PHLATBOYZ

---

Tools|Phlatboyz Menu Back to help index
These menu items appear on the Tools|Phlatboyz menu. Most entries duplicate the toolbar entries so only those that are unique will be described here.
G-code Joiner	This tool allows you to join several G-code files together to create a single output file. It will keep the first files header and list all the file names as a comment at the top of the output. Following files will have the header and footer stripped to prevent going to X0 Y0 between each file. The line of code that specifies the units (G90 G20 or G90 G21) will be retained. Process: After activating the tool you will be presented with a open file dialog asking for a G-code file. Select the file you want, then click 'Open'. You will be presented with this dialog untill you click 'cancel'. An informational dialog will be shown indicating that the next file dialog will be asking for the output file name, which defaults to 'joined.nc'. Once the output file is selected the files will be joined. If you open the Ruby console you will see informational messages as the process happens. When the output has been written, you will be prompted with the question "Do you want to preview the code". Click YES to open the GPlot program with the recently joined output file. Click NO to end the process without previewing the code. NOTE: This tool will happily join files that have been created for different bit diameters. The (Bit diameter ...) comment lines from every file will be included in the joined output. It is up to the user to check that all bit diameters are the same.

Set Ramp VTabs	This command will set the tab width and depth to values that will ensure the Vtabs adhere to the currently set Ramp Limit Angle. Thus the Vtabs will ramp up and down at the ramp limit angle. To use this command: Use the Parameters Dialog to set the initial tab depth and the Ramp Limit Angle For low angles the tabs can get very long so you may need to set a large tab depth, 75% or more. Select the Set Ramp VTabs tool. Review the settings in the Parameters Dialog. Tab depth will have decreased and Tab Width will be long enough to ensure the currently set Ramp Angle is achieved in Vtabs. Warning, Tab depth should be set to more than 5% before using this tool.
Options	The items on this menu allow you to set many default values that affect your machines operation. Please see the help for the Options Menu. This menu item replaces the need for editing the Constants and MyConstants files.
Options Summary	This will display your current settings for a number of global options settable in the Options Menu. Yes, we know it is misnamed 'Validity Check', that is a Sketchup default we cannot change :-) Please see the Options Menu help.
Display Profiles Folder	Tool Profiles are saved as 'ini' format text files. The folder used is within the users APPDATA folder and is a little tricky to find, so we made it simple with this menu item. Click it and a file explorer will open at the correct folder.
Groups Summary	By grouping elements of your drawing you can set the cut order. Groups will be cut in the order grouped, or set using the Group Reorder tool. Use this menu item to see the cut order of your groups. Note that in order for this to make sense you should name your groups using the Entitity Info dialog box (right click the group, Entity Info). You can group a bunch of groups. Group names will be shown in the G-code.