I am VERY new to CNC mills, Mach3 R3.036,Lazycam R3.00.2 AND CorelDraw X4. I use each of these. I hope someone can direct me on what I am not doing quite right.
I have everthing going. I am using sign projects in wood  to learn with. Here is my problem.

 I lay out a  project  sized as X= 5.5" Y=10.0" with CorelDraw X4. The lettering and image to cut is centerd in this XY area so that i have an equal distance from all edges.  I save the progect as a DFX  file. I open it into lazycam and optimise the file, get the starting point set on X=0 Y=0. If I check the size it is imported asX=5.069" and Y=8.728". It seems that for whatever reason Lazycam only imported the  actual cutting image X Ymaximum refrenced to X=0 Y=0. it seems to have disregarded the actual laid out size of the overall project. If you cut the project with Mach 3 and the engraver tip refrenced to X=0 and Y=0, the project is cut left and bottom. It's not centered as I laid it out in Coreldraw.  Can one of you old hands  lead me into the right direction?

Thanks in advance.

pcbmiller
   
          post a copy of your dxf and post a copy of your saved l-cam file.
          tell use what ver l-cam you are using.then somebody can look it over.

bill

Hi, Pcbmiller

If you use the As Drawn check box in Setup, Loading Options , It should maintain the Origin.

Thanks, Chip

 Thanks for the replys folks.

Chip, I found that option and tried it, same thing happens. Attched is the DFX file out of Coreldraw and the Lazycam file. I am sure one f you guys can point me in the right direction. These are the versions of software I am using: Mach3 R3.036, Lazycam R3.00.2 AND CorelDraw X4 V14.0.0.567

Thanks for the help and input !
mike

pcbmiller

          chip might come with some other options, he has some pretty strong software.but from what i can tell with my stuff your trouble is coming from your cad.after running your dxf through
          3 differant programs i got 2 that had same dimension as l-cam and 1 did not. 2 were 5.069 x 8.729 and 1 was 5.5414 x 8.8735  none were 5.5 x 10 ----
          i don't use corel .maybe if you open it back up with corell and put a frame around it , say 6 x 10.5 then export it as autocad 12 dxf.then when you open it in l-cam and delete the frame
          you might get the size you want.

bill
         

Hi, Mike

Well, Your dxf took-for-ever to load, Reilly seemed to hang on Dup-Item's, Loaded in BobCad and saved it, seemed to load better.

I got the same size as Bill did, The put a box around it is a good Idea, I'd use 5.5 x 10.0 though, To see a comparison rite on the edges of the art work.

Post It.

Thanks Chip

Edit: Post the dxf with border

Bill & Chip

Yes The DFX took forever to load. I had nothing to reference it by so I had no idea how long a file takes to load. I placed a border around it and it looks like it will work just fine. If I delete the border by deleting the chain it resides in, then Lcam scales the project back down. I tried to move just this chain into its own layer so I could set the feed rate fast and the cutting depth to 0 so it could get no-where faster.  Lcam crashed. IT did not like moving this chain  to it's own layer for some reason. Do you know if I can do that?

Is there a better way to do sign type projects. Is there better and easy-er software to use other than Coreldraw to lay out stuff like this?  i am just horsing around trying to educate myself.  I figure if I cant make a sign there is no  way I can make anything else! Also the wife will be happier if she gets somthing out of the deal.


Thanks for all your help and more importantly your time.

Mike

mike
     open your dxf in corel and add the box to it's own layer ,and then when you have it loaded in l-cam click on the box layer and look at the layer menu
     in the bottom left corner , their is a chek box to enable or disable layer ----disable the  layer and that way l-cam won't write code for the box.doing it
     that way you don't have to  delete the box. did you export the file as autocad dxf.  not save but export.
bill

 Bill
I will give it a try. What  Autocad Version should I export it as? I have been defaulting it as Autocad 2007 Does one work better than the other with Lcam? I have down to Autocad R2.5

Mike

Mike
use ver. 12

Chip