Toolbox
Overview
The Toolbox is a list of the tools available for use. Click on the Toolbox at the bottom of the Tool Window.
Tool Categories
All of your tools will fit into one of the following categories: Marking, Cutting, Drilling, or Creasing. Each tool is associated with a distinct cutting or marking process. Every process type is sent to the cutter using different commands. For each category, the following processes are possible:
| Tool Category | Possible Processes | Element Types |
|---|---|---|
| Marking | Mark, Dot Mark (Glyph) | All, except barcodes |
| Print (Hieroglyph) | All | |
| Cutting | Cut | All except points or text |
| Notch | Notches only | |
| Drilling | Drill, Punch | Points only |
| Creasing | Crease | All except points or text/barcodes |
Tool Properties
Cutting tools have a function called Overcut & Undercut. Enter a positive value for Overcut, and a negative value for Undercut.
- Overcut and Undercut can be controlled separately for the Start and End of an element. Typically, they are both the same.
- A 28mm rolling blade typically overcuts by about .090″ depending on material thickness. Good initial values would be -.090″ for both the Start and End.
- If adjoining elements are tangent (e.g.. Arc to Line), Overcut & Undercut will not be applied at that point.
Punch Tools have a function called Revolutions. Move the slider left to right to change between 0 and 5 cycles. A punch cycle rotates the tool 0° – 360° – 0°.
Drill tools have a function called Dwell Time, the time to leave the drill in the down position while spinning.
Adding a Tool
To add a tool to any category by clicking the Add Tool icon. When you add a tool to any category, you will choose the process type from a pop-up menu.
Tool Options
When you mouse over a tool, you will see the tool functions available:
- Remap tells PatternSmith to substitute a second tool for a first, until further notice. For example, you may have run out of notch blades and need to remap notches to a knife blade until you get more notch blades in stock. Or your Glyph (inkjet) may need new ink that won’t arrive until tomorrow and you need to remap all inkjet elements to a pen. **NOTE** if you remap a tool, it will stay remapped even between files. To unmap a tool, click the X to the right of the remapped tool.
- Tool Properties allows you to edit a tool’s properties.
- Remove Tool allows you to remove any tool except the default tools. The minimum configuration for your Toolbox consists of 1 Mark tool, 2 Cutting tools, 1 Notch tool, 1 Drill tool, and 1 Punch tool.