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Michael Simpson Virgina
03-24-2011, 7:04 AM
Has anyone figured out the flipping problem when plotting to a Epilog laser from Autocade.

I got the line weight problem licked with out messing with my drawings. Just fix that in a plottype.

I have found while autocade has a very steep learing curve, it has unbelievable power and productivity benifits once mastered.

If I print at 24 x 12 to the laser at the default laser printer settings it cuts just fine. However if you enter the driver to make changes the driver gets swaped to 12 x 24" Which of course messes every thing up if you are printing more than 12" wide"

I tried setting the driver up for 24 x 24 but my Epilog Driver blows up. Currently my only option is to print at 12 x 12, thus reducing my capacity .

Chris DeGerolamo
03-24-2011, 11:34 AM
Instead of plotting to a window, view or extents, try limits. So in your case, set your limits to be @24,24 and select limits in plot area of dialog box. Make sure the sheet size in the epilog settings dialog box matches your limits.

When ever you plot to epilog using AutoCAD, make sure it's square - 12x12, 16x16 etc. FWIW, we stopped plotting to the laser from AutoCAD immediately. Now, I usually go from DWG to PDF and import into Corel Draw if not directly from DWG to CDR.

Josh Jelinek
03-24-2011, 12:36 PM
I am a High School AutoCAD teacher who recently got a epilogue laser...so I am new but I am fairley proficient at AutoCAD.

Here is what we do to always avoid the flipping that comes when printing from AutoCAD to the Laser, avoiding PDFing and exporting and importing!

1. Always remember that if you send a document from AutoCAD that is set up on a layout that has a smaller width than length you will not experience flipping.

For example, we would create a custom page size on layout 1 to fit what we need and keep it horizontal to width more narrow than the hieght.
Right now I am doing some door name plates that are 10" horiz and 2 " Vertical...however my page set up I use in AutoCAD is 11"X17" portrait. Then I select a center engrave on the laser driver and it works like a charm. Remember to set your viewport zoom at 1:1.

2. We commonly use a Page set up for our Layouts of 24" Horizontal and 25" Vertical. Even though my laser bed is only set up at 24"H and 12"V, it seems somebody forgot to tell AutoCAD that!

The draw back to this is you have to be very careful to make sure you only use the top half of the page layout...use any more and you are slamming the laser carraige into the side or bottom rails.

It is definitely a pain in the you know what...However, you are very correct in that AutoCAD is very powerful when you know how to use it! We have done some very neat things in class and the we don't have Corel Draw.

Let me know if you need to know more...or if that didn't make sense.

Joe De Medeiros
03-24-2011, 1:50 PM
2. We commonly use a Page set up for our Layouts of 24" Horizontal and 25" Vertical. Even though my laser bed is only set up at 24"H and 12"V, it seems somebody forgot to tell AutoCAD that!

The draw back to this is you have to be very careful to make sure you only use the top half of the page layout...use any more and you are slamming the laser carraige into the side or bottom rails.

It is definitely a pain in the you know what...However, you are very correct in that AutoCAD is very powerful when you know how to use it! We have done some very neat things in class and the we don't have Corel Draw.

Let me know if you need to know more...or if that didn't make sense.

This is the method I'm using as well, but I make a box that is 24x25 in model space using defpoints, and on the lower half I put a reminder not to use this area. I prefer to use Autocad to make complex objects that would be next to impossible to do in corel. The one thing about corel is it handles fonts better, especially if you want to fit to path or create a custom envelop, which would be very difficult to impossible in autocad.

PS 2012 was just released, downloading it now.

Chris DeGerolamo
03-24-2011, 2:01 PM
[QUOTE=PS 2012 was just released, downloading it now.[/QUOTE]

You're awfully brave...I'm sure 2012 will have plenty of "features".

Joe De Medeiros
03-24-2011, 2:05 PM
You're awfully brave...I'm sure 2012 will have plenty of "features".

I have no choice, I need to test it out before we roll it out to the other engineers, and I'm sure there will be lots of new "features" that will require a service pack or 2. Revit 2012 will be the real bravery when it's released since it's not file compatible with older versions if you have problems, it's a one way conversion.

Michael Simpson Virgina
03-24-2011, 4:50 PM
Thanks guys. This does help. I used the 24 x 25 method and it works. I also use a version of the monochrome plot with lines all set to .0001. I also set my margins to 0.

Corel is still quicker for small tasks but autocad is faster if you need multiple prints/cuts on the same design.

Michael Simpson Virgina
03-24-2011, 5:46 PM
Well after much playing around I have given up on using Autocad to for laser cutting. I will still use autocad for my overall designs but it just not give you the detail of control for cutting. Its geared more toward printers and plotters.

Bottom Line you can use autocad for use with the laser but its not the best fit.