November 2010 | Paul Munford

Category: AutoCAD Tutorials Tags: AutoCAD Edit

When and How to Convert AutoCAD Ellipses into Arcs
Designers Love swoopy Organic Shapes. Unfortunately fabricators like defined geometry. Sometimes it falls to Us to convert one to another.
Weve all been in that situation ;) Our Boss thinks we can use the Designers file as it is, but we know that the CNC machine wont take the geometry. If
you are in this situation, there are a few AutoCAD tricks you can use to convert an Ellipse (or any Spline) into Polylines. However, sometimes the best
method is to redraw the offending geometry yourself. That is when these old tips from the drawing board really come in useful.
What is an Ellipse?
An ellipse is the locus of all points of the plane whose distances to two fixed points add to the same constant.
The distance from F1 to PTn to F2 is always equal to the Major diameter a to -a
Points F1 and F2 are called the Focus points (or Foci).
You can find the Focus points of an Ellipse by drawing and Arc equal to the Major radius O to a from the end point of the Minor radius b. The Focus
points are where the Arc crosses the Major Axis
Ellipses for CNC
Ellipses can easily be drawn with AutoCADs ELLIPSE Tool. However, most CNC machines wont accept ellipses.
CAD AutoCAD AutoCAD DWG 3 D AutoCAD AutoCAD DXF
Autocad: Converting Ellipses to Arcs http://cadsetterout.com/autocad-tutorials/converting-ellipses-to-arcs/
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Your CNC Programmer may be able to convert AutoCAD ellipses to Polylines using a program such as Alphacam but if it falls to you to provide an
elliptical Polyline then there are a number of simple techniques you can use.
a. This is the original Ellipse.
b. Firstly, you can set the Autocad variable PELLIPSE to 1 (just type PELLIPSE at the command line and follow the prompts). This will instruct
Autocad to draw all Ellipses as polyline approximations (My preferred option).
c. If you offset an Ellipse, you get a spline (this makes sense, from a geometry point of view, All points on the curve are no longer equidistant from the
Foci). You can offset the original ellipse, delete the original Ellipse and then offset the spline back by the same amount to create a spline version of the
Ellipse. Of course we want a polyline not a spline so we have another process to go through.
d. You can use the Autocad Express tool FLATTEN to convert a Spline into a Polyline.
or
e. You can use Autocad 2010s new SPLINEDIT command to convert a spline to a polyline.
f. Finally if you dont have Autocad 2010 or you dont have the express tools loaded you can use the DXFOUT command to export the Ellipse to an
Autocad R12 DXF. Ellipses werent supported in R12, so the Ellipse will be converted into a Polyline.
There are also various 3rd party programmes available to convert Ellipses and Splines to Polylines, but I wont cover those here.
As you can see, the Ellipses are converted with various degrees of complexity. My preferred choice is to simply re draw the Ellipse with PELLIPSE set
to 1.
Ellipses for Tube Rolling
The techniques Ive described might help you with CNC machined parts, but what if you are drawing up a an Elliptical metal frame? Tube and Pipe rolling
machines typically only roll one radius at a time, and each radius will need to be welded together to form the Ellipse. The Polylines Ive shown above have
too many Arcs for this purpose. Our best option may be to re-draw the Ellipse using the same techniques we would have used on the drawing board.
There are a number of different techniques available for drawing Ellipses with Arcs. I will demonstrate two of them here.
Four Centre Ellipse
To set out a four centred ellipse:
Draw out the Major and Minor axis
Draw a line from a to b
Mark off the point d. The distance b to d = Oa Ob (i.e. The difference between the Major and Minor Radii)
Draw a perpendicular line to bisect Line d to a
Where this new line e meets the extension of Axis b you will find the first centre point C1
Where line e cross Axis a you will find the second centre point C2
Autocad: Converting Ellipses to Arcs http://cadsetterout.com/autocad-tutorials/converting-ellipses-to-arcs/
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Line e also marks the point where the two arcs meet
You can mirror the geometry around the Axis to find the remaining centre points and complete the Ellipse.
If this Four centred Ellipse isnt accurate enough
Five Centre Ellipse
To set out a five centred Ellipse:
Mark out the Major and Minor Axis
Draw a line a to d and d to b
Draw a line a to b
Draw a line perpendicular to ab through point d
Where this new line d meets the extension of Axis b you will find the first centre point C1
Where line d cross Axis a you will find the second centre point C2
r is the distance from C2 to a
Mark a point e two times the length of r from b on the minor Axis
Draw an arc with the centre at C1 and a radius of C1 to e
Draw an Arc with the centre at C2 and a radius of r
Where the two arcs cross you will find C3
Draw a line through C1 and C3 to find the meeting point for arcs A1 and A2
Draw a line through C2 and C3 to find the meeting points of arcs A2 and A3
You can mirror the geometry around the Axis to find the remaining centre points and complete the Ellipse.
Autocad: Converting Ellipses to Arcs http://cadsetterout.com/autocad-tutorials/converting-ellipses-to-arcs/
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A comparison of Ellipses
Neither of these techniques will give you a perfect Ellipse, but the difference will be undetectable to the naked eye.
Looking for more CAD/CAM/CNC tips & tricks? Check out this post on cleaning up your AutoCAD DWG files for CNC.
About the author
I'm a big CAD geek. I really enjoy learning about the CAD tools I use, and I really enjoy writing about the cool stuff I find
out. In my spare time I drive to and from work and fantasize about having 'Hobbies'.
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Autocad: Converting Ellipses to Arcs http://cadsetterout.com/autocad-tutorials/converting-ellipses-to-arcs/
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