just glue together the outlying halves of the circle. Would filling the shapes with a color avoid this (what I will try next)?

The printer does not like 0.020 styrene when there are big traverses of the cutter head. The piece I cut yesterday was 22 inches long. I tripled up the drawing (three forecastle plans) and got one perfect cut before everything got screwy. The rollers could not "roll back" without the styrene sheet (10.5 x 24") getting skewed. This was at a cutting speed of 1 cm/sec and a pressure of 27.

The one piece deck did snap out perfectly. I guess I'm going to have to learn how to limit the back and forth travel of the sheet to avoid problems. It seems to me that tracing an outline is probably going to work better than constructing it from geometric shapes. I'm guessing it's a "path" issue, which I still don't understand.

[wcfn100]

I drew the forecastle deck plan for a Benson-class destroyer using Illustrator's Pathfinder capability. That is, I drew two circles intersecting a rectangle for the aft gun tubs, and "added" the shapes together. Voila, a very nice and precise drawing. Except the Illustrator plug-in for the Silhouette insisted on cutting the entire circles, rather than the composited path. How do I get around this?

The problem is you're not actually modifying the curves when you use shape mode.  Illustrator is generating the new shape for you, but the circle and square stil exist in the background.  AFAIK, you need to physically remove the portions of the lines that you don't want to cut.  I can walk you through one way to do this, but it takes a few steps and I can't get to my other machine until later tonight.

Basically, what I would do is add points to the lines where the shapes intersect and then delete the segments you don't need.  You could choose to join the new shapes together, but that wouldn't be required for the cutter.   There are a couple ways to add points.  Look under the 'path' dropdown for anding points at intersections (not sure it's there, but it cameto mind).  I can do more with this later.

edit: that doesn't exist.

Jason

[wcfn100]

Okay, try this.


Select you objects and under the 'Path Finder" tab select 'Pathfinders -> Divide'.  This will create the anchor points for you.  Then use the 'Direct Selection' tool (the non-filled arrow tool) to select the segments that you don't need and delete them.



Jason

[Zox]

The printer does not like 0.020 styrene when there are big traverses of the cutter head. The piece I cut yesterday was 22 inches long. I tripled up the drawing (three forecastle plans) and got one perfect cut before everything got screwy. The rollers could not "roll back" without the styrene sheet (10.5 x 24") getting skewed. This was at a cutting speed of 1 cm/sec and a pressure of 27.

Based on my experience with (somewhat shorter) pieces, you might want to try putting an "infeed table" at or just below the level of the ridges on the intake side of the cutter. That should take some of the pressure off the rollers, and allow the stock to feed more smoothly.

A stack of 4 CD cases, or 8 of the slimline cases, is just the right height. You could put a "tabletop" piece of styrene over multiple stacks to make a smooth, slippery surface of appropriate length for your work. (For my purposes, a single stack is enough to provide support to 12-inch-long material, so I don't need the "tabletop.")

An "outfeed table" is also a possibility, but it has to be a bit lower--3 CDs high instead of 4--and I haven't checked it out to see if it would be a help or a hindrance.

[pnolan48]

Thanks, guys, I understand and your suggestions worked.

Also, I slowed the cutter down to minimum speed, and made the workpiece only 8 inches wide (but 30 inches long). What was happening was the lack of an infeed table and a too-wide workpiece led to the sheet catching on the edges of the printer table and skewing. A narrower piece and some support solved that. I also offset the cutting start point so the sheet would be fully into the printer by 0.5 inches or so. Amazing what a few tweaks will do.

Now, if I just remembered that 0.3mm is NOT the same as 0.03 inches, I might have a hull built tonight.

Thanks again!

[Zox]

...I might have a hull built tonight.

Waiting for pictures with bated breath...

[DKS]

Waiting for pictures with bated breath...

<pedantic> Congratulations on the correct spelling of bated breath. </pedantic>

[pnolan48]

Ah, literacy triumphs. Only a fish would have baited breath?

I have a hull. The precision of my assembly does not match the precision of the cutter. Or the precision of my drawing is off just enough. It takes a drift of perhaps only 0.001 inch to muck things up on the glue lines.

This is an adventure. I think I got a drift last night when I was not paying attention and the work material hit the surface of the table and stuck just a tiny bit. Leading to a tiny drift.

Perhaps my troubles will abate tonight with a new try at cutting.

The snap and score method works well with 0.030 styrene. Now, if I could find my micrometer and stop drawing 0.020 slots. Or find the sheet of 0.020 styrene. I think that hull sides out of 0.03 styrene are going to be hard to shape.

Pictures later.

[pnolan48]

Miscalculated the sections amidships--or got them in the wrong order, as they are all pretty much the same. And the sides didn't fit well. Spilled my glue bottle. Back to the drawing board.

[Philip H]

Miscalculated the sections amidships--or got them in the wrong order, as they are all pretty much the same. And the sides didn't fit well. Spilled my glue bottle. Back to the drawing board.

the lament of ANY boat builder, even in 1:1