Newbie to Designedge needs mentoring.

[Binderman]

Hello!! Wonderful website!!

I am new to Designedge, or any type of auto cad/cam software for that matter. Heck Paint still rattles me. I am trying to cut my teeth so to speak with a simple layout of a rectangle with two holes in it on either end of the rectangle. I can get the holes to the size I need but can't center them in the rectangle or position them the correct distance apart either.

The pieces will be the boom locks for a small trencher/back hoe I have.

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks all!!

[Shane Warnick]

Binderman,

Did you get this figured out or do you still need some help?

Let me know, I can show you a few shortcuts, if you need, to help lay out machine parts structural stuff etc. Once you see it done a time or two your brain will get it and then it's no big deal. First time a guy showed me I did the face palm hard. I couldn't see the damn forest for all the trees

Shane

[Binderman]

Thanks Shane!!

Its been a few sleeps since I posted the above and I have a tad better understanding of the software,,,,,,,,,,,,,to a point.

Nodes are wrecking my brain now. Any advice in lemans terms as to their purpose and how they are used. I am basically having to help solve any layout issues the students in our Ag classes are having so its a tad frustrating for all of us!!

Thanks for the offer to help and any other advice you may provide.

[PlasmaMac]

I am not sure that I have every had any problems with "nodes" per say on design work for metal cutting on a plasmacam.

There are a lot of built in features within designedge that can bring even the faultiest (trust me, I have had many) of drawings into ready to cut masterpieces within a few click of a mouse by using some of the functions found on the tool bars (which can be immensely helpful and handy)...Sometimes these really great helpful features are overlooked if you did not know that they were there in the first place (I've been there and have done that.... multiple times before). There is lots of good stuff within that software can make life easy....Everything from connecting broken line segments in order create solid closed paths, to detecting overlapping intersections, trim extend (my personal favorite) and a bnch of other things...

I still learn a lot from plasmacams video instruction manual when ever I have the occasional brain fart can't remember how to do something. You can access that video manual directly through the help menu within designedge, which makes pretty handy to follow along while having your software open..

Realistically, I've figured out there is a way to do just about anything pretty easily & effectively in plasmacam's designedge (even the basic program is really straight forward to use if you don't have the advanced...the advanced designedge is really sweet though). And if all fails, call the tech department. Once you get going in the right direction, in all honesty, it becomes just about the easiest program imaginable when it comes to CNC plasma cutting software.

Don't hesitate to reach out to any of extremely knowledgeable folks out here. The more specific you are about your situation the better help you will get. There are also a ton of extremely knowledgeable plasmacam owners the pcam owners community too. I learn something new on there every day. And if you use the search function with a few keywords, you can find TONS of useful tips, tricks and advice.

Good Luck Brother!

JAG