Desk Engrave

[WOODKNACK]

Anybody else using this program? I have just started to play around with it. I am trying differnt settings. The picture here cut the name Travis Timber lake at .040 and cut it at 30IPM. But i had the precision set lower like 2 I think. I bet the edged would be better if I set it to 8. I'll Try that tomorrow.The upside down Bill was cut with a bigger cutter and set on a high precision. Still need to play around somemore with the program. But I can see that the bill one came out more smooth on the edges. So it must be the percision setting!?

[CNCadmin]

I've used it works very well.

[WOODKNACK]

What do you have your precison set for in the program setup?

[foamcutter]

Hi,
I just started working with this program. I am wanting to do more than one line. Is there any way it will do this?

I tried opening a dxf file created by it in turbo cad2d, but when it opens it nothing is there. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong. Thanks Ron

[Hobbiest]

He related to Justin from that boy band? Sorry, couldn't resist.

[chadwiggan]

did everyone know that with desk engrave you can use any windows true type font and it will create a dxf or g-code file for you. i have been using this software for a long time and i found out that i can download dingbats(picture fonts ) and desk engrave will convert them to dxf or g-code. you wouldnt beleive the font pictures you can find on the net. this is basically the only program i need to make programs for my engraving machine. also someone asked about making two line of text. if you download k-kam and use desk engrave to make each line seperate then load it into your cad sofware and move the words around then save it as dxf. load it into k-kam and it will convert your dxf into g-code and even lets you scale it and move it as you wish. and if you register k-kam you can then save these files to be used on your other sofware. it sounds like alot but rally these are very useful softwares that i have found work very well together.

[ljoe1969]

why cant i open the desk engrave dxf file in autocad?

[ger21]

try using the recover command in autocad on it. Most programs write there .dxf's a little different from each other. It's probably missing a few lines AutoCAD is looking for.

If Recover doesn't work, try opening it in another program and then resave it.

[studysession]

I downloaded this and been having my mill draw the letters with a pencil for now. It seems like a really nice tool.

I am still working out a few things before I actually CNC something. But plan on doing some engraving soon with this program.

[fair451]

Downloaded this program after hearing of it here at the zone 2 days ago. I had g-code almost immmediately. Was doing a test run directly and finally I can do something with my machine other than just look at it. I did discover, as chadwiggan also mentions, that you will want to pour through your various fonts that Desk Engrave will open and find all the graphics available to you. I have 24 fonts that are "graphics/symbols". Make sure you try capitlizing a letter, number, or keyboard symbol as the "graphic/symbol" may change. Very cool software and for free its awesome though of course limited in range. Ger21 is right in that if you can open the Desk Engrave dxf in another CAD program and it opens then resave from there and reopen in AutoCAD.
I'm making chips and so happy about it!!!!!

[studysession]

How did you do the pumpkin and the cat? THey look great!

[fair451]

Really wasn't much of a trick to it once I found the the font/s. The cat on the pumpkin is Holiday MT font and the small case letter is v . What I did to check out all the fonts that may have interesting natures is to type a thru z small case and then a thru z capitalized in a text editor on different lines. Select all the small case/copy/paste to desk engrave text line/goto create menu/select font/select font size 28 or so to view larger sample/click ok when you find a font you want to explore/enter/enter/or click desk engraves "F" icon to review your selection. I reviewed every font available to desk engrave. I typed in ~`!@#$%^&*()_+ {}|:">?[]\;'./ for many of the fonts selected to see if anything was offered and in many cases there was. If not a square block or O displayed. One of the problems is keeping track of all the potentials you may want to use. I did notice you can not select a font for a particular letter and then choose another font for another letter to do combinations. Its one font at a time. In the case of Wingdings 2 gives you a good combination with the letters ab and others. If my photo uploads see the example. Lots of potentials to explore with this free program. I'm having a great time with it. Fortunately I do have a CAD program that will open a saved .dfx generated with Desk Engrave so I can see the true size and orientation. AutoCAD finds that there is some line missing and won't open the .dxf. I see many have experience that problem which is too bad because this is a sweet little program.
Is this wordy or what? ;-)