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3 point arc

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 10:02 am
by 30tooo
How can I draw a 3 point arc tangentially from an arc say.... on the left , down to a line and then tangentially to one on the right ? You can see (hopefully my previous attempt and you should see that the circle on the left is not tangential with the arc. All help gratefully received . Thank you .

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:37 pm
by Clive
Your original photo (I've re-posted it as for me it didn't show up!):
qcad question.png
qcad question.png (30.46 KiB) Viewed 19206 times
Something like this?
Arc question.png
Arc question.png (3.18 KiB) Viewed 19206 times
Are you working to 'absolute' specific parameters for the arc ? (radius,start point coordinate etc...)

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 5:19 pm
by 30tooo
If you look at my picture you will see a line atvthe bottom. The was another parallel to that. That is a restriction. I used 3 point arc but if you look close you will see it is not tangential to the left circle. I thought i might be able to snap tangentially , snap to object ( the line) and the tangentially to the right circle.

I hope i have explained that ok.

Thanks for the reply.

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:08 pm
by Clive
I'm still not sure I understand correctly - but does this help, what number (1, 2 or 3) do you want to snap to ?
Arc question 2.png
Arc question 2.png (2.49 KiB) Viewed 19171 times

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:15 pm
by Clive
Or do you mean like this ?
Arc question 3.png
Arc question 3.png (3.92 KiB) Viewed 19171 times

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:53 am
by 30tooo
Thanks for being patient Clive . Maybe this might help you understand .

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 10:23 am
by Clive
Like this ?
Arc question 4.png
Arc question 4.png (2.96 KiB) Viewed 19133 times

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 4:41 pm
by 30tooo
Thats the badger......

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 5:44 pm
by Husky
30tooo wrote:I thought i might be able to snap tangentially , snap to object ( the line) and the tangentially to the right circle.
Unfortunately that isn't possible in the moment - but I know that the developers are working on it for one of the next updates :wink:
Right now you have to work with construction / help lines to solve this challenge. 8)

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2013 2:55 pm
by Clive
30tooo wrote:Thats the badger......
Okay - good, we got there in the end :wink:

Well as Husky correctly points out the 'magic' button to do it all for you in QCAD is hopefully in development... and looking at the 'Bugtracker' - which is also used for submitting feature requests too - this seems to be the case:
http://www.qcad.org/bugtracker/index.ph ... ask_id=858

For me I often overlook the fact to mention that I use construction lines, circles and geometric principles to get the job done when I haven't got 'that particular' dedicated tool in QCAD to do it for me - thank you Husky for pointing that out :D.

Back to your question, basically I set up the circle tangents and the arc based on my sizes, what would be good is if you can post an example drawing with exact dimensions and positions of the circles and the 'restricting' line.

Regarding the arc - is the radius size important or does it just have to fit and look right ?

Regarding 'snapping' to the line - again does it just have to fit or snap to an exact coordinate point ?

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 5:11 pm
by Clive
@30tooo, Andrew has now released QCAD 3.2 and worked his magic and developed some exciting new additional circle tools - including one that will now accomplish what you are needing to do:
Point, 2 Tangents.
Point,2 Tangents.png
Point,2 Tangents.png (14.39 KiB) Viewed 18881 times
@Husky
Husky wrote:Unfortunately that isn't possible in the moment - but I know that the developers are working on it for one of the next updates :wink:
Hey Husky, looks like your feature request is now a reality - good news my friend :wink: 8)

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 5:20 pm
by andrew
Yes, this should fit the bill.

BTW: The tool for this use case is called "3 Tangents" (not "Point, 2 Tangents"), I think the wrong tooltip might have been displayed in the screenshot above.

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 5:33 pm
by Clive
andrew wrote:BTW: The tool for this use case is called "3 Tangents" (not "Point, 2 Tangents"), I think the wrong tooltip might have been displayed in the screenshot above.
Yes, The 'Point,2 tangents' should be the tool highlighted here - I accomplished an arc as needed by using 'Point,2 Tangents - not with the 3 Tangents!

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 5:56 pm
by andrew
I see.. which point did you choose then? Is the exact point on the line given or another point? I thought the circle touches the two other circles as well as the line.

Re: 3 point arc

Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 9:08 am
by Clive
Well, it was just a quick test. Using the Point - 2 Tangents tool I followed the prompts and selected both circles first and then using 'Snap on entity' I then selected a point on the line - it wasn't a specific point!
But after further testing of these tools I find that I produce a result that stays tangent perfectly to the line using the '2 Points and Tangent' tool, of course first the 2 points need to be determined first on both circles, this is easily done by first placing two temporary construction lines from both centres at 60 and - 60 angles!

I think Apollonius 'The Great Geometer' would have loved these circle tools.
Andrew you have done a fantastic job with these additional tools :D