Machsupport Forum
General CNC Chat => Share Your GCode => Topic started by: adprinter on January 27, 2010, 11:07:43 AM
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I spent about twelve hours creating this file in Corel DRAW X3, and exported as a HPGL Plot file. I originally created the file, using the Arial font, and attempted to engrave the Degree Wheel for a rotary axis project that I am building. But discovered that all fonts are exported as outlines of the font characters when importing into LazyCAM. Obviously, for an engraving this small, the characters are rendered unreadable once engraved with the outlines. So, I then spent MANY hours searching the web for single-line, or stick fonts which could be used for this purpose. NOT! So, then I spent the next twelve hours in Corel DRAW X3 painstakingly recreating the Arial font as a grouped series of lines, and arcs of each character in the font in order to achieve the desired results.
They still do not function as fonts, so must be placed with standard typesetting conventions to be usable. However, it occurred to me that others may find this useful. I have included the LCAM file, (after several attempts at sending a ZIP file, PLT file, and TAP file, and receiving the "An Error has occured -files of this type are not allowed" message. Enjoy! -Mike (Adprinter)
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adprinter,
Thanks for posting the file. You can buy fonts but like you i have made my owne out of archs and lines.
They engrave much faster and look better.
RICH
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Rich,
So how many hours did you spend creating your own?
Also what software did you use for this purpose?
I have completed the Arial font, (upper and lower case letters, and numerals) but am still working on creating the symbols. I did not think that the symbols would be needed for most purposes, until I gave it a test drive with my name and address. (NO comma!). I actually had formal typesetting training many years ago, and have learned first hand, the importance of "Font Widths".
It is FAR from being a word processor, but using the Grid and Ruler setup, and Snap functions in Corel DRAW X3 produces some usable results in character placement. And they really do turn out beautiful on the router!
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Very nice work Mike.
Maybe post a pic of the finished wheel ?
Thanks,
Russ
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Not trying to steal anyone's thunder, but the attached was created in about 5 minutes using D2NC (for the wheel itself).
D2NC code was dragged into Mach3, exported into LazyCam, and the text added using the LC text drag function. It is not as pretty as adprinters, but probably much quicker than making individual letters. The font chosen in LC was Proxy1. The trick here is going to be learning how to drag the text so the sizes are the same. I think with a little practice it will get easier.
Bob@BobsShop
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adprinter,
I do use generic fonts which are made up of straight lines. And yes they engrave nicely.
So i would generate a DXF file out of AutoCAD or Microstation and use them. I do make sure all is drawn correctly.
That is easy and dosn't take long at to do at all.
Now here is an example for you, sorry i don't have a picture. A shop wanted custom plates made ( about 30 ) that
would be be attached to motorcyle engines. He wanted raised / cut out letters and the plate dimension was restricted.
So you need to see what will fit and adjust the text for the end mill that would be used. So from a artistic point of view
, the "color" ( how the blackness of the lettering to the whiteness / tone is related to a visual look of the piece), needed
to be right requiring shaping the letters to be visualy correct along with say being able to cut it out.
An example would be the letter "O" which if cut perfect in heigth to the other letters would look "big" when your done and
looks like hell to my eyes. So you change spacing so the cuttter can machine out the letter but then you also play with the letter
shape and look at it overall to see if the color is right. So probably 5 hours later i had the design done.
I did something similar to what you did for the degree wheel. Only mine was very small. Now for the numbers, The "0"
is an ellipse and is done in a single cut, such that you only have a common entry and exit point which makes for nice engraving.
Additioinaly the Gcode is minimized and total engraving time is reduced greatly. The same goes for QRUOPSDGCB26890.
I only ever did one font set. I don't remember how long it took to be frank. But wasn't no 1 hour but a lot less than the time you spent.
For what i do it's usualy custom letters and there is no font which seems to fit the bill. In fact to be original i create my owne font at times.
Some of the font that programs create along a line or curve or even a around a circle leaves something to be desired, but, like all things,
I'm just an amateur with an opinion!
Not being the most artistic person I was lucky to have a few top notch artists and some darn good engravers to give me some advice.
The guys at Remington Arms were fantastic.
RICH
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Hi Mike,
I took a different route for my, much smaller, scale and used the demo version of 'Front Designer'. This produced two files - one for the engraving and one for the profile cutting - It is pretty easy to use and contains the necessary single line font etc. The down side is that it is a time limited trial software but it works well and is quick.
Tweakie.
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Here is a DXF of the single line font I tend to use :-
Graham
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Thanks for the dxf Graham, as the letters contain arcs which is good.
RICH
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Rich, thanks for the single line fonts. I was bragging much too quickly about how easy it would be to drag the numerals from LZCam onto a degree wheel. It is doable, but scaling the fonts to one size was a daunting task. Would be much easier to do with something like you have. That, plus the fact that the letter fonts in Proxy are really dorky.
Bob@BobsShop
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New (and improved) version of the Degree Wheel. After routing a couple of pieces of wood, and then checking the wheel for accuracy, I discovered that it was anything BUT acurate! So, I went back to the drawing board, and took even more time in CorelDRAW setting up a series of boxes to contain the characters in, so that a common point of origin could be accomplished. (There were slight differences in this in the orginal, therefore, even though snap was used- well, to quote a line from a movie "It would be impossible to discuss without a comman frame of reference"). The guide boxes yielded MUCH more acurate results. I also moved the witness marks to the outside of the circle, to open up more space between them (the space between the marks on the first wheel, were the same width as the envraving cut- a glorified SANDER).
