Full details of how the board list is created for combo materials
To fully describe a composite material up to four entries are required in the working board list.
- the composite board
- core
- front laminate (optional)
- rear laminate (optional)
If the front and rear laminates are the same only a single laminate board code is created.
For each composite material the program creates an entry for each preferred size found in the board library under the = material code. If there is no = material code in the board library just one composite entry is created.
For each preferred composite size, up to four boards are added to the list, using the following rules:-
When selecting components, the program chooses the board which is the next size up from the preferred size. That is the board which is nearest to (but larger than) the preferred dimensions. If all three components satisfy this condition the composite boards dimensions are set to the preferred size.
- If there are no components which are the next size up from the preferred size (or there is no preferred size) the program chooses the first board found and sets the composite board size to 0.0 x 0.0.
- If no component board is found the program creates a dummy entry in the board list with zero dimensions and sets the composite dimensions to zero.
- Component boards (in the board library) must either have free stock or limit 8/9 to be considered.
- The cost and thickness of the composite board is the sum of the costs and thickness of the components.
- The limit for the composite boards is set to 8
- The quantity for the composite board is set to 0
- The component boards have a limit flag of 7. This new limit just tells the optimiser to ignore this board, because, of course, the component boards are not used when optimising the parts and are only kept in the working board list so that the summary information can correctly cross-reference composite boards with their components. For example:-
Name Material Length Width Thk. Qty Cost Limit
....... ....... ...... ...... .... ... .....
20. =TEST/1 =TEST/1 3050.0 1220.0 20.0 0 4.230 8
21. STDMDF01 MDF/18 3600.0 1400.0 18.0 2000 1.230 7
22. RED01 RED 3200.0 1500.0 1.0 50 1.500 7
23. WHITE01 WHITE 3200.0 1500.0 1.0 100 1.500 7
24. =TEST/2 =TEST/2 2050.0 1100.0 20.0 0 4.230 8
25. STDMDF02 MDF/18 2440.0 1220.0 18.0 2000 1.230 7
26. RED02 RED 2000.0 1000.0 1.0 50 1.500 7
27. BLACK01 BLACK 2000.0 1000.0 1.0 50 1.500 7
28. =TEST/2 =TEST/2 3050.0 1220.0 20.0 0 4.230 8
29. STDMDF03 MDF/18 3600.0 1850.0 18.0 2000 1.230 7
30. RED03 RED 3600.0 1850.0 1.0 50 1.500 7
31. BLACK02 BLACK 3200.0 1400.0 1.0 50 1.500 7
When using composite material codes (= in a part list) the option Select boards is only available at the cutting list and not in the original part list.
Always follow the sequence CUTTING LIST - SELECT BOARDS
Do not use auto selection of boards and cutting list when using composite material codes.
Pre-defined composite materials
In addition to using a general composite material (=) where you define the components for each part, you can also use pre-defined composite materials, for example, =REDWHT. To define these components you enter the material code in the board library, and enter the material codes for each component in the material description field as three entries each separated by a space.
For example, MDF/18 RED WHITE
Note that we do allow the component material codes to contain spaces if they are enclosed in quotes, so the following line would be OK:
Material desc: "core material" "front laminate" "Back laminate"
Note that the Material description field is 50 char max.
Use these pre-defined composites when entering parts in the part list. These work in the same way as just using the general composite material code (=), except that the component codes are automatically entered for you to save time and make the operation more accurate.
Enter preferred sizes for the pre-defined composites in the same way as entering pre-defined sized for the undefined composites.
