Teach me how to "Group" entities and lines

[fretsman]

Hi all, I have Autocad 2000 and I'm using (trying) it for engraving in which I then save it as a dxf and then import it into LazyCam and then finally send it to Mach 3.

I've also used Solidworks 2005 and got the same results..when saving to dxf...

My problem is that when I set it up in lazycam, a font like Times Roman gets "split up" and the z axis has to go up and down around 10 times just to get around one letter because it treats each entity (curves and lines) separately.

Isn't there a way to "smooth" the font out and make the z axis start at one point and go all around the letter and when it gets back to the start point, THEN lift the z and go on to the next letter?


Thanks so much and Happy New Year!

Dave

[ger21]

Are you exploding the fonts with Express tools text explode?

[fretsman]

Hi Gerry,

No sir, I'm not but I looked into it and first let me say that I actually have 2004 not 2000 like I previously said. I installed the express commands but unsure how to use them. Is there a tutorial somewhere or is it easy enough to tell me how to use it?

Thanks again-
Dave

[ger21]

If your bringing regular text into LazyCAM, then you have a LazyCAM issue, not AutoCAD. It is possible to explode the text in AutoCAD and create polylines, but you'll probably need to explode some letters again and clean them up, then use the pedit command to rejoin them together. I don't use LazyCAM, so can't help you there, but you might want to see if you can figure it out in there if its easier.

[fretsman]

Gerry, it's definitely a text issue with autocad as I've heard this can be done but can't remember where I saw it. A friend of mine has Bobcad and can "group" these entities together for me but I want to be able to do it myself and not have to ask everytime I need it done, ya know?

As for text in lazycam, it's very limited in what you can edit so it's a lot nicer to create in autocad and import into lazycam.

Thanks for your time though, my friend, happy new year to you!

Dave-

[ger21]

Originally Posted by fretsman Gerry, it's definitely a text issue with autocad as I've heard this can be done but can't remember where I saw it. A friend of mine has Bobcad and can "group" these entities together for me but I want to be able to do it myself and not have to ask everytime I need it done, ya know?

Sorry, but I don't think it is. Can you post a .dxf of what your trying to bring into LazyCAM?

[fretsman]

absolutely here is the file:

[ger21]

How did you create that in AutoCAD? Did you just draw it?

[ger21]

Does this work any better?

[fretsman]

Yes, I just drew it up like you see it.

Yours is definitely better as it shows as 27 chains rather than the 43 that I was getting so you definitely helped a bit, thank you.

May I ask what you did?

[ger21]

Use the pedit command and join the lines and arcs into continuous polylines.

I really dislike LazyCAM. By trying to make it very easy for beginners, imo they've made it very difficult to use. The .dxf I posted only contains 6 polylines. Yet LazyCAM "breaks" it into 27 pieces? The old .dxf importer Mach had before LazyCAM would read it as 6 polylines, very simple.

You might want to look into the macro I wrote that exports gcode from within AutoCAD. Here's the code I got from it. You can download it from http://home.comcast.net/~cncwoodwork.../AC2GCv039.zip

Be sure to read the included .pdf to set it up correctly.


