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Offline nobby

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smoother circles?
« on: February 25, 2014, 02:11:02 PM »

corel draw circle
expoty autocad.dxf
without converting to curves

after converting to curves

in mach 3


what am I doing wrong


first cut = yippee, only snapped two bits.
can't do the zero z axis with 80mm 8 cm travels andset the plunge

/\ didn;t realise in lazy on that you had to set the start from the bottom left!! add to that I was sending the files over in mm so they were 10 times larger, no wonder my x axis is now 'toast'

where is the manual?


 

Offline nobby

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Re: smoother circles?
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2014, 03:53:54 PM »
old version of autocad

Offline Fastest1

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Re: smoother circles?
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2014, 01:15:20 PM »
I dont know how your CAD or any CAD for that matter really works but on some I have used there is a segment or degree setting. Yours appears to have this as the circle was converted to lines, specify more. It appears yours are 10 sided making me think you have 36 degree or 10 segments as a setting. I will have to review the real wording.

Your final drawing and Mach match so it is a setting issue not Mach.
I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather, not like the passengers in the car! :-)

Offline nobby

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Re: smoother circles?
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2014, 03:28:54 PM »
Hello Fastest1
thanks for all your help, been great
the problem with the smoothing I think is a simple exporting the dxf from corel, it has to be done for an older verion of auto-cad - above pictured is at version 14 or the cuirrent one, when I export it as a 'first version' its all fine
i just re-checked and I still do need to put a hairline outline around the object first, as its still a tad raggedy

pics soon


next question regarding software, by bit is 3mm
can i set lazy cab to offset the file 1.5mm
can i set oit to always put the start point at the bottom left?
how do i change the plunge
« Last Edit: February 26, 2014, 03:41:27 PM by nobby »

Offline nobby

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Re: smoother circles?
« Reply #4 on: February 26, 2014, 04:23:26 PM »
must export at the oldest version

If you DO NOT put a hairline out line EVEN at the older version you get this

when you do put a hair-line out line around anything you get

which in turn gives you this


which is great
so
export at oldest version from corel, plus hair-line outline everything always

Now I realise a problem I was having sending dxf's to someone to cut my mount and other stuff
he was probably receiving files like the first pics - I couldn't see what he was receiving.

Offline Fastest1

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Re: smoother circles?
« Reply #5 on: February 26, 2014, 05:37:42 PM »
I am very weak in the CAD area. I do remember having issues similar to what you are showing with Google Sketchup but I was using that for 3D printing. I know very little about importing and exporting or changing file types. I use BC versions 23-25
I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather, not like the passengers in the car! :-)

Offline nobby

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Re: smoother circles?
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2014, 07:32:06 PM »
what there needs to be is a corel draw plug in, i.e. lazy cam sits in the corel draw tool bar.
simply clicking on the tool bar icon automatically loads the graphic on screen that is set in the cnc bed x and y dimensions
places the cut file at the x and y origin with the bed size so you can't exceed the soft limits - and offsets it 1.1mm for you so yoou don't have to do that in mach3 offsets
auto converts it to the older auto-cad dxf format after hair-line outlining it
you then get a prompt for tool bit size 3mm = offset 1.5mm
then it asks you for material thickness 1mm 3mm 5mm 10mm 13mm 15mm 19mm 25mm
plunge depth number of passes
then send to mach3.

then home and zero the cnc press cycle start.

bit like this for plotters
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=winplot+summa&rls=com.microsoft:en-GB:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADRA_en&gws_rd=cr&ei=5YcOU7H4FMeb0QXs4oDoDg#q=winplot+manual&rls=com.microsoft:en-GB:IE-Address

« Last Edit: February 26, 2014, 07:36:02 PM by nobby »

Offline ZASto

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Re: smoother circles?
« Reply #7 on: February 27, 2014, 01:37:06 PM »
Hey nooby, sounds great, you could do us a favour and write a plugin for CorelDraw  ;D
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Re: smoother circles?
« Reply #8 on: February 27, 2014, 02:42:46 PM »
There are several very good true CAD systems for cheap, or even free.  For years, I used QCAD, which does AutoCAD DXF/DWG files.  It's only $40 and works great.  There are numerous free CAD packages, some good, some not so much.  But I'd bet virtually any of them would be better than CorelDraw, which was never intended for doing CAD - it's for drawing, not drafting.

Regards,
Ray L.
Regards,
Ray L.

Offline RICH

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Re: smoother circles?
« Reply #9 on: February 27, 2014, 08:33:15 PM »
Echo what Ray said.........heck, I'ill go one step more......dump the "etch a sketch" programs and get a CAD program.
LC is just an importer and garbage in = garbage out!

RICH