Can you fix my nickle?

[Michael McDuffie]

Hi gang,

This nickle used to be a good seller at the gift shop but one day it no longer worked on my Legend 24. I don't think it's the laser, I think I saved it wrong or made a change in Corel that I didn't understand.
It used to have nice shading that gave it a 3D look but now it has hard edges, no shading and looks just plain terrible.:(
I spent several hours learning Draw while making this and I'm not sure I can redo it.
I don't have any around to take a picture of but if you could try it on your machine?
Or does anyone have a Draw9 compatable file I can have a copy of?


Thanks,
Michael

[Rodne Gold]

The nickle looks fine to me , nice greyshading.

Im sure its the way you are engraving it thats the problem , i have no idea of how your diver works , but I know that on my GCC it would give a stunning 3d effect if the right settings were used.

[Mark Powell]

Hi Michael,

I have opened your files and as Rodney has said they look good to me. I am going to try and run them tomorrow and i will post my results.

Regards

Mark

[Roy Brewer]

It used to have nice shading that gave it a 3D look but now it has hard edges, no shading and looks just plain terrible.:(
....a Draw9 compatable file...

Michael,

Is there a possibility that you upgraded to XP since it engrave "nice?" Or, switch to Corel 9 recently?
Corel 9 has a few issues with XP.

[Michael McDuffie]

Roy,

I'm stuck with WIN98 for now as I'm using a 333Mhz Compaq. And I've been using Draw9 since day one.

Things that have or might have changed are the installation and removal of Smart Designer for Draw9, Upgrade to current IntelliScribe, flashed the laser to nearly current (I forget the whole number, but it's .08 rather than .12).

The flash update did cause a problem due to a setting for the EX machines being defaulted on. I don't remember what it is called at the moment but it caused image smearing at the edges.

I wonder if I've changed a setting deep in the bowels of Draw9. Printing via the parallel port has the same results, so I don't think it's IntelliScribe.

I'll check tomorrow if it prints on my laser print correctly. I think it does.

If the file engraves fine on anyone elses machine, you are welcome to use it.

Michael

By the way, is there any way to change the default behavour of the focus? It comes out from zero about 1.5 inches X and Y. Used to be you could XY to where you needed it to be and it would stay there when you pressed focus. Sometimes I have to argue with it for a while to stop where I want it to so I can set the focus, which is manual on my machine.

[Roy Brewer]

Roy,

By the way, is there any way to change the default behavior of the focus? It comes out from zero about 1.5 inches X and Y. Used to be you could XY to where you needed it to be and it would stay there when you pressed focus. Sometimes I have to argue with it for a while to stop where I want it to so I can set the focus, which is manual on my machine.Michael,

Yes. The new firmware (...8 and above) makes additional use of the STOP key.

Let me explain. Epilog moved the "rest" position of the lens assembly to a -X and -Y position so that material could be loaded easier. But now, travel is required to get the lens assembly out over your material. So when you press the manual FOCUS key the lens assembly moves.

Sometimes you don't want this (say, e.g., that you just spent 2.5 minutes using silly putty to prop up a Bowie knife and you realize you don't have clearance for the lens to move over your object). The solution? Press the STOP key *before* pressing FOCUS; now you can motor the table down for adequate clearance.

Sorry for the round about path to your question, but with that prologue, here it is. MoveXY to the desired position over your shotgun stock (or whatever you're focusing) but *do not* press FOCUS, instead press STOP+STOP then FOCUS and you'll be able to focus just like under the older firmware. [The first STOP of the STOP+STOP sequence exits the MoveXY function --- ESC could also have been used.]

HTH,

[Michael McDuffie]

Roy,
You Da Man!
You've just saved me from having to unstick the Bowie knife, focus on it and stick it back in the silly putty.
Well, actually, it's a Cryptex (tm) end cap that I've just centered in the jig before I remember to focus:mad:
You can see them here.
http://www.cryptex.org/index.html
Please note this is not my site, it is a customer's and I covet his gallery. Some year I plan on creating a site of my own.

Any idea why Epilog won't list the new features in a upgrade?

Michael

[Michael McDuffie]

I printed it to my laser printer and it looks fine.
Has anyone tried it on their laser?

Michael

[Jeff DeVore]

Roy,
Thanks for the great info. I wish I had known about this trick before I forgot to put a product on my vector grid and had the auto focus enabled. :eek: Started the job and turned my back and the auto focus went right through the vector grid and didn't stop until the grid was bent 3/4" below grade. :( Ended up taking the X beam apart to relieve the tension. Jeff.

[James Smith]

Michelle,

Just curious. I am new to this forum and came across your post. The attachments do not seem to be there any more. If you do not mind can you send them to me so I can see what is possible with Corel. I still learning and each day brings new ideas and plans. My email is basehor awards at sunflower dot com.

[Michael McDuffie]

Michelle,

Just curious. I am new to this forum and came