No Enroute users out there?

[Dan.antes]

I keep checking this forum and see no new posts. I can't believe there aren't at least a few Enroute users out there. It would be nice to see some more post with tricks or tips that people have with this software.
I have been frustrated with 2D profiling when using a clean tool. I will use a 1/4" endmill to cut out and then a smaller mill like a .062" for detailing the inside corners. With the router offset toolpath this will have the small tool going all the way around the part which can be very slow. I started playing with the raster pocketing toolpath to clean up my 2d profiling. First nest parts. Second toolpath with the router offset and a large mill. Next draw a rectangle around plate and toolpath with the hatch fill toolpath using a slight smaller mill than the router offset and then the tool you want to do the cleaning pass with. When outputing toolpaths unselect the first hatch fill tool and only output the cleaning tool. Enroute will then profile with large tool and then come back and only clean the inside corners with the small clean tool you used in the hatch fill toolpath. This works great and is way faster than using the clean tool as a router offset toolpath. Make sure the tools and strategies are output in the correct order when using the output dialog box.
I would love to see someone else chime in here with similar tricks and suggestions. Thanks

Dan Antes
Distinctive Hardwood Floors
Distinctivehardwood.com

[trooper55]

Hi, I too use enroute, but im quite frustrated with trying to do 2.5d work and not having a smooth finish on the products. I work at a sign shop so most of our stuff is flat cut rather than 2.5D And im always trying to find better ways to make up time on projects.

And that is a very intresting trick you have.

My email is roryp@lacrossesign.com Drop me a line some time love to discuses enroute with you.

[dixter20]

Hey guys,

this is just a post to confirm there are, in fact, more EnRoute users out there on cnczone. i've recently started at a custom cabinetry shop that is using EnRoute w/ KCDw on a MultiCam 3-axis router.

i'm pretty new with EnRoute3, so don't have a whole lot to contribute right now. but, it's always nice to pool brains when the occasion arises. i'll post back later when i'm not on the clock.


- Rich
Vancouver, BC, Canada

richardlhewitt@gmail.com

[trooper55]

Rich,

I would love to lean about cabinetry some time, i run the same set up but we are a sign shop here. and i have been running enroute for 2 years now. so i might have some programing tricks to help you out. And it would be neat to see some of your work.


Rory

La Crosse Sign Co. Inc.
roryp@lacrossesign.com

[Grant Nicholson]

I'm an enroute user as of a year now. I own a business providing wholesale signage to sign shops.

I'm also passionate about wood, and have created lots of cool 3d stuff. V-carving and pyramid carving are really common in my shop too.

I find the approach to bezier curves interesting in Enroute. I've been a graphic designer for 17 years, with a lot of specialty in vector design work.

There are many things that I appreciate about the software, and many things I don't.

Since Inlay work is such an obvious one, I would like to note that I'm creating offset paths instead of using the inlay gap settings in the toolpaths, because I have had some poor results a couple of times. This is common with any graphics software however, and if anyone has workarounds to deal with common problems I'd love to hear about it!

I'll post some of my own observations here.
Cheers,
Grant Nicholson
(I have a couple things posted at this address http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...8&l=ed2b975f8d)

[dixter20]

Originally Posted by Grant Nicholson I'm an enroute user as of a year now. I own a business providing wholesale signage to sign shops. I'm also passionate about wood, and have created lots of cool 3d stuff. V-carving and pyramid carving are really common in my shop too. I find the approach to bezier curves interesting in Enroute. I've been a graphic designer for 17 years, with a lot of specialty in vector design work. There are many things that I appreciate about the software, and many things I don't. Since Inlay work is such an obvious one, I would like to note that I'm creating offset paths instead of using the inlay gap settings in the toolpaths, because I have had some poor results a couple of times. This is common with any graphics software however, and if anyone has workarounds to deal with common problems I'd love to hear about it! I'll post some of my own observations here. Cheers, Grant Nicholson (I have a couple things posted at this address http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...8&l=ed2b975f8d)

Grant, interesting that you have decided to go with offset paths. I recently had to do a sign in acrylic with inset letters. My CNC experience is in wood cabinets, so inlay (especially with plastic) was a new thing for me.

The inlay settings with gap parameter ended up working well for me. I considered doing a offset perimeter strategy like you have said you do, but decided it was too time consuming.

Everything worked fine, but I did find that the inside contours of some letters were producing unnecessary arcs. I updated my machine drivers, but that didn't seem to do the trick. In the end, I ended up manually going through the G-code with the editor app and deleting the bad lines of code. I recommend the same to whoever is experience the same problem with unexplainable arcs occuring in lettering.

[marcinito]

I've been working with EnRoute for 11 years now. Started with basic 2.0 and now doing all my programming with EnRoute 3. Good software for the money that allows you to do more with every new version.

[Grant Nicholson]

I've been designing vector graphics for 19 years, 17 of it professionally.

Software that is supported by huge numbers of users receives much more development than software with a smaller user base. The field of vector editing is dominated by the field of graphic design, with a few major players such as adobe.

There aren't as many cnc operators as there are people using graphic design products; this means the programs don't have the huge influx of financial and user support that design software does.

I can purchase a vector editing program of supreme quality for $700 (and it probably has millions of users buying it). Enroute pro was around $7500 (Cdn). The vector editing in enroute leaves a whole lot to be desired. I am drawing my artistic renderings in other much better software that was intended for this purpose, and importing it into enroute.

This being said, Enroute has some awesome features for quickly creating relief art. I have been combining 3D modeling from other software with enroute's functions, and it speeds things up tremedously. I wish it were possible to rotate reliefs on the y axis without converting to mesh, but oh well.

The tooling up functions are excellent, and very intuitive. It really doesn't take long to catch on.

mitered corners, be it during extrusion, or offset contours, have some difficulties.

Imported bitmaps are sometimes buggy.

Exported .ai files usually don't work - printing creates a .pdf file though, and the pdf's are just fine, and can be edited elsewhere.

I'm thinking of going through and compiling my observations about how the software functions, as a service to the company and user base. There are many things to note.

I think Enroute is a fine piece of software. I feel like I made the right choice in purchasing it with my router. I'm sure that all router software has inherent weaknesses and states of development (any intense graphics software user knows how common this is) If we want it to continue to improve, we as users should document it's weaknesses and send them on to the company for tweaking, as occurs in many other software developer/user situations.

Any thoughts?

[whipper]

Hey all, I am a fairly new user on version 4.1. have you tried the new rapid texture? Some very intersting textures and efficient on machine time. (you'll have to update your software) Kevin

[Grant Nicholson]

I haven't tried this - how does it work?

[whipper]

Rapid texture is subroutine which will repeat a simple shape using twist and warp to produce patterns which when cut produce interesting textures. So what? Enroute writes the toolpath as an open contour rather than a relief. machine time to create texture is much less. This is a new feature and I have just started playing with it.

[Grant Nicholson]

That sounds fantastic! If it can be applied to reliefs, it sounds like it would work well on some of the 3D carved maps I work with.
I'm upgrading soon anyhow.

I use a mac with Windows XP installed. As the mac has 6 gigs of RAM, and xp only permits use of 3.5 gigs, I'm about to install a 64 bit XP that will use all of the RAM.

My largest enroute file was a sign that was a 3d object 14 feet long by 23" tall. This was a real memory pig, but I'm getting more commissions for work like that.