Define Block Pieces and Selection Rules
Nucleo/ART(Standard and Premium) blocks have some additional parameters that must be set up in Rx-Universe. The block and blank together look as follows:
...
The particular block pieces that are available, with their characteristics, and rules on when to use the block, must be set up in Rx-Universe, under "Setup", "System Settings", then the "Nucleo " tab or the "/ Art" tab.
The ART and Nucleo blocks can be set up separately. For each block piece:
- the "Text" column specifies the text that will be printed on the work ticket.
- the "radius" field is the radius curvature of the inside block piece (_BLKRD)
- the "min r" field is the minimum radius of curvature of the blank for this block piece
- the "max r" field is the maximum radius of curvature of the blank for this block piece
- the BLKCEHI column is the height of the block
- the "diam" field diameter" fields (BLKDM)
- this is the physical diameter of a new (unused) block piece (_BLKDM). Nucleo and standard ART blocks only come in one diameter. The Art Premuim blocks are available in 50, 55, 60, 65, 70 and 75 mm diameters.
- For ART blocks, the lab can select which diameters they are going to stock by clicking on the appropriate grid cell.
Allow ART Cribbing flag, when checked, will allow a block piece to be picked, even if the radius is greater than the crib value. Normally this is only set when the lab uses standard ART blocks although Premium blcks can be cribbed, it is not done since premium blocks are more expensive to purchase.
ART cribbing allowance this value is added to the crib amount when selecting the block diameter to use.
To pick a block piece, the "true curve" of a blank will be converted to radius of curvature, that radius of curvature compared to the "min r" and "max r" values for each block, and the block picked that includes the radius of curvature of the blank. In the case of ART Premium blocks, since each block radius comes in various diameters, the block selected will be based on the required cribbing. The cribbing required will be checked against the "Diameter selection" table for ART Premium and the "Group" will be used to select the correct block diameter along with the radius when determining the block to use..
...
Blocks will be physically divided into these groups after use, based on how small they were cribbed for the last job run. In the example above, we have 5 groups of blocks; the first group will contain blocks that are up to 55mm in size; the second group up to 60mm in size, etc. Generally speaking, the lab will want to select the largest possible block (to provide maximum support for the blank), that is no larger than necessary. Rx-Universe will select blocks from the appropriate "group" based on the crib required for the job. In the example above, for example, a job which has a crib value of 62 would select a block from the "65" group.