Kcam not seeing ovals properly

[monkamarm2000]

First off yeah kinda new at this. In a nut shell if I draw a circle in cad then import to Kcam there is no problem. If I go back and take that same circle and drag it into an oval for example, Kcam cant see it. It diesnt seem to see bezier's too well either either.


Barry

[ger21]

When you drag it, it becomes an ellipse. You may be able to "explode" it in your CAD program, then KCAM might see it. Most .dxf > gcode converters don't support ellipses, or bezeir curves or splines.

[monkamarm2000]

Thanks Gerry, I tried that but no dice. I explored the diffent options along thos line and nothing yet. This could also be a limitation of the program I assume?


Barry

[monkamarm2000]

in diggin I came across this on Kcam help, can this help me get to the bottom of it in any way?

KCam Help

Entity Description
Line Single Line X1,Y1,Z1 TO X2,Y2,Z2
Poly line Multiple Line X1,Y1,Z1 to following vertexes
Vertex Multiple Line to X2,Y2,Z2
Point Single Point X1,Y1,Z1
Arc CCW Arc Entity
Circle Full Circle Entity


Barry

[monkamarm2000]

ok now it gets strange! If I use arc command the half arc shows, and unlike the circle it shows when I drag the arc.


Barry

[monkamarm2000]

Ok gerry you sent me down the right path. I started to explore entity properties and through playing around figured out the arc or circle has to be drawn and save as a line entiity. Now it works, thanks a bunch.



Barry

[ger21]

Just out of curiosity, what are you drawing with, and what did you have to do to make it work. It may help other people down the road.

[monkamarm2000]

I am using a combination of Turbocad and Design CAD. Each one fits a better purpose for what I'm doing. Which is CNC routing. In the end I was using Design Cad to make a circle, but I click draw as line entity when it asks, the choices are make it a circle or line and I pick line. Then I make sure I save as line not hatch entity when I export into Kcam. One otehr little thing it still seems to be doing is leaving a few extra lines in the cutting path. Some of these lines are ones I used to assemble the shapes but deleted after, but Kcam still seems to see them. Or for example if I intend make a circle with 1/4" line up notches on the top, bottom, and on each side. How I do this to make sure there all equal and lined up is I have been making rectangles, then cutting out the lines inside the circle. After capping the end's then opening up the outer circle sides for an open 1/4"x1/4", the cad see it fine but on going to Kcam it see's all kinds of stuff and even sets cut paths for them.


Barry

[ger21]

I'd double check and make sure you really did delete them. If they are deleted, they shouldn't be in the .dxf. Are you just turning off the layer they are on. That will not delete them, and they will still show up in KCAM if that's what you're doing.

[monkamarm2000]

there definately deleted cause I do most stuff in one layer. I also had the though that maybe its just a matter of cleaning up the drawings atfer deleting. Had the thought that maybe its just extrapolating from smudges in the draw? think thats possible?

Barry