CorelDraw engrave

[RogerJ]

Hi

I need some feedback on this screen i made.
I'm using Corel Draw to make designs and wanted to engrave plt ( HPGL ) files in Mach3.
It's the first time i make this screen public ,so be patient on me.
With this screen you can set the following parameters for 8 different pencolors:

-Feedrate speed
-Depth
-Start depth
-Depth steps
-Dwell time
-Smart fill
-Smart drill
-Plunge speed

Its now very easy to make a design / export / and engrave with Mach3

Please let me know if you like this screen or if its total crap!.

Edit:21-01-08
Latest version 0.94 (Some bugs fixed)
roger

[zealous]

Nice work, I don't have SolidWorks or Coral draw but looking at the code it looks great.
Do you have a PLT file to post so I can take alook (also intrested in there formating)?.

[RogerJ]

Hi
This is a little example of a gearbox made from wood.
Unzip and copy Graphic1.plt to c:/

width = 65 mm /  Height = 64 mm / Cutter diameter = 4 mm.
You must tweak around with the XY factor for the right dimensions.

Safeheight around 5 mm
Enter the following pen settings:

Pen                 1             2           3           4
Feedrate        200         200       200        200
Depth             -5.5        -10.5     -10.5    -17.5
Start depth     0             -5.5      0            -10.5
Depth steps    -1           -1          -1          -1
Dwell time     0.5         0.5        0.5         0.5
Smart fill        2            2           2            2
Smart drill      100        100       100        100
Plunge speed  100        100       100        100
(Feedrate and Plunge speed Depends on yore hardware configuration)
I hope this works.

[RogerJ]

Just found a problem with the Z height.
Watch out if you running this screen!

[zealous]

Hey Roger,
I couldn't get that attachment to you but this is what I was talking about as a "CorelDraw" screen that you can use inside of Mach.

Most keyboard shortcut work just like in CorelDraw and most other drawing programs:

"Shift" will keep it proportional
"Space bar" will pan canvas

There is also tip bars that will pop up if the cursor is over an object for awhile...

-I'm adding a pen tool that will just draw...
-currently the "Freehand draw" will create anchor points...this is just like Illustrator.
-if you zoom (to unzoom hold down "Z" on the keyboard and left click or double click the zoom Icon to bring you back out to fit the drawing.it will zoom to the area your cursor is in or draw out a box to zoom to,by select zoom tool..
-left click draw out box.use join to connect to patters and the "White" arrow key icon to change "Anchor" points positioning..
and many other shortcuts.

Pressing the "Export API" or/and "Export XML" displays the code for the objects created.
API is the native Flash code for its vector points....these exported coordinates  can me formated however you like...

I'll be adding tool height,width,depth of cut est...
Alot of the code for shapes has be written by Bob adn I have modifyed it..

This is a live preview to test here on the web.

<a href="http://alphagraphicdesigns.com/help/Quantum/VectorPadTest2.swf" target="_blank">http://alphagraphicdesigns.com/help/Quantum/VectorPadTest2.swf</a>

[Chaoticone]

Very Cool Jason, very cool.

Brett

[zealous]

Thanks, I can make a list of short cuts, for example if you draw out a shape you can add points (for example to make a stare) select the "polygon tool" ,by holding down the Left mouse button and hitting the arrow keys up or down.

Hey Roger, Do you think this could work with your PLT converter

[RogerJ]

Wow this looks very nice.
I just finished with a new core for converting plt files.( Its 5 in the morning here)
Its much more stable and it can also handle older Corel versions now.

Can you give me a good beginner guide where i can learn Flash programming?
What editor can i use for building Flash screens for Mach3?
Im new to this and i must look into it first before i can give you an answer.

[RogerJ]

Can someone help me with this?
If i send all axis to zero and then get the XYZ DRO info
the values are not zero.
Please try the this code and let me know if you get the same result.

code "g00 x0 y0"
While ismoving
Wend
code "g00 z0"
While ismoving
Wend
MsgBox "X" & GetDRO(0) & " Y" & GetDRO(1) & " Z" & GetDRO(2)

[zealous]

Hey Roger,
The code is working for me..returns X0 Y0 Z0
The only thing I can think of is your machine is moving alittle after stoping...are is your return values low or heigh..meaning in the +1 or 0.01?