Using QCADCAM for Engraving Text
Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 2:18 pm
I am still running 3.4.6Pro on openSUSE Linux 13.1
My current project is the design of text lettering plates to be engraved in multi-layer plastic.
I used the Cyrillic_II single stroke font.
I have run several iterations and generated GCode for my machine, with generally good results (some early machine issues, not quadcadcam)
I have two resulting observations/questions from this exercise:
1. I find the log file generated during the export process to be useful in understanding the background processing going on by CAMexport.
Is there a way to have the log file named the similarly as the .nc file? For example, lets say my my design file is design.X.Y.dxf (majorversion X, minor versionY).
The default name chosen by Camexporter seems to be design.X.nc, but I am able to modify that during the dialog after setting the GCode parameters. A typical name I might choose while experimenting is design.X.Y_comment.nc. That works OK and the GCode file gets saved.
But the log file always come out design.X.log. My workaround, if I want to save it, is to use the system rename capability.
Is there a more automated way to have the files names chosen_name.nc and chosen_name.log ?
2. GCode generated for Fonts: From watching the machine work, or now by running the CAM simulator, it is clear that segments that make up the font characters are not affected by the selection of "optimize paths" in the Gcode parameter setup. This results in a lot of extra machine motion when drawing for example, an "O". Rather than drawing 8 segments continuously, some segments are drawn CW, some CCW. I am guessing this is buried in the font definition tables.
I just ran an experiment - selected all text in the design file, then Modify-Explode to convert it to paths. The resulting GCode file is much larger, but viewing the simulation appears to be what I call much smoother machine motion - for example my "O"s are "move to start-draw O continuously CW-move to next letter.
Is there a better way to achieve this result?
Thanks
My current project is the design of text lettering plates to be engraved in multi-layer plastic.
I used the Cyrillic_II single stroke font.
I have run several iterations and generated GCode for my machine, with generally good results (some early machine issues, not quadcadcam)
I have two resulting observations/questions from this exercise:
1. I find the log file generated during the export process to be useful in understanding the background processing going on by CAMexport.
Is there a way to have the log file named the similarly as the .nc file? For example, lets say my my design file is design.X.Y.dxf (majorversion X, minor versionY).
The default name chosen by Camexporter seems to be design.X.nc, but I am able to modify that during the dialog after setting the GCode parameters. A typical name I might choose while experimenting is design.X.Y_comment.nc. That works OK and the GCode file gets saved.
But the log file always come out design.X.log. My workaround, if I want to save it, is to use the system rename capability.
Is there a more automated way to have the files names chosen_name.nc and chosen_name.log ?
2. GCode generated for Fonts: From watching the machine work, or now by running the CAM simulator, it is clear that segments that make up the font characters are not affected by the selection of "optimize paths" in the Gcode parameter setup. This results in a lot of extra machine motion when drawing for example, an "O". Rather than drawing 8 segments continuously, some segments are drawn CW, some CCW. I am guessing this is buried in the font definition tables.
I just ran an experiment - selected all text in the design file, then Modify-Explode to convert it to paths. The resulting GCode file is much larger, but viewing the simulation appears to be what I call much smoother machine motion - for example my "O"s are "move to start-draw O continuously CW-move to next letter.
Is there a better way to achieve this result?
Thanks