Rhino cam nesting_gettingstartedguide

Nesting - Getting Started Guide

© 1997-2012, MecSoft Corporation 1

MecSoft Corporation www.mecsoft.com


http://www.mecsoft.com/



Contents

Nesting Getting Started Guide ..................................................................................... 3

What are Sheets and Parts?...................................................................................... 3

About this Guide ..................................................................................................... 3

Where to go for more help? ...................................................................................... 3

Tutorial 1: True Shape Nesting .................................................................................... 4

Introduction ........................................................................................................... 5

Open RhinoCAM ...................................................................................................... 5

Load Nesting Browser .............................................................................................. 5

Open File ............................................................................................................... 6

Nesting Browser Workflow ........................................................................................ 7

Select Type of Nesting .......................................................................................... 7

Select Sheet(s) to Nest Parts in ............................................................................. 8

Select Part(s) to Nest ......................................................................................... 10

Choose Nesting Parameters ................................................................................. 13

Preview and Commit Nest ................................................................................... 15

Tutorial 2: Rectangular Nesting .................................................................................. 20

Introduction ......................................................................................................... 21

Open RhinoCAM .................................................................................................... 21

Load Nesting Browser ............................................................................................ 21

Open File ............................................................................................................. 22

Nesting Browser Workflow ...................................................................................... 23

Select Type of Nesting ........................................................................................ 23

Select Sheet(s) to Nest Parts in ........................................................................... 24

Select Part(s) to Nest ......................................................................................... 26

Choose Nesting Parameters ................................................................................. 29

Preview and Commit Nest ................................................................................... 30



Nesting Getting Started Guide

Welcome to the Getting Started Guide for Nesting. Nesting refers to the process of

efficiently manufacturing parts from flat raw material. In order to minimize the amount of

scrap raw material produced by this process, companies use nesting software. The software

analyzes the parts (shapes) to be produced at a particular time.

Nesting is an add-on module for RhinoCAM 2012 that can efficiently arrange parts within

sheet material by considering either the part's true shape or its rectangular form. This

product offers a simple and easy to use wizard driven interface to nest parts and make

them ready for CAM programming with RhinoCAM.

What are Sheets and Parts?

Part(s) refers to shapes to be produced that are cut from a flat piece of raw material. The

raw material to be cut from is called Sheet(s). These sheets could be rectangular or any

arbitrary shape. Parts and sheets can be created using CAD tools in Rhinoceros or can be

imported as Dxf, Dwg, Rhino, IGES.

About this Guide

This document contains various tutorials to help you get started with learning Nesting. Each

tutorial lesson has two associated files that you can find located in the Tutorials folder under

the installation folder of RhinoCAM. The first file is a completed file that contains the nested

results and represents the file that you should end up with after working through the

tutorial. The other file is a starter file that contains only the geometry. Use the completed

file as a reference. Copy the starter file and use this file to begin each tutorial.

Good luck and have fun!

Where to go for more help?

Refer to the online help system for nesting. This can be located by selecting Help from the

Nesting browser.

If you need additional help, or if you have any questions regarding Nesting, you may

contact us via e-mail at [email protected].

MecSoft offers Online training as well as personalized full day training sessions. Please look

up our website or email us at [email protected] for further details.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Tutorial 1: True Shape Nesting



Introduction

This tutorial will illustrate nesting of parts of arbitrary shapes to a rectangular sheet using

true shape nesting. This method is useful when the actual geometric details of the part are

taken into consideration while nesting. No approximation as a rectangle or any other

simpler shapes is made while nesting parts on the sheet. True shape nesting enables

interlocking of parts and holes present in the part.

In this tutorial we have a total of 4 shapes (parts) to nest of which one of them contains 2

holes. The parts will be nested to 2 sheets of same size each being 24 x 12 inches.

Open RhinoCAM

Nesting is an add-on module for RhinoCAM. To open RhinoCAM select the Rhinoceros

shortcut on your desktop or from the program menu by selecting Start ->All Programs -

>Rhinoceros 4.0 ->Rhinoceros 4.0.exe.

Load Nesting Browser

From the drop down menu bar select RhinoCAM ->Nesting Browser

Nesting Browser is now loaded and by default appears to the left of view port.



Open File

This refers to a file that contains geometry for part and sheet to be nested.

1. Select File ->Open from the menu bar or click Open icon from the Standard bar.

2. From the Open dialog box, select Nesting_Tutorial-1.3dm file from the Tutorials

folder.

The file is now loaded and appears as shown below.



Nesting Browser Workflow

Nesting browser uses a 5 step process to create 2D nesting of parts.

Select Type of Nesting

Select Sheet(s) to Nest Parts in

Select Part(s) to Nest

Choose Nesting Parameters

Preview and Commit Nest


This tab allows the user to choose between True Shape Nesting and Rectangular

Nesting. In this tutorial we will use True Shape Nesting.

3. From Select Type of Nesting tab click the radio button next to True Shape

Nesting.



