Enhancement: Holding tabs for profile operation

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It'd be nice to have automated / manual holding tabs for profile OP:s.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by msiv...@gmail.com on 11 May 2009 at 1:44

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How do you imagine that working?
What options would there be?
You can add pictures here.

Original comment by danhe...@gmail.com on 11 May 2009 at 2:17

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Here's an image to show what I mean. There are 4 rectangular holding tabs that 
hold
the centerpiece that is being profiled off.

On automatic mode it could do a holding tab for example on every straight line 
(it
would work on simple shapes like triangles, squares etc. but not on complex 
shapes).
One possibility would be to calculate the profile length and to divide that 
number by
the number of tabs wanted. Altough this might have problems on C-like shapes 
where
the bit cuts the C's center off.

It would be good if the tabs would be able to put in a slope-shape so there 
wouldnt
be any straight upwards or downward moves (makes cleaner finish atleast on
not-so-rigid machines).

Manual tabs could work so that you'll select the manual tabs and it would ask 
the
shape(rectangular/sloped), length and height. After that you could click on the 
line
where you want them to be at (tabs could be cancelled one by one by clicking at 
point
where it was marked to be on).

Options would be atleast:
(-tab shape)
-tab lenght
-tab height
-n:o of tabs on automatic mode

Hopefully this clarifies what I mean :)

Original comment by msiv...@gmail.com on 12 May 2009 at 1:38

Attachments:

• Holdingtabs.png

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I understand. Yes, this is a useful function.
We should start with manual tabs.

I don't understand what a sloped tab shape is, though.

Original comment by danhe...@gmail.com on 12 May 2009 at 1:49

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I mean that the side profile would be /-\ instead of |-| so the bit would move 
always
forward without stops (at the beginning of tab it would move up and forward 
-and at
the end of tab down and forward at the same time).

Original comment by msiv...@gmail.com on 12 May 2009 at 7:01

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I have done this now. You can specify the tab width, angle and number of tags. I
space them evenly around the profile. So, if the tag slope is on a circular 
arc, this
causes a helix. This was the easiest way to write it, considering that I must
automatically write the python code.
I would like to change this to do manual tags. Tag objects will be automatically
added as children of the profile operation, but I am not sure how to do the 
python
code, yet.
It works well enough for my immediate needs, I think.
I will add a new issue for manual tags.

Original comment by danhe...@gmail.com on 16 Mar 2010 at 5:29

• Changed state: Fixed

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Dan,

  this is excellent news.  This was a function that I wanted too.  I have been
playing with the offset functionality in OpenCascade in the hope of generating 
an
operation similar to a Profile but where the code is contained within the 
realms of
C++.  I had hoped that this would have allowed me an easier path to adding tabs 
(i.e.
removing sections) to the offset curves that make up the tool path.  Having 
said all
that, however, I really haven't got very far.

  In any case, I'm very pleased that you've done this work.

  Ta
  David Nicholls

Original comment by David.Ni...@gmail.com on 16 Mar 2010 at 9:15

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Hello,

First I'd like to say: Great work with both HeeksCAD and HeeksCNC!

I was just thinking on asking about this feature, when I saw you posted this. 
So I quickly checked out the latest code and compiled it to try this new 
feature. 

I added a rectangle, setup an profile operation and 4 tabs, hit postprocess and 
the
profile is generated but no tabs what so ever. Am I doing anything wrong?

Regards,

Razvan

Original comment by razvan.l...@gmail.com on 24 Mar 2010 at 2:41

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Please be more specific. Maybe attach your .heeks file here.

Original comment by danhe...@gmail.com on 24 Mar 2010 at 2:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

(Sorry while writing this and trying to give you more info I found the problem 
with
the tabs not generating, only Problem 1 is valid)

OK here we go:

HeeksCAD revision: 1081
HeeksCNC revision: 902

Problem number 1: HeeksCNC compilation error

cc -c Chamfer.cpp -Wall -fPIC -g -I "./"
-I/usr/lib64/wx/include/gtk2-unicode-release-2.8 -I/usr/include/wx-2.8
-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGE_FILES -D__WXGTK__ -pthread 
-I/usr/local/src/heekscad
-D__WXGTK__ -DHEEKSPLUGIN -DUNICODE -DWXUSINGDLL -DTIXML_USE_STL -DHAVE_LIMITS 
-DOPEN_SOURCE_GEOMETRY -I../kurve/geometry -I../kurve/messages -I
"/opt/opencascade-6.3/ros/Linux/inc/" -o Chamfer.o
Chamfer.cpp: In member function 'virtual void 
CChamfer::AppendTextToProgram(const
CFixture*)':
Chamfer.cpp:138: error: 'setprecision' is not a member of 'std'
Chamfer.cpp:249: warning: unused variable 'max_bit_radius'
Chamfer.cpp:267: warning: unused variable 'top_surface'
Chamfer.cpp:187: warning: unused variable 'max_depth_possible'
Chamfer.cpp:191: warning: unused variable 'max_chamfer_diameter'
make: *** [Chamfer.o] Error 1

Had it to compile by commenting out line 138 in Chamfer.cpp:

//<---->ss<<std::setprecision(10);

Problem number 2: Tabs are not generated in profile operation 

OK that was my fault, my python was using the wrong kurve module. Sorry ... it 
works
perfectly.

Original comment by razvan.l...@gmail.com on 24 Mar 2010 at 9:23