Engraving Software

[foamcutter]

Larry,
That was going to be my next suggestion, was to calculate the depths and draw in each as a line to cut to get the correct pocket depth and angle of the sides, but I thought that was going to be a lot of work too. There just never seems to be an easy way to do the spectacular stuff; if there was everybody would be doing it. Try to post some photos of the completed plaques for us all to ooh and aah over. Ron

[The Wizard]

Originally Posted by foamcutter Larry, That was going to be my next suggestion, was to calculate the depths and draw in each as a line to cut to get the correct pocket depth and angle of the sides, but I thought that was going to be a lot of work too. There just never seems to be an easy way to do the spectacular stuff; if there was everybody would be doing it.

It wasn't too bad to do. I ended up drawing a profile of the cutter and working out how far each pass had to 'step over' in order to keep the slope of the pocket smooth as the cutter went deeper. It was then a simple matter to assign individual 'contour processes' to each pass in SheetCam.

Try to post some photos of the completed plaques for us all to ooh and aah over. Ron

Well don't hold your breath . It will be a while yet as I am still waiting for parts so that I can start building (I know they were shipped by snail mail but I could have walked the 1700 miles and collected them by now....lol).

I will certainly post pictures of both the machine and the plaques/trophies just as soon as I can.

Larry

[dcarr]

Originally Posted by The Wizard I designed a 3D logo for the kite club I belong to and I had hoped to try this out as a possible trophy but I am having a few problems trying to generate the required G codes. I have attached an example of the logo but of course the colours would be different depending on what LEDs are available. I have vector, raster and CAD formats of this but while I can get the text to look right using a 60° engraving cutter I cannot get the chevrons to cut correctly (bear in mind I am only simulating at this time as I still have to build my machine). If I use a CAD file the chevrons come out as flat with bevelled edges, if I use a raster file (converted to grayscale gradients) I can only get it in 'relief' and not as a 'pocket'. I have even attempted to model the chevron in 3D but not had much luck there either. I am trying to use several different software demo packages to get the results I want but so far it is eluding me. Larry Green

Hello Larry,

I spent a little bit of time working with your kite logo image in VS3D. I think VS3D will easily do exactly what you want to do. Here is a detailed example of how to use VS3D to generate G-Code from a digital photo :
http://www.designscomputed.com/vs3d/...mg_emboss.html
Your desired process would be similar, but you would do it three times (each time using a different color band from the image - Red, Green, and Blue). You could also mirror and invert the resulting surface to do it on the back of the plexiglas instead of the front. If you would like to try it out in VS3D, I could walk you through the process on the phone. The VS3D home page with contact information is here:
http://www.designscomputed.com/vs3d/

[The Wizard]

Hello Larry, I spent a little bit of time working with your kite logo image in VS3D. I think VS3D will easily do exactly what you want to do. Here is a detailed example of how to use VS3D to generate G-Code from a digital photo : http://www.designscomputed.com/vs3d...img_emboss.html Your desired process would be similar, but you would do it three times (each time using a different color band from the image - Red, Green, and Blue). You could also mirror and invert the resulting surface to do it on the back of the plexiglas instead of the front.

Thanks for the info. I have looked at VS3D in the past and I must admit it looks like a very good program.

If you would like to try it out in VS3D, I could walk you through the process on the phone. The VS3D home page with contact information is here: http://www.designscomputed.com/vs3d/

I looked at that page and to be perfectly honest that is way beyond my means at the moment. Thanks for taking the trouble of playing with the design but I will have to use an alternative method for now.

Larry

[greyghost]

I've been trying sheetcam a little. You can get more info at the sheetcam users group on Yahoo. It's written by Les Newell, if I remember.

[esmiller]

Originally Posted by ger21 http://www.sheetcam.com Free right now during beta, and should do what you want.

Can't find the beta anymore, just the limited version.. is the old beta still available to play with, or was it removed when it was upgraded to a STABLE product release?

Eddie

[The Wizard]

Originally Posted by esmiller Can't find the beta anymore, just the limited version.. is the old beta still available to play with, or was it removed when it was upgraded to a STABLE product release? Eddie

The STABLE version is v1.0.3 and is limited to 150 lines of output (until you buy the licence) and is more than enough to get the feel for the software. If you need more lines to try it out Les will provide a free 30 day licence for evaluation purposes.

The beta version is now at v1.1.12 and is changing quickly (almost daily at times) as new features are added. However, this is also limited to 150 lines of code unless you have a licence.

The free 'unlimited' beta changed when the STABLE version was released IIRC.

There is a very active Yahoo group at ...

http://groupyahoo.com/group/sheetcam/

... if you need any help with the software.

Larry Green

[RASTAERMAN]

I Have Been Using Mach2 To Do Reverse Engraving On Clear Plastic, It Has A Write Program That Allows You To Mirror Text.