This method is useful when the actual geometric details of the part are taken into

consideration while nesting. No approximation as a rectangle or any other simpler shapes is

made while nesting parts on the sheet. True shape nesting enables interlocking of parts,

recognition of arbitrary shaped sheet and part geometries, and holes present in the sheet

and part.


This tab allows selection of sheet(s) to nest parts.

1. Switch to Select Sheet(s) to Nest Parts in tab. We will now select the 24 x 12 in

rectangle as the sheet.

2. Click the Select Curve(s) button. Clicking this button prompts you

to “select objects and hit right mouse to end” selection. You could also press enter

on your keyboard to end selection.



3. Now select the rectangle from the view port (graphics area)

4. Press enter to end selection. The selected geometry now turns blue color and

appears under the Select Sheet(s) to Nest Parts in tab.



5. You will now set the sheet parameters.

a. Set Count = 2 by entering the value in the cell for count.

b. Select Starting Corner as Lower Left

c. Nesting Direction as Along X

d. Grain Direction as None

Setting Count = 2 will nest the parts to 2 sheets of same size.

Starting Corner defines the corner of the sheet to start the parts to nest

within a sheet.

Nesting Direction defines the direction along which the sheet gets filled with

parts.

Grain Direction can be used to control the part's orientation on the sheet so

that any material grain is considered. Each part and sheet needs to have this

parameter set for the control to be useful.




This tab allows selection of Part(s) to be nested.

6. Switch to Select Part(s) to Nest tab. We will now select all shapes.

Note: Part #4 is made up of 3 curves. These would be listed as separate entries when

selected in the table of parts to nest. Nesting treats shapes that are topographically defined

within other shapes as cutouts, meaning treat the part periphery shape and cutout shape(s)

as a group.

7. Click Select Curve(s) button under the Part(s) to Nest tab.

Clicking this button prompts the user to “select objects and hit right mouse to end”

selection. You could also press enter on your keyboard to end selection.



8. Now select the 4 shapes (total of 6 curves including the cutouts) from the view port

(graphics area) starting from left to right

Part selection sequence is shown below.

9. Press enter to end selection. The selected geometry now turns red and appears

under Parts tab. A white dot on each curve indicates the start point for profile

machining.

10. You will now set the part parameters.

a. Set Count = 10 for Part1,

b. Count = 25 for Part2,

c. Count = 15 for Part3,

d. Count = 18 for Part4, Part5 and Part6

e. Leave Orientation as unchecked and Grain Direction as None for all Parts



As Parts 4, 5, and 6 are shapes that constitute one part, you would set Count as 18 for

each of those shapes to achieve 18 copies of the part. Nesting treats shapes that are

topographically defined within other shapes as cutouts, meaning treat the part periphery

shape and cutout shape(s) as a group.

11. You will now set the part options before defining the nesting parameters. This is

located under Set Part(s) to Nest tab below select curves to be used as parts.

a. Set Orientation Step Angle = 45

b. Select check box for Allow Part inside other parts

Setting the Orientation Step Angle to 45 allows rotation of parts at 45

degree increments.

Selecting Allow Part inside other parts maximizes sheet utilization.


12. Switch to Choose Nesting Parameters tab



You will now specify the minimum distance between adjacent parts, the minimum

distance between parts and the sheet edge and the nesting accuracy.

13. Set Distance Part to Part = 0.25

14. Distance Part to Sheet = 0.5

15. Accuracy to High

Define each of the three options above as was done with the previous options.

Distance Part to Part is the minimum distance allowed between adjacent

parts in the nest.

Distance Part to Sheet is the minimum distance allowed between parts and

the edge of the Sheet(s).

Accuracy defines the degree of accuracy of nested pattern

16. Now click Execute Nest. This computes nest based on sheet, parts and nesting

parameters specified.

Once the nest is computed, you can select the preview nest button to view the

nested results in the graphics area.

17. Select Preview Nest.




Selecting Preview Nest from Nesting Parameters tab automatically switches to

Preview and Commit Nest tab.

Preview and Commit Nest tab and displays nested result in the graphics area. This

also displays a list of sheets if there are multiple sheets of the same size or different

sizes and % utilization per sheet. Selecting each sheet previews the nest for the

selected sheet in the graphics area.

18. Select Sheet 1-1 to preview the nest for the selected sheet.



19. Now select Sheet 1-2 to preview the nest.

Once you have previewed the results of the nest, you can commit the nest results to

be output to Rhinoceros.

20. Select Commit Nest from Preview and Commit Nest tab.

Selecting Commit Nest outputs the nest results to Rhinoceros. Each sheet would be

output to a new layer assigned with a unique layer name.

By default all layers are visible and the nest results appear on top of each other as

shown below.



You will now view each sheet by layer, by turning off visibility of other layers.

21. Open Layer Manager from the Standard bar to view the layers and to turn visibility

of layers on and off.

22. To view nested parts on Sheet 1-1, turn off layers Default and Sheet 1-2.



23. To view nested parts on Sheet 1-2,

a. Set Sheet 1-2 layer as Active by selecting the check box

b. Turn off layers Default and Sheet 1-1.

