Pattern Resizing Service, software?

[Sean P Brennan]

I have found some box patterns I would like to try. However, they are designed with slots, etc., to be cut from 3mm ply. I want to use 6mm ply.

I tried finding info on how to change the slot and joint sizes without changing the scale of the original object. Lots of info on how to manually change all of them one at a time. It would need to be a new technique I would need to learn and frankly don't have that time right now.

Is there a program that will do this? Some option in CorelDraw X8 that I haven't found?

If not, does anyone know of anyone that provides this service? Learned long ago to spend time on what we do best in our business and outsource things that can be done better/faster by others.

Any help will be great.

[Kev Williams]

I have found some box patterns I would like to try. However, they are designed with slots, etc., to be cut from 3mm ply. I want to use 6mm ply.

I tried finding info on how to change the slot and joint sizes without changing the scale of the original object. Lots of info on how to manually change all of them one at a time. It would need to be a new technique I would need to learn and frankly don't have that time right now.

Is there a program that will do this? Some option in CorelDraw X8 that I haven't found?


Yes, "contour tool". It's designed primarily (imo) as a color shading tool but works great for what you're talking about. What it does is takes chosen closed objects that you've grouped or combined (or one at a time), and you can choose to offset either inward or outward. Takes some practice to figure it out but it's not too bad...

here I drew some slots, they're 1/4" wide, and I've shown the contour tool...
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above the slots is the tool menu, where you choose inward, outward, the distance, and how many repeats.
I've chosen 1 offset, at .031". as soon as I click the 'inward' icon--
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--here's the results. The .031" offset reduced the total width 1/16"
and new slots are now .188" wide. Note the length of the slot is shorter overall too...
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Here I cut the .031" distance in half and ran 7 inward offsets--
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Simply clicking on the outward icon gives me 7 larger outines in 1/64" increments...
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this is just a simple example of how it works, if lengths and widths are to change, a little more prep may be in order. Slots/tabs on the edges of material can be tricky too.

Something else that might work, but someone with more Corel knowledge than me will have to answer, is the 'find and replace' function. If done right (I'm not sure how!) you can make a slot from scratch, and it can replace all the original slots with your new one. Maybe ;)

[John Lifer]

If they are just 'boxes', there are several on line generators that allow you to put in material thickness and various other components to generate rectangular boxes. Do search for box maker and you will find several. Otherwise.....

[Sean P Brennan]

I did find some of the online box generator options. Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately they are not just simple rectangle boxes. They are more complex.

[Bert Kemp]

theres a program a guy in Germany wrote and I cant remember his site but he charges for it but you can design any size box and tell it how2 thick your material is and the spacing and all that. I have it back in AZ I'll see if I can find him here

try this one
http://boxdesigner.frag-den-spatz.de/