I found my error. You made it correct. This is the step you and I did not do. You must activate the component to wake it up: Just click on the component name in the browser and the black dot will appear in the black circle. This will mean that component is active and you are now working on it.
This is how it looks when it is not activated:
You had a flat panel that said steel and one that said stainless when I opened the file.
And I liked Erik’s suggestions very much. I will probably do the center-center slots from now on.
ok so I decided to start over from scratch to get this right, so I got it flattened, I can make a sketch and select the face but it only works for the main face, the bends, flanges and the tree in the middle don’t show up, how can I add these to the sketch?
I misled you. You were on the right track. Go back to your original drawing. Look at my last post.
If you have lost your last file just grab it off of your first post in this topic. As soon as I selected the component from the browser list, your file worked perfectly… Tree and bends.
You will see that when you extrude one direction it will turn red. That means it is cutting. You will need to rotate your body so you can grab the arrow to do this. And you will not see any bend lines in the flat pattern. That is why you need to do the relief cuts or the polygon knotches like @72Pony suggested. If you still need help, let me know and either I, Don, or Erik or someone else will jump in tomorrow.
My wife just took some cold medicine and then told me I needed to watch for our granddaughter if she wakes up. She is spending the night with the grandparents!
Ok I got the relief cut out of the body and updated the flat pattern, one question though how are you cutting such thin holes? I used .07 in for the width of the relief and even set it so there isn’t a lead in/out. my kerf width is .055, should I just set the relief as a line instead of a hole and do an open chain tool path?
That is all I do to and it works for me up to 1/8th. I really haven’t seen the need to make it wider or more complicated. I don’t get too much bend but sometimes is it hard to bend, if that occurs, I cut several cuts in the same bend. As far as a concern of “strength” if too much is cut, I can always fill it in with a tig weld (usually not the case though).
There is nothing wrong with trying the single line relief like @djlois is suggesting. Keep in mind, most times, any cuts that won’t afford a lead in should be on a tool path of its own. It will not look as good as a cut with a lead in and there is no need to sacrifice the rest of your project just for single lines and small contours.
If you need help with multiple tool paths for the same gcode just ask. It is not difficult, it is just another few steps you need to take.
Good point. Hand bending introduces all sorts of abnormal forces. When I did my light boxes for the trailers, any attempts to hand bend resulted in unwanted bending where the light would be mounted since it was an area with a huge amount of metal absent.
you are really catching on quick.