Note: You cannot turn off the visibility of a layer that is active.



The nested parts are now exported to CAD and read for machining.

End of Tutorial 1!



Tutorial 2: Rectangular Nesting



Introduction

This tutorial will illustrate nesting of parts of rectangular shapes to a rectangular sheet using

rectangular nesting.

In this tutorial we have a total of 3 shapes (parts) to nest. The parts will be nested to 1

sheets of size 24 x 12 inches.

Open RhinoCAM

Nesting is an add-on module for RhinoCAM. To open RhinoCAM select the Rhinoceros

shortcut on your desktop or from the program menu by selecting Start ->All Programs -

>Rhinoceros 4.0 ->Rhinoceros 4.0.exe.

Load Nesting Browser

From the drop down menu bar select RhinoCAM ->Nesting Browser

Nesting Browser is now loaded and by default appears to the left of view port.



Open File

This refers to a file that contains geometry for part and sheet to be nested.

1. Select File ->Open from the menu bar or click Open icon from the Standard bar.

2. From the Open dialog box, select Nesting_Tutorial-2.3dm file from the Tutorials

folder.



The file is now loaded and appears as shown below.

Nesting Browser Workflow

Nesting browser uses a 5 step process to create 2D nesting of parts.







This tab allows the user to choose between True Shape Nesting and Rectangular

Nesting. In this tutorial we will use Rectangular Nesting.

3. From Select Type of Nesting tab click the radio button next to Rectangular

Nesting.



This method is useful for nesting of parts on rectangular sheets. This is ideal for those

nesting mostly square and rectangular profiles. For arbitrary shapes an imaginary rectangle

is drawn around the shape and then the rectangles are laid side-by side.


This tab allows selection of sheet(s) to nest parts.

4. Switch to Select Sheet(s) to Nest Parts in tab. We will now select the 24 x 12 in

rectangle as the sheet.

5. Click the Select Curve(s) button. Clicking this button prompts you

to “select objects and hit right mouse to end” selection. You could also press enter

on your keyboard to end selection.



6. Now select the rectangle from the view port (graphics area)

7. Press enter to end selection. The selected geometry now turns blue color and

appears under the Select Sheet(s) to Nest Parts in tab.



8. You will now set the sheet parameters.

a. Set Count = 1 by entering the value in the cell for count.

b. Grain Direction as Along X from the drop down list


This tab allows selection of Part(s) to be nested.

9. Switch to Select Part(s) to Nest tab. We will now select all 3 rectangles



10. Click Select Curve(s) button under the Part(s) to Nest tab.

Clicking this button prompts the user to “select objects and hit right mouse to end”

selection. You could also press enter on your keyboard to end selection.

11. Now select the 3 shapes from the view port (graphics area) starting from left to right



Part selection sequence is shown below.

12. Press enter to end selection. The selected geometry now turns red and appears

under Parts tab.

13. You will now set the part parameters.

a. Set Count = 10 for Part1,

b. Count = 15 for Part2,

c. Count = 10 for Part3

d. Leave Orientation as unchecked

e. Set Grain Direction

i. Part1 - Along X

ii. Part2 - Along X

iii. Part3 - Along Y




14. Switch to Choose Nesting Parameters tab

You will now specify the minimum distance between adjacent parts, the minimum

distance between parts and the sheet edge and the nesting accuracy.

15. Set Distance Part to Part = 0.25

16. Distance Part to Sheet = 0.25

17. Accuracy to High

18. Now click Execute Nest. This computes nest based on sheet, parts and nesting

parameters specified.



Once the nest is computed, you can select the preview nest button to view the

nested results in the graphics area.

19. Select Preview Nest.


Selecting Preview Nest from Nesting Parameters tab automatically switches to

Preview and Commit Nest tab.

Preview and Commit Nest tab displays nested result in the graphics area. This

also displays a list of sheets if there are multiple sheets of the same size or different

sizes and % utilization per sheet. Selecting each sheet previews the nest for the

selected sheet in the graphics area.

20. Select Sheet 1-1 to preview the nest.



Note: As we set the Grain direction to Along Y for Part3, nesting ensures that the

grain direction of part is always along the grain direction of the corresponding sheet.

The sheet grain direction was set to Along X.

Once you have previewed the results of the nest, you can commit the nest results to

be output to Rhinoceros.

21. Select Commit Nest from Preview and Commit Nest tab.

Selecting Commit Nest outputs the nest results to Rhinoceros. Each sheet would be

output to a new layer assigned with a unique layer name.

By default all layers are visible and the nest results appear on top of each other as

shown below.



22. Open Layer Manager from the Status bar to view the layers and to turn visibility of

layers on and off.

23. To view just the nested parts on Sheet 1-1, turn off Default layer.



The nested parts are now exported to CAD and read for machining.

End of Tutorial 2!

Rhino cam nesting_gettingstartedguide

Technology

rectangular nesting

nesting software

type of nesting

nesting parameters

learning nesting

started guidecontents

nest parts

nesting browser workflow