Advanced Geometry - Distribute Along Path
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When creating geometry, often you might want to copy a geometry item around a path in your geometry editor. There are two easy tools for this:
Distribute Along Path, and Oriented Distribute Along Path.
1Open the Parts mode from the start screen.
2Click the Select Part button . Under Part Name search for DistributeAlongPath.
3Open the part for editing.
4Click the Select All Snaps button.
5Unselect the Snap to Centre snap button.
6Select the slot geometry in the center of the screen.
7Click the radial copy button and Click Distribute Along Path.
8Under Copies in the Enter Number of Copies dialog that opens, enter 10, and Click OK.
9PrimeCut now wants you to select a basepoint. Unfortunately there are no snaps to the point you want, so type 'X 55 Y 53'. These are the coordinates, in mm, of the center of the slot. Press Enter.
10Click on the inner circle. An outline of the 10 repeated slots should show around the circle. Moving the mouse so that the first copy snaps to the top of the circle as shown. Click to place the parts.
11Select and delete the inner circle and the original slot geometry, Click Classify Paths , and our part is starting to look like processable geometry.
12Click Revert to return to the original geometry.
13Select the slot and this time select Oriented Distribute Along Path, (the tool listed just under the Distribute Along Path from before).
14Enter 10 under Copies, and Click OK.
15For the base point, again there is no snap available, so we enter 'X 55 Y 53'.
16For the tangent point Click on the midpoint of the bottom or top line of the slot. This will form a line that will be placed tangent to a selected path, with the base point being coincident on that path.
17Select the inner circle. And Click to place the first instance on the left hand extent of the circle. Your geometry should look like this.
18Click Revert, and close the mode without saving.