Closed Shapes

The shapes you draw in eMachineShop must be closed. The letters of the alphabet and digits can be used to illustrate:

These are simple closed shapes: D O 0

These are fully open shapes: C E G H T U

These are partly closed and partly open: A P Q 4

The letter B and digit 8 are fully closed but may or may not be allowable depending on how they are drawn. If the straight vertical line of the B is drawn as one single line, it is not considered a closed shape in eMachineShop CAD. Similarly if the 8 is drawn as a "figure eight" where lines cross in the middle it is not considered a closed shape. The B must be drawn with two small D shapes and the 8 with two small circles or two small drop shapes.

The eMachineShop CAD will inform you if you have an invalid shape.

Examples

In the examples below only the first shape is valid. All the others are not valid and will lead to errors. Those marked "T" have T intersections. 

My shape seems closed

Your shape might seem closed but is really open for a few reasons:

1. The opening might be small. Try zooming in for a close view at several points along your shape.
2. The opening might be obscured by an overlapping shape. Set the numeric bar nudge value to 0.1" or so; click on one of your lines; use the keyboard arrow keys to nudge the line a small distance to see if it was overlapping another line; nudge back if not; and repeat for other lines until you find the opening.
3. Some of the lines in your shape might be comment lines. Click on each one and check the status bar for the line type.
4. Lines might be meeting in a T intersection which is not allowed. Create separate shapes instead.

Fixing crossing lines

Consider the eighth example above of a square with a line across it's middle, or any closed shape with any type of line crossing it. The square is a closed shape but the center line, if drawing as a separate line, is an open shape which is not permitted. Here is how to close the line:

1. Set the Nudge value to about 1".
2. Select the entire drawing. 
3. Click the Repeat button to create a copy.
4. Nudge the copy away from the original.
5. Click the Intersect button.
6. In the copy delete most of the line segments but leave enough lines to create a new closed shape that includes the line that was open.
7. Select the lines of the new closed shape and click the Group button.
8. Delete the open line on the original drawing.
9. Select the new closed shape and nudge back into position on the original design.
10. Set the Z value of the new closed shape as desired.
11. Click the pyramid button to check the 3D view.