Reduce Weight

Reduce Weight

Win32 and 64, English

A>V>C>
Cut through windows or pockets in free places of the part to reduce its weight.

General Usage Instructions

You can pre-configure the program. To do this, open the A>V>C> Options Palette (AvcOptions) on the Reduce Weight tab.

Select the parts to be machined or the entire assembly and call the ReduceW command.

If nothing is selected in advance, the program will prompt you to select the details. On the command line you will see the options

  • Switch Style - quickly switch between program styles

  • Tune - open the settings dialog

If blocks are selected, the program will add all the solids from them to the processing list. As well as solids from nested blocks. But scaled blocks will be ignored.

Some selected objects will be discarded (filtered). It ignores solids and blocks from Annotations, Hatching, Axes, Other, Info, Excluding, Holes and Fixture layers. You can reconfigure the object filter as you wish. It is possible to exclude solids not only by layers, but also by manufacturing technology and by type of material. Messages about the reasons for filtering objects will be displayed on the command line.

Next, the program will lay out the parts one by one in the XY plane, measure and analise them, process the parts and put them in place.

If you get such a window outline that Autodesk® AutoCAD® cannot extrude into a solid, then the program will save this outline as a red object of the Region type. You can try to draw and subtract it yourself.

If there are many details, you will see a progress indicator.

The program can be interrupted by pressing ESC.

At the end of the work, the program will show on the command line how many parts were processed and how many could not be processed.

Watch for messages on the command line. Alert messages and useful information are displayed there.

Screenshots

Commands

Ribbon/Toolbar Icon Command Command Description

ReduceW

Cut through windows or pockets in free places of the part to reduce its weight.

Installation/Uninstallation

The installer that ran when you downloaded this app/plug-in from Autodesk App Store will start installing the app/plug-in. OR, simply double-click the downloaded installer to install the app/plugin. You may need to restart the Autodesk product to activate the app/plug-in. To uninstall this plug-in, exit the Autodesk product if you are currently running it, simply rerun the installer, and select the "Uninstall" button. OR, click Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features (Windows 7/8.1/10/11) and uninstall as you would any other application from your system.

Additional Information

Known Issues

Program restrictions:
  • The program only works with 3D solid models (Solid3d), does not work in 2d and does not work with polygonal meshes and surfaces.

  • The program is designed to work with parts made of flat sheet materials. It has nothing to do with mechanical details and complex three-dimensional shapes. It is not possible to use the program for curved skins.

  • The program may not be able to handle overly complex shapes. On parts with an excessive number of holes and dadoes, important elements can be removed. Be sure to carefully check the result. Remember that any automatic program always requires human intervention and will never replace the brain of an engineer.

  • The shape of the window is not subject to any simplifications or rounding. On additive parts, the window can look very complicated. The program is designed for the window to be cut by the CNC machine and does not care about the complexity of the form, and weight savings is more important than the number of G-codes in CNC-program.

  • AutoCAD remove coloring of solid faces during any processing, including the work of this program. Assign materials to surfaces and edges only after modeling is complete.

Contact

Company Name: A>V>C>
Support Contact: avc.programming@gmail.com

Author/Company Information

A>V>C>

Support Information

Version History

Version Number Version Description

2022.05.00

Initial Release
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