Support Forum
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Blind side holes and tapping
Is it possible for you to drill holes into a cut edge? For example, if I wanted some holes drilled into the edge of a panel, could you do that?
It would be really useful for assembly.... Particularly if you could tap them as well.
Thx.
Chris.
Posted By: Chris M on Aug 16, 2011 05:44AM Category: Front Panel Designer
Hello Chris,
Thank you for contacting us with your question.
We can indeed drill and tap the edges of our material. I will explain how to do so with an example below:
Let us say you have a panel that is 100mm wide and 200mm high with a 6mm thickness, and we will call it panel abc.fpd. In the Remarks for Production in the front panel properties, I would leave some notes that the edges of this panel will be tapped.
To tap the bottom edge, I would make a new design that is 100mm wide by 6mm high by 10mm thick, and check "use customer provided material". I would call this panel abc_bottom_edge_tapping.fpd.
I would then lay my holes out. If the layout was not completely symmetric, I would leave some notes in the Remarks for Production to help properly reference this file to the original panel.
The process could be repeated four times to make:
abc_top_edge_tapping.fpd (100mm wide by 6mm high)
abc_left_edge_tapping.fpd (6mm wide by 200mm high)
abc_right_edge_tapping.fpd (6mm wide by 200mm high)
You could also combine the top/bottom and left/right edges into one file if the hole pattern was the same, and we strongly recommend this if at all possible.
Do remember to upload all the necessary files to your order before submitting it online.
We look forward to integrating this process into our software in a future release to remove the requirement of multiple files.
If you have any additional questions regarding this process, please do not hesitate to let us know.
Kindest Regards,
Paul Birkeland
Posted By: Paul Birkeland on Aug 16, 2011 08:35PM
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Slot with rounded end
I need to produce a slot that is open at the edge of a panel, has a specific length and ends in a rounded end with a radius the same as twice the width of the slot. It's as if the slot was cut using an endmill with the same diameter as the width of the slot. Is a hole on top of the end of the slot the best solution?
Posted By: Carey Fisher on Aug 12, 2011 03:16PM Category: Whishes
Hello Carey,
Thank you for contacting us regarding your question.
You can use the Insert Rectangular Cutout function to define your slot, assigning the corner radius to be twice the height; this will provide the cutout that you need.
Feel free to allow this cutout to overlap the edge of the panel, as this leads to the cleanest finished product.
We do not recommend overlapping a drill hole with a rectangular cutout to obtain these results, as getting the intersection between these two objects arranged perfectly is deceptively difficult.
Let us know if you have any additional questions.
Kindest Regards,
Paul Birkeland
Posted By: Paul Birkeland on Aug 12, 2011 05:51PM
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Can't open PDF within order confirmation?
A few customers have been troubled by the fact that the pdf attachments within the order confirmation cannot be opened. Instead of the usual attachment "Order_12345.pdf" a long series of characters would be visible within the email "order_12345.pdf: 00000001,51d90c4d,00000000,00000000"
What is the actual problem here?
It is the email client/progam that is being used to open this email.
What can I do to solve this problem?
Update your email client to the newest version. Or try an alternative email client.
Posted By: P Neumann on Jul 14, 2011 08:38PM Category: Ordering
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Hole diameter text toggle.
I'd like to be able to read the diameter next to each hole, and toggle the view of diameter text on/off.
It would improve accuracy if there was a "View" toggle switch that would allow us to read the diameter of each hole in text displayed adjacent. Great for making sure that all of the holes are what we thought they were.
Under "View:" there exists (V4.11) an
"Outline mode" and a "Show refrence points" display function. This is where you would add the "Show dimensions" display layer toggle switch.
Perhaps (for now) to make this an easier to write software feature you'd only display the dimensions of thru-holes - because that is what we usually have the most inserted of, and most need of seeing.
Display text of every X,Y, and Z dimensions can come later. 8*D
I'd be VERY nice to have the diameter text show up in the print-outs for checking and approval too.
Thank you very much,
JoeT
Posted By: Joe Torre on Jul 04, 2011 04:48PM Category: Whishes
Hello Joe,
Thank you for contacting us with your request.
There is a function built into the software that may meet your needs. If you go to the View menu, then select Object Properties, this will open a window that will display all of the properties of any object selected.
This window can also be anchored if you drag it to one of the edges of the Front Panel Designer software window.
If we can provide any additional assistance, please do not hesitate to let us know.
Kindest Regards,
Paul Birkeland
Customer Service
Posted By: Paul Birkeland on Jul 05, 2011 06:11PM
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Small bug in Windows FPD
(Note: FPD Version 4.11)
The minor bug is that the filenames extension does not change to SVG, (from DXF) when naming a file to be exported.
Found under: File> Export> "Save as type" SVG.
It writes the file with *.dxf extension either way.
Saving an "SVG files (*.svg)" can overwrite an existing *.DXF file (after warning) since the extension does not change.
Thank you very much!
JoeT
Posted By: Joe Torre on Jul 04, 2011 04:12PM Category: Front Panel Designer
Hello Joe,
Thank you for contacting us regarding Front Panel Designer.
We have reported this bug to our software team, and they will work to correct it for our upcoming release.
Thank you for participating in our software development and improvement process!
Kindest Regards,
Paul Birkeland
Customer Service
Posted By: Paul Birkeland on Jul 05, 2011 06:08PM
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Cavity
If I create a circle cavity, what color will it be in the middle?? Can I specify a color to fill the cavity??
Posted By: Jarred matyka on Jun 23, 2011 06:08AM Category: Front Panel Designer
Hello Jarred,
Thank you for contacting us regarding cavities and engravings.
A cavity will always be raw aluminum in the middle unless you have a powder coated panel and you request that we powder coat over the cavity.
In order to get a filled cavity, you would need to use an engraving object. Select the appropriate shape and size, then check the "Fill Area" box to make it solid.
If you have a more unusual shape, feel free to let us know and we can give you more specific tips or hints on how to design it within our software.
Kindest Regards,
Paul Birkeland
Customer Service
Posted By: Paul Birkeland on Jun 23, 2011 05:56PM
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