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That looks sooo much better - good job you have done there.
Does it engrave OK ?.
( It seems that my version of LazyCAM thinks some of the numerals are not joined and makes a mess of producing the GCode - off to download the latest version of LC now :'( )
Tweakie.
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Tweakie,
I have my Extents in LazyCAM set to 0.001" with Lead ins turned OFF, before Optimizing the file. I will let you know how it engraves, as I am about to take it out to the shop for a test drive. If you want a copy of the Plot file (CorelDRAW DXF export is a Joke!), let me know, and I will email it to you. I have already tried to attach the plot file, but the Machsupport Forum server doesn't like it for some reason. (Even though it lists *.plt as being a supported file format).
-Mike
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Well, I wanted to post a decent picture of the results of the Degree Wheel engraving. However, after many attempts it seems that 1 degree increments just ain't happening even with a depth of cut set to only 0.010" I saw that Tweakie's design was set up at 2 degree increments, and actually did engrave with good results. So it seems that 2 degrees is the max. Well, it was back to the drawing board one last time, (by now, I was obsessed with achieving 1 degree increments).
I am not sure how many hours I spent on doing these total, the most time-consuming aspect was not the actual drawing, but rather the acurate rotation of each set of numeral characters in terms of degrees, in relation to the center of the wheel.
To use this final design, a clear indicator pointer will be used, constructed of a small piece of clear Mylar, with a single scribe line down the center. The alignment scribe will be long enough to reach from the outer marks, to the inner marks, to that the end result will be 1 degree increments! (Note that both the inner, and outer marks are cut at 2 degree increments). They are simply offset 1 degree from each other. Also, the mark lines which protrude from the center of the hub are carved at the elusive 22.5 degree increments. Hope ya'll find this of use, as a LOT of work went into it.
-Mike
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Nice one Mike - I can see that a lot of work went into this. Good idea about offsetting the calibration lines and numerals.
Tweakie.
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ADPRINTER,
What you need to do is figure out, based on the depth pf cut, just how small of a "degree wheel" you can do.
For example: A scribed line cut at a very shallow depth 0.001" depth will be about 0.003" wide and if if you figure
that you want the equivilant white spacing between the marks then line to line max would be 0.006" on the inner circle
of all the lines. So at 0.006" the min inner circle diameter would be around 0.006" x 360= 2.16" circumference.
2.16"/3.14= .687" min inner diameter. Now additionally the smallest number heigth would be around 0.015" high.
Now the above assumes that the rotary / mechanical system has the ability / resolution to cut that spacing accurately.
So what you want to do is draw the degree wheel at say a inner circle of 1". Now you can scale the drawing up in anyway you wish for the min spacing you can do.
Yes to do it right you, create all the text first, then just rotate each and drag into position. Ie: you may wish to have it on the inside or outside of the marks.
The above way just makes it easier since you don't need to recreate the the degree wheel for reuse or aonther application.
One thing you can do is to write a re-peating sub-program for doing the lines using a rotary table. ie:
- Z feed
- X Y move to scribe one line
- Z raise
- move back to start point
- A rotate
It will be reapeated 359 times.
Or you can have one that does the center lines, then another that does the 10 degree marks, and then another that does the lines in- between. So the code is realy minimized.
Then do all the letters in one shot.
Just some thoughts, to make it easier and reusable later,
RICH
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Rich,
I appreciate the insight. However, I am actually CONSTRUCTING a rotary table. I agree, that if I already had one, your method would make the most sense. I long for the day when I can do it your way.
My problem, was in doing the actual engraving in order to have an acurate means of measuring, and calibrating Mach3 to the 4th axis movements (once I can afford the 4th motor). What I have so far, is a simple gear box (consisting of a worm, and worm gear) with a 10 to 1 ratio.
I simply wanted the degree wheel for mounting onto the output shaft of the gear box. This would allow me to monitor the actual rotation output for proper motor tuning in Mach3 to achieve the proper calibration in Mach3. I am still a couple of weeks away from ordering the motor for the 4th axis, but just wanted to do as much work as I could in preparation. Without a physical means of measuring the actual movement to the Mach3 commanded movement, it would be impossible to calibrate acurately.
I think that the "Final Degree Wheel" I created will work for my purposes, since it now spaces the witness marks far enough apart from each other for a clean engraving, without removing material BETWEEN the marks. I have been working with Pine, which I am aware is a large part of the problem. However, I wanted to achieve the best results possible, before commiting a piece of aluminum (since I only have a single piece I can use for this). The Pine has been the practice material in preparation for the Final Cut in Aluminum. -Mike
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adprinter,
Save yourself a lot of agrivation. Spend three bucks and buy a drafting degree templet and mount it on the shaft for quick checking. It will be ok to say around one degree. To check for backlash you can use an indicator just like a linear axis only you need to convert the non-movement to degrees and it may vary depending on the gear box you have. Another cheap way is to mount a $1 lazer pointer such that it points on the the wall some distance away.
RICH