[Mr. LocoMartin]

I have BobCAD V22 and so far the system seems to do everything I ask, it just takes me a little time and a few attempts to do it the way BobCAD needs in order to get what I want.
My latest project needs a little number plate. So here is what I did.
I started off with a 7" diameter solid sphere, located at x0,y0,z-7.
Then I made a 2" diameter solid cylinder 1" long located a x0,y0,z-.500.
I extracted the ball from the cylinder which left me with a 2" diameter with a concaved face. Within the concave surface, I want to have a number "5" raised up out of the dished surface.
This is where I am stuck. I can not seem to get the "5" geometry onto the dished out area. I have tried to use the 5 as a boundry but that did not work.
The "5" that I am using is a TrueText font and kind of fancy.
I am also wanting some other lettering on this surface but I figured I would figure out how to do the "5" and work from there.
I am beginning to suspect that this may have to be done in BobArt.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Martin

[jimalb]

Well, I guess I'm missing something for I could not draw the part you described, so I drew it a little different.
I don't Know If this is what you wanted but mabey some direction,
I drew it as a 1" radius cylinder @ 0,0,-.5,
Then a 3.5 radius sphere @ 0,0,3.5,
Boolean subtract sphere from cylinder, This gives a concave surface on top of the part to work from.
Then I made a #5 Using English111 font (seems kinda fancy to me)
Height .5
Select Vectorize and drag, and draged it to the center by eyeball.Then using utilites->Translate selected the text and draged it a little above Z0 for some depth of the 5.
Then using Extrude Curve selected the conture of the 5
and distance of -.5
Then a boolean add the 5 to the cylinder.
I don't know if this is what you are trying to do?

[Mr. LocoMartin]

JimAlb,
Very good. I followed you instructions and was able to get it to work.
Nice job.
I then expanded on the principle a little and was able to get text (non vectored) to conform to a curve and the explode the text so I could then translate the text into three dimentions.
My only issue with this has been the fact that when I translate the text the system does not put a cap on the top of the text. So the tool path wants to drop inside the letters as well.
If anyone knows how to do this, please share.
Thanks again for the insite.
When I get the project worked out the way I need it to look, I will post some pictures on my blog.
www.212steam.blogspot.com
Enjoy and Take Care.
Martin

[jimalb]

The Text must be part of a solid to have caps on it (as far as I can tell), Since this is a simple curve what I did was Just Like before and got pict number one, Then I made the same sphere .1 higher in the Z all other dims the same and got pict number two, Made the text .1" tall, then I did a boolean subtract. Made the same sphere .050 lower in Z for a 0.050" tall text and did a boolean subtract. This is for a simple curve like you described before, There are also several other ways to do this but for what I understand you wanted this was easiest for me.

[jimalb]

OK, I've Been playing with some text and this is what I found so far - Hope this helps - I am using English111 Font and the Captial H for this test on a flat plain ---
Pict #1 is the H placed as text and then exploded.
Pict #2 as done by the program this text will not generate caps on the letter
Pict #3 Now I zoomed in on the lower right of the letter and you can see the outside conture crosses it self.
Pict #4 I edited the part of H that crossed it self.
Pict #5 Now I did an extrude curve and you can see it has caps on the letter.
Pict #6 This is the same H except I used a Planar Surface Which is just the surface of the letter and no depth then you can use the Extrude Surface on this to create your letter as a solid,

So in short might look at your contures and make sure the outer conture does not cross itself or cross an inner conture or that the inner contures do not cross an outer conture - mantain your boundrys.

Hope this helps - Jimmy

If Your Having a different problem you can email your .bbcd file and I will look at what your trying to do and see if I can help - I'm no expert but I've been playing with BobCad sence Ver.17.