Originally, TyGraphs started life as a way for me to draw graphs and plot them to scale on paper but now TyGraphs has become a beta experimental application for trying out new functions. Some of the following ideas are features requested by existing users and the application has been made available to all members via the members area. TyGraphs will never replace your existing CAD application. It'll be useful for TH sheet metal software users who haven't got CAD or need some added functionality to complement their existing CAD package.
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is can they layout multiple patterns onto one sheet and then export all the patterns as a whole DXF file. It's fairly easy if you have a commercial CAD application but I've developed Tygraphs if you haven't. Also I want to empower the sheet metal worker on the shop floor to be able to use the software next to the laser cutter or guillotine to help them figure the best way to nest 6 STOR patterns. Not every firm has a CAD suite and draughtsman to hand.
TyGraphs allows you to insert the patterns onto a drawing area that represents the stock material size. From figure XX you can see a STOR pattern has been inserted. The grey rectangle outlined in yellow represents a 2m x 1m plate that can be selected from the plate menu. The pattern is inserted and orientated as it was first generated by the STOR application which is not going to be the best orientation.
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| Figure XX - Import of DXF STOR12 pattern |
To square it up you can zoom in on the pattern and choose the pick mode to select the pattern. The pattern bounding box shown dashed yellow identifies the current selection.
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| Figure XX - Object Bounding Box details displayed |
Use the right button and select object bounding box from the pop up menu. From figure 2 the minimum bounding box is reported orientated at 109 deg. Again using the right button in pick mode will allow you to choose rotate. Enter -109 degrees (where the negative sign means clockwise) to rotate the pattern.
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| Figure XX - Pattern rotated -109 deg. to align with plate edges. |
There are other features in pick mode such as translate,scale,mirror which are all self explanatory. It is also possible to mouse left button down and mouse move to translate the pattern for a course move. Use the right button menu and choose translate for fine translation work. In figure xx you can see I have also rotated the pattern a further 90 degrees, made a copy, and nested them together. Also, I have gone into tape mode to deduce what vertical dim. I need to array copy more patterns. You can toggle the snap on and off by pressing v.
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| Figure XX - Nested patterns in tape mode |
Figure xx shows a sheet full of patterns which can now be exported as 1 dxf file. This can be used in any of your CAD/CAM applications that can import DXF R12. FullSheetofSTOR.dxf
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| Figure XX - A whole sheet of STOR patterns |
Or you can produce a scaled printout where a 2x1 sheet prints out lovely at a scale of 1:10 on A4 paper: FullsheetofSTOR.pdf
Drawing a line with the mouse
Choose the line tool button from the toolbar.
Left button mouse down to pick the start point and drag the mouse (holding the left button down) and release at the end point. A ghost line makes the process more friendly.
If the snap vertex V button is depressed then the line will start from the nearest vertex. You can toggle the vertex snap by pressing v while in the line command. i.e. you can start on a snapped vertex - press v - then the end point will be a free point or vice versa if you want the start point to be free.
Drawing a line by coordinates
From the menu bar choose Draw and then Line and you can enter the start and end coordinates.
Drawing a circle with the mouse
{Still to do}
Drawing a circle by coordinates
{Still to do}
Drawing an arc with the mouse
{Still to do}
Drawing an arc by coordinates
{Still to do}
Inserting text with the mouse
{Still to do}
Inserting text by coordinates
From the menu bar choose Draw and then Text and you can enter the start coordinates, height and text.
Drawing a polyline using coordinates.
Goto Draw -> Polyline -> Polyline Maker
A default polyline (345 right angle triangle) is inserted (only) into the object inspector. You can edit the grid. If you need more vertices you can right button click the object inspector and add/delete rows as appropriate.
Once you ready you press right mouse button and choose Insert/Append.
If the object already exists (because you've picked an existing polyline) you will be appending the existing data. You can change whether it's an open or closed polyline by changing True to False.
Tiling a polyline
Tiling the polyline was a feature requested by a user which might be useful to others
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| Figure 1 - Tiling the inside of the polyline |
{Still more to do}
Tutorials
Creating a lap joint
Some features that are needed for the application to become more useable are: