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AutoLISP for cabinets anyone?

2/13/14       
Michael Member

Has anyone written autolisp routines to draw cabinets in 3D in autocad?

I've begun the process and it is very powerful. I'm looking for a group of experienced users to share ideas with.

Thanks for any replies!

2/13/14       #2: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Dan Member

I have used lisp for various things such as panels, drawer boxes and creating cutouts for access panels. I also use lisp to add extended data to parts so that the part has the information attached when it is time for to create a cutbill.

I have not done full cabinet drawings using lisp, tut do believe it could be done without major issues.

Of course the more complex cabinets would be much more involved than simple boxes.

2/13/14       #3: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Michael Member

I've worked out parametric routines to do most of our boxes ... the way we like them. Going to add functionality next to include drawer boxes based on cabinet size/drawer glide brand etc as well as proper hole placement. All parts have associated xdata for part name material W-L-T including 3D orientation.

That said if anyone has a good lisp function to extract xdata and send that information directly to excel I'd really appreciate a hand on that.

2/14/14       #4: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Gerry

I switched to using VBA over LISP with 2002. While I still use a lot of old lisp utilities, I rarely write new ones.
Many years ago I was working on a VBA cabinet package that would draw 3D cabinets, but I never finished it.

I currently use a VBA "order entry" type system that draws and exports cabinet part .dxf files along with a .csv cutlist, that I process with AlphaCAM.

2/14/14       #5: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Michael Member

I agree with you on the VBA idea. I started with lisp because it seemed easy. I'm going to switch over to vb.net to do the rest of my coding soon. Of course I have to learn how to program vb.net but I'll figure it out.

That's why I started in LISP because it was relatively easy and I got results quickly.

Do you happen to have a VBA script that will read/export xdata?

2/14/14       #6: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Gerry

Yes, I do, but it's been a few years since I looked at it. I have a VBA macro that exports g-code for my hombuilt CNC. I use Xdata to assign feedrates and other cnc data to polylines. I'll see if I can find a sample to post this weekend.

I'm currently learning Visual Basic.net by writing as standalone app. That's what I'll use for the next major Autocad project I do.

2/14/14       #7: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Dan Member

In my case I use LISP to do things to aid our other software. I use Smartlister to export part information to a csv file and generate part drawings for Router-Cim.

As far as using VB vs AutoLisp, I do not write code on a daily basis and AutoLisp was fairly easy to pick up and I have been able to accomplish what I need so far.

Michael,

A question for you. How is you XYZ data generated? Is this the actual part size? How far do you hope to take the process? (To a bill of materials or all the way through production using drawing and parts to generate code for a cnc.

2/14/14       #8: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Michael Member

I use smartlister as well. So I can get the data to csv files but if I want to create additional xdata, I can only export what smartlister exports at this time.

I've written code that will update any of the fields that smartlister updates.

As far as the xyz data of a part or WLT is concerned, the parts and 'drawn' using mathmatical parametrics that I've set up. Delcare things like side thickness, top bottom thickness etc. The routines request user input of the height width and depth of cabinet how many doors/drawers and then draws the cabinets based on the parameters I've created. Works great so far. I've also found a way to update the ORIE data for smartlister so that the parts are oriented correctly and that doesn't have to be done manually. Mirroring however can mess that up I think.

2/14/14       #9: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Michael Member

As for how far will I go with it? Well for my shop the lisp routines work great, but I don't want to be on AutoCad 2004 forever so I'll be looking into VB.net to see if I can repeat what I've created in AutoLISP and make my routines a bit more powerful. Only limited by my imagination, time and what I know and don't know about coding properly ...... steep learning curve but I'm tired of dealing with expensive software that only does 80% to 90 % of what I want. Besides this is fun. You can draw anything in CAD .... you just need to get the information back out efficiently. Where most parametric programs go wrong is that they are parametric. Not that that is bad, it just limits you to the 80 to 90%. Being able to combine parametrics with the ability to draw any shape and size of any part on the fly and still get all of the relevant information for all parts is the ultimate goal.

2/14/14       #10: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Dan Member

Michael,

It sounds like you have taken this a bit further than me. I have yet to conquer the ORIE setup and write it correctly so it is to the liking of Smarlister.

In terms of additional data you would like exported. Do you currently use all the fields in Smartlister? If not it would be possible to write a LISP to put that xdata in one of the Note/Comment fields in Smartlister. That way when you export the information the additional xdata is included when you create the csv with Smartlister.

2/14/14       #11: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Michael Member

Getting the ORIE field to read correctly is relatively easy via lisp. I can update all the fields from smartlister and no, I don't use them all but I might. So I'd like to create new fields also that I could store data in and have that info go to excel. Of course I could probably just export the smartlister data and then write routines in excel to do what I want to. Basically I want to create an end to end that assigns labor times to each part for all of the different processes. For example: labor to make each piece of a five piece door. Labor to assemble the door. Labor to sand and prep the door. Amount of finish material per door. Labor for the finishing processes of the door. Ultimately I want the drawing to dictate the cost of the entire project. As I write, and I've been thinking this for a while. What I'm really needing to do is to draw the cabinets with all parts and then export all the data to excel. After that I need to create an excel spreadsheet that also analyzes all of the parts and assigns time and cost of material to the parts so that I can get as close to an accurate cost of the job as possible, adding overhead and margin to the project. Because I could include all parts of the job in the drawing doesn't mean I should add all that functionality to the drawing. The estimating part should not be done in CAD. That should be done in excel. That said, my goal is to create something that could go from estimate to real shop drawings very quickly. Using the power of both programs I am sure this could be done. One of the hardest things to do is estimate times for a job accurately without knowing within reason how much material and how much time every process takes.

If you could draw quickly via parametrics, then I know you could get there and refine our estimates, then use those estimates in the shop to measure efficiency of our process and labor hours so that our margins are maintained.

2/14/14       #12: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Alex

Michael; I suggest you visit theSwamp.org if you haven't already.

The best CAD programmers anywhere. A right friendly and helpful bunch.

The Swamp

2/19/14       #13: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Brent Wilkerson

Michael...how detailed do you want to get with your cabinets? I made a LISP routine for someone here once before for a simple cabinet drawings. I still write very complex and versatile LISP programs to this day, I mix both traditional LISP and VLISP.

Do you have an example of what you are trying to archive?

Post here or email me.

Brent

2/27/14       #14: AutoLISP for cabinets anyone? ...
Chris

I'm thorry, but I couldn't rethitht think a thoftware named lithp was funny. Upward and onward fellow makers.


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