Shop Solver

Line/Circle Tool

Command path:  Quick->Line/Circle
The purpose of this tool is to determine the intersection points of a line and a circle, if any.

Quick Start

The tool is two-dimensional (2D).  The line and the circle must lie in the same plane and the plane must be parallel with the XY plane.

To find the intersection points of a line and a circle:
1)  In the box labeled "Line", select whether the line will be defined as passing through a known point at an angle (Point/Angle) or passing through two known points (Point/Point).  For a full overview of how to define a line click here.
2)  For "Point/Angle" enter the X and Y values of the point and the angle in degrees.  For "Point/Point" enter the X and Y values for both points.
3)  In the box labeled "Circle" enter the X and Y values of the circle's center point and the radius.
4)  Click the Calculate  button.  If the button is disabled then tab to or click on another field (such as the Offset  field).  The points of intersection are shown in the fields above the button.  Note:  If the line is tangent to the circle then the points of intersection will be the same.

For information about the Offset  fields click here for a circle and here for a line.


Overview

The application window is divided into three sections.  The upper two sections are for defining the line and the circle.  The lower section displays the results of the intersection calculation.  The buttons in the lower section are described below.


Image LineCircle



Referring to Image LineCircle above, a line may be defined as:
1) passing through a point and at an angle (in degrees) with the positive X-axis, or
2) passing through two points.
For a full overview of how to define a line click here.

Again referring to Image LineCircle above, a circle is defined as having a center point at X and Y and a radius.

The radio buttons "Point/Angle" and "Point/Point" are used to specify which type of line definition is desired.  Figure 6 below shows line L1 passing through the two points X2.0, Y8.0 and X15.0, Y11.0.  The circle has X9.0, Y7.0 as its center point and a radius of 5.0.  The line and the circle are shown entered into their respective definition sections in image LineCircle above.





The bottom section of Image LineCircle shows the points of intersection of line L1 and circle C1 after the Calculate  button was clicked.  The Copy  buttons, when clicked, copy the X and Y values of their respective points of intersection to the clipboard.  The Reset  button clears all fields in the window.

The Name  fields are used in conjunction with the Save  buttons.  When a name is specified the Save  button stores the line or circle definition in memory.  A definition may be recalled later by selecting the name from the Name field's drop down list.  Saving a definition in memory is optional and is not required for calculating intersections.  If not saved to a file, all definitions saved in memory are lost when Shop Solver is closed.  See the File command for saving and loading definitions to and from a file.

A Point definition may be created by right-clicking with the mouse on any of the X fields.  A pop-up menu will appear with a Create Point  command.  The command will take you to the point definition tool and the X, Y, and Z (Z when applicable) values will be automatically entered into the proper fields.  For more about point definitions click here.

If any points have been saved in memory then their X and Y values may be automatically pasted into the line or circle definition fields.  Right-click on any X field in the definition sections and a pop-up menu will appear with the names of all points currently saved in memory.  Select a point to paste its X and Y values into the fields.

All numeric entry fields in Shop Solver can evaluate and solve mathematical expressions.  You may enter expressions using the common arithmetic operators +, -, *, /, (, ), %, and ^.  In addition 30+ functions are supported such as trigonometric functions, common math functions (square and cube roots, absolute values, min/max, etc.) and common shop functions such as surface feet per minute (SFM) to RPM, inch to millimeter, and others.  Expressions are evaluated when an entry field loses the focus by tabbing to or clicking on something else.  For a full description of this feature click here.

Circle Offsets

The usage of the Offset  field for a circle is depicted in Figure 7.  The outline of a simple part is shown in black and the paths of a 0.5" end mill around the inside and the outside of the part are shown in blue and green respectively.  For information about offsetting a line click here.

The sign of the offset (+/-) determines its direction.  A positive offset increases the circle's radius during the intersection calculation.  A negative offset decreases the radius.