New Guy with questions

[Tim Hickman]

Just found you guys and have been reading posts. I just got an Epilog 25w mini. I have been using a CNC plasma burner cutting steel for about 5 years, decided to branch out with laser. I have worked with autocad for 15 years, so I know a little about vectors. But, first question, when converting to Corel, epilog says use wmf. Why does the laser cut each segment seperately? My cnc converts to path.
2. Where do you buy the Alder or Cherry plaques, from besides LaserBits?
3. Is Photograv worth it to do marble?

Thanks for listening to the newbie.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Tim,

I am not a laser guy, but I did want to welcome you to the Creek! This is the best forum on the net in my opinion. Welcome aboard and enjoy your stay!

Jeff

[Mike Mackenzie]

Tim,

First I am surprised that you don't run the system directly through autocad is there a reason you are not?

Second you can get the wood plaques from here www.studioworkshop.com (http://www.studioworkshop.com)

and photograve works O.K. with marble but I think it is better suited for Granite more than Marble. You should be able to just use gray scale files when working on marble.

[Tim Hickman]

I have some files that have both raster and vector. The problem I am talking about is that the laser will jump all around burning a segment here and a segment there, not following the parts path. Thanks for the link on the blanks.

Tim

[Jerry Allen]

Check your driver for a grouping or sorting setting. There also might be a cluster setting.
Also, in Corel Draw, keep the Object Manager available so you can see what's going on.
You can order (just drag them) the lines (curves) and raster in Draw which affects how they are sent to the driver. In addition to that grouping objects should help. You could also arrange the groups in the manager in Draw. I'd check the driver first but the other stuff is good to know.

[Jeff DeVore]

Hi Tim,
Are you saying that for instance to cut an "S" type curve that the laser cuts a segment or part of the "S" and then moves to another different object and cut part of that line or will it completely cut the "S" and then move to another object. If it is doing the former try combining the segments. If if is doing the latter and you just want to control which object cuts first open the object manager and put the object you want to cut first at the bottom of the list and the object you want to cut next just above it etc. until the last one you want to cut ends up on the top of the list. I know it seems backwards but that's the way Corel orders objects. Hope this helps, Jeff.

[Rodne Gold]

Corel 11/12 will both import and export Acad drawings perfectly.
Cutting order , unless your driver has sorting etc will be in the order you drew stuff. In Acad , use the draworder command to reset the order if you have problems.You can use the pline command as well to rearange the vector line or join segments.
WMF sucks in terms of import and export.
Photograv is a great program , you can do the same as it does in other graphics packages , but for ease of use etc , it's the bees knees. You might not get the best engraving possible if you use it automatically (you can control all variables manually) but you will have a VERY high success rate with minimal effort.

[Jeanette Brewer]

QUOTE: "2. Where do you buy the Alder or Cherry plaques, from besides LaserBits?"


Not sure where you're located but I can highly recommend Colorado Heirloom (800)643-8880 or www.coloradoheirloom.com (http://www.coloradoheirloom.com)

Jeanette Brewer
BREWER SALES
Arlington, TX

[Roy Brewer]

Tim,

See contact info below for the highest quality, lowest price Alder picture frames (no plaques just frames).

Your Mini will run directly from aCAD. I think the instructs are in the back of the Mini manual. If not, Epilog has a document that explains how to configure aCAD for best results when printing to your Mini.

I continue to hear about problems (Bruce, are you listening? Chime in...) with aCAD vectoring the same segment several times. I suspect this has to do with some setting inside aCAD [with which I'm not familiar]. Many start off in aCAD and wind up in CorelDRAW just because Corel is somewhat bulletproof when it comes to running a laser; Corel has started *really* listening to laser users and that's even more future for lasering from Corel.

If you use Corel, I agree with Rodney that you should be importing the .DWG file not .WMF. Although there is supposed to be several improvements in 12 over 11, I continue to have better luck with 11.

Rodney: Have you noticed that 12 brings text in as paragraph text and often truncates it? Have you (or anyone else) found a setting that corrects/changes that?

Roy Brewer


Summit Products (Alder pic frames)
PO Box 905
Mineola, TX 75773
(903)569-0732
newt@safe-t-pet.com

[Rodne Gold]

Hiya Roy
Corel normally brings in text as paragraph text , even 11 and depending on the size of the text splits it into multiple pages.
Under options select document and then select styles , you will see a drop down list and set the default text size in the section called default paragraph text to a small size , this will tend to put all the text into one paragraph frame and you wont get aparent truncation. You select the whole paragraph with the pick tool and then got to text on the menu bar and you will see an option to convert pragraph text to artistic text and you get the paragraph as artistic text which you can format , change style with etc etc.
You will find with Acad that earlier versions like 14 etc will work better with lasers as they are simpler and don't use such complex model spaces etc. Things like surface meshes and complex polylines might confuse issues with lasers , we either use 14 or 2000. I think a lot depends on the driver. We prefer to use Corel as the front end to the laser as it's very robust and we know what stuff will do in it. Autocad is very poor for raster type stuff and fonts etc tend to be a problem. It does however have far more potent tools then Corel 11 downwards - ver 12 of Corel has better snap and trim modes. We often export out of Corel to Acad to perfom actions on vector files that are not easily doable with Corel. there are some very powerful free routines with Acad that are not available in corel , such as the ability to import a text file in colums and rows or sequential numbering routines or dial and gauge type stuff and a lot more besides. So if for example we doing 5000 badges , we use Acad to insert and position the names in a matrix and take it out to Corel. In terms of industrial stuff like boat panels etc , acad is a lot better for absolute precison in terms of placement etc.
One thing I have always found with Corel is that even numbered versions generally suck like 8, 10 etc? Odd no'd ones tend to be more stable , like 5, 7 , 9, 11? 12 seems ok tho.