devFoam - Features	Back to Wizard page.
Wedges

Wedges

You can get this dialog box pressing the 'Cut Wedges'  link located in the Startup dialog

If you press ' Cut Wedges' link  the following dialog will appear:

Using this function it is possible to cut architectural elements such as shaped column bases, or other elements consisting of a shaped section which is then curved lengthwise along a Path which can be as free as desired.

The dialog includes:

• A menu, where you can Open/Save the Wedge settings file, select the Section and the Path.
• A left Side, where you can apply most of Wedges settings, and go to cut it.
• A central 2D Preview, showing in green the Secion, in Red/Pink the final element as seen from top, and below the Foam block and the cutting line(s).
• At the right side you can see the 3D Preview of the final part.

The Section:

You can select the shape of the Section by the "Section - Import Section from file".
This Section must be a valid Region. If some islands are included, they won't be rendered in the 3D Preview, as not important in this type of element.
You can see then the Section as Green shape in the 2D preview. Using the Section menu you can Rotate and Flip the section.
The Left side of the Section will be applied to the Path, to create the final part.

The Path:

The Path is the Curve applied to bend the Foam, after you did cut the Section.
In the 2D Preview you can see it as a bold Blue curve applied the upper view of the part.

You can select between two types of Path curves:

• A Circular or elliptic path: you can apply the 2 radii of the Ellipse (set the same value to have a Circle) and the starting and ending angles in degrees of the Arc. You can also apply a full Ellipese/Circle inserting 0.0 - 360.0
• A Custom Path. You can select the Path by the "Path - Import Path from file" menu. You can apply here also a complex Path, also with a S shape for example. If you have both concave and convex curves, devFoam will create both upper cut (Red) and a lower cut (Blue) to create the wedges

You can switch back to the first case using the "Path - Use Circular or Elliptic Path" menu.
Using the "Path - Swap Side" menu you can change the side of the Path where to apply the Section.
The Left side of the Section will be applied to the Path, to create the final part.

The Wedges number:

You can apply a fixed number of equally spaced Wedges, or automatically compute and apply them depending on the Tolerancy value, applied along the Path (the bold Blue curve applied in the 2D Preview to the upper view of the part). In this case the wedge will be smaller where the Path curvature is higher.

The Cutting settings:

Usually the Wedges are not fully cut, a small part of the Foam is not cut, to allow the wedges to remain attached. These are then bent and glued together using the elasticity of the material.
You can set this value by the "Uncut length" parameter.
You can also set the safe Offset around the foam for the wedges cut(s).

How to proceed:

Press Apply to apply the actusl settings.

We suggest as first to cut the Section. To do that just press the Cut Section button. Remember to select a foam block at least as long as the X value reported in the Minimal block size info.

After that, you can see one or two cutting lines for the wedges, depending on the shape of the Path curve.
Place the Foam block on the cutting table in the right way, then us the Cut Upper Face/Cut Lower face buttons.
The wedges cut will be applied from the upper face of the Foam block.

If the Section width is too big referred to the radii of the Curstom Path curve, you can see a Red message error informing you about the number of intersecting wedges.
You can fix some simply case pressing the "Try to Fix errors" button. A different number and displacement of Wedges is applied, if that can fix the problem.
If this doesn't work, you must apply a smaller section or a curve with bigger curvature radii.
If the Path is only concave or convex, try also to swap the Side to the external of the Path.