G0 Z0.13
G0 X5.31 Y4.23 Z0.13
G1 X5.31 Y4.23 Z-0.02 F10
G1 X5.25 Y4.23 Z-0.02 F50
G1 X5.01 Y4.55 Z-0.02
G1 X4.98 Y4.55 Z-0.02
G1 X4.96 Y4.55 Z-0.02
G1 X4.95 Y4.55 Z-0.02
G1 X4.93 Y4.55 Z-0.02
G1 X4.93 Y4.35 Z-0.02
G3 X4.95 Y4.27 Z-0.02 I0.12 J-0.02
G3 X5.00 Y4.25 Z-0.02 I0.05 J0.05
G1 X5.03 Y4.25 Z-0.02
G1 X5.03 Y4.23 Z-0.02
G1 X4.74 Y4.23 Z-0.02
G1 X4.74 Y4.25 Z-0.02
G1 X4.76 Y4.25 Z-0.02
G3 X4.82 Y4.27 Z-0.02 I0.01 J0.07
G3 X4.83 Y4.35 Z-0.02 I-0.20 J0.07
G1 X4.83 Y4.79 Z-0.02
G3 X4.82 Y4.88 Z-0.02 I-0.12 J0.02
G3 X4.76 Y4.90 Z-0.02 I-0.05 J-0.05
G1 X4.74 Y4.90 Z-0.02
G1 X4.74 Y4.92 Z-0.02
G1 X4.99 Y4.92 Z-0.02
G1 X5.03 Y4.92 Z-0.02
G1 X5.07 Y4.92 Z-0.02
G1 X5.11 Y4.91 Z-0.02
G1 X5.15 Y4.91 Z-0.02
G1 X5.18 Y4.90 Z-0.02
G1 X5.21 Y4.88 Z-0.02
G1 X5.24 Y4.86 Z-0.02
G1 X5.26 Y4.84 Z-0.02
G1 X5.27 Y4.81 Z-0.02
G1 X5.28 Y4.78 Z-0.02
G1 X5.29 Y4.75 Z-0.02
G1 X5.29 Y4.73 Z-0.02
G1 X5.28 Y4.71 Z-0.02
G0 X5.28 Y4.71 Z0.13
G0 X5.27 Y4.68 Z0.13
G1 X5.27 Y4.68 Z-0.02 F10
G2 X5.11 Y4.58 Z-0.02 I-0.19 J0.11 F50
G1 X5.26 Y4.37 Z-0.02
G1 X5.29 Y4.33 Z-0.02
G1 X5.31 Y4.31 Z-0.02
G0 X5.31 Y4.31 Z0.13
G0 X5.76 Y4.54 Z0.13
G1 X5.76 Y4.54 Z-0.02 F10
G2 X5.59 Y4.37 Z-0.02 I-0.19 J0.02 F50
G1 X5.74 Y4.16 Z-0.02
G1 X5.76 Y4.13 Z-0.02
G1 X5.77 Y4.11 Z-0.02
G1 X5.80 Y4.09 Z-0.02
G1 X5.82 Y4.07 Z-0.02
G1 X5.85 Y4.05 Z-0.02
G1 X5.88 Y4.04 Z-0.02
G1 X5.91 Y4.04 Z-0.02
G1 X5.91 Y4.02 Z-0.02
G1 X5.72 Y4.02 Z-0.02
G1 X5.48 Y4.34 Z-0.02
G1 X5.46 Y4.34 Z-0.02
G1 X5.44 Y4.34 Z-0.02
G1 X5.42 Y4.34 Z-0.02
G1 X5.41 Y4.34 Z-0.02
G1 X5.41 Y4.14 Z-0.02
G3 X5.42 Y4.06 Z-0.02 I0.12 J-0.02
G3 X5.48 Y4.04 Z-0.02 I0.05 J0.05
G1 X5.50 Y4.04 Z-0.02
G1 X5.50 Y4.02 Z-0.02
G1 X5.21 Y4.02 Z-0.02
G1 X5.21 Y4.04 Z-0.02
G1 X5.24 Y4.04 Z-0.02
G3 X5.30 Y4.06 Z-0.02 I0.01 J0.07
G3 X5.31 Y4.14 Z-0.02 I-0.20 J0.07
G1 X5.31 Y4.58 Z-0.02
G3 X5.30 Y4.67 Z-0.02 I-0.12 J0.02
G3 X5.24 Y4.69 Z-0.02 I-0.05 J-0.05
G1 X5.21 Y4.69 Z-0.02
G1 X5.21 Y4.71 Z-0.02
G1 X5.47 Y4.71 Z-0.02
G1 X5.51 Y4.71 Z-0.02
G1 X5.55 Y4.71 Z-0.02
G1 X5.58 Y4.70 Z-0.02
G1 X5.62 Y4.70 Z-0.02
G1 X5.66 Y4.69 Z-0.02
G1 X5.69 Y4.67 Z-0.02
G1 X5.71 Y4.65 Z-0.02
G1 X5.73 Y4.63 Z-0.02
G1 X5.75 Y4.60 Z-0.02
G1 X5.76 Y4.57 Z-0.02
G1 X5.76 Y4.54 Z-0.02
G0 X5.76 Y4.54 Z0.13
G0 X5.41 Y4.25 Z0.13
G1 X5.41 Y4.25 Z-0.02 F10
G1 X5.42 Y4.25 Z-0.02 F50
G1 X5.44 Y4.25 Z-0.02
G1 X5.44 Y4.23 Z-0.02
G1 X5.41 Y4.23 Z-0.02
G0 X5.41 Y4.23 Z0.13
G0 X5.02 Y4.89 Z0.13
G1 X5.02 Y4.89 Z-0.02 F10
G3 X4.93 Y4.87 Z-0.02 I0.02 J-0.29 F50
G1 X4.93 Y4.58 Z-0.02
G1 X4.95 Y4.58 Z-0.02
G1 X4.96 Y4.58 Z-0.02
G1 X5.00 Y4.58 Z-0.02
G1 X5.04 Y4.59 Z-0.02
G1 X5.08 Y4.60 Z-0.02
G1 X5.12 Y4.63 Z-0.02
G1 X5.14 Y4.65 Z-0.02
G1 X5.16 Y4.68 Z-0.02
G1 X5.17 Y4.71 Z-0.02
G1 X5.17 Y4.74 Z-0.02
G3 X5.02 Y4.89 Z-0.02 I-0.15 J0.01
G0 X5.02 Y4.89 Z0.13
G0 X5.49 Y4.68 Z0.13
G1 X5.49 Y4.68 Z-0.02 F10
G3 X5.41 Y4.66 Z-0.02 I0.02 J-0.29 F50
G1 X5.41 Y4.37 Z-0.02
G1 X5.42 Y4.37 Z-0.02
G1 X5.44 Y4.37 Z-0.02
G1 X5.48 Y4.37 Z-0.02
G1 X5.52 Y4.38 Z-0.02
G1 X5.56 Y4.39 Z-0.02
G1 X5.59 Y4.42 Z-0.02
G1 X5.62 Y4.44 Z-0.02
G1 X5.63 Y4.47 Z-0.02
G1 X5.64 Y4.50 Z-0.02
G1 X5.65 Y4.53 Z-0.02
G3 X5.49 Y4.68 Z-0.02 I-0.15 J0.01
G0 X5.49 Y4.68 Z0.13

[ger21]

If you want an easier way to deal with text in AutoCAD (for machining), you might want to look into Outline Art.

http://www.dwgtool.com/outline.htm