You can define your own electrode blanks so that they are available from the selector in the Electrode Wizard, by editing the file called blanks.csv, which can be found in the following location:
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\PowerShapexxxxx\file\electrode
where xxxxx is the version number of PowerShape and C is the disk on which PowerShape is installed.
You can edit the original file or put a copy of it in:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\shareddb
and then edit the file.
When you run the Electrode Wizard, it searches the following folders in the order given for the first file to be found:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\shareddb
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\PowerShapexxxxx\file\electrode
The blanks.csv file contains the details about the blanks. You can either read this file using spreadsheet software or a text editor.
If you open this file in a text editor, it contains the following lines:
1,3R-494-S12x50,12,12,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 1,3R-494-S22x50,22,22,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 1,3R-494-S26x50,26,26,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 1,3R-494-S32x50,32,32,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 1,3R-494-S40x50,40,40,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 1,3R-494-40x22x50,40,22,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 1,3R-494-32x22x50,32,22,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 0,3R-494-D10x50,10,,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 0,3R-494-D12x50,12,,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 0,3R-494-D16x50,16,,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 0,3R-494-D22x50,22,,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 0,3R-494-D26x50,26,,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 0,3R-494-D32x50,32,,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 0,3R-494-D40x50,40,,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run 0,3R-494-D50x50,50,,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run
Each line defines a blank using six elements. The elements are separated by a comma.
The elements are described using the following line from the blanks.csv file.
0,3R-494-D10x50,10,,50,Copper,System_3R,__3R-Ready-to-Run
|
Example element |
Description of the element |
|
0 |
This is can be either 0 or 1. If the value is 0, the blank is circular. If it is 1, the blank is rectangular. In this example, the blank is circular. If you input any other character here, the line is ignored by PowerShape. You can prevent a blank from being read into PowerShape by adding a character in front of the line. |
|
3R-494-D10x50 |
This is the name of the blank. The name can contain any characters except a comma. Blanks cannot have the discrete names "Custom" or "User Defined". For example, "Custom-123" is allowed, but "Custom" is not. |
|
10 |
If the blank is circular, this is the diameter. If the blank is rectangular, this is the length (X dimension). |
|
For a circular blank, this element is ignored. It is usually left empty. If the blank is rectangular, this is the width (Y dimension). |
|
|
50 |
This is the height. |
|
Copper |
This is the material of the blank. |
|
System_3R |
This is the default catalog for the blank. If specified, it is selected when the Specify Electrode Holder page is displayed. To set up catalogs for holders, contact technical support. |
|
__3R-Ready-to-Run |
This is the default holder for the blank. If specified, it is automatically added when the Specify Electrode Holder page is displayed. To define holders, see Holder definitions. |
In blanks.csv, add lines to specify your own blanks. If you edit the file using spreadsheet software, ensure you save it as a .csv file.
By default, the values are in mm. If you want to use other units at any time, add the following line:
[units]
where units can be one of the following: inches, thousandth, and mm. For example:
[inches]
All definitions after this line are read using the units stated.
To convert back to mm, use:
[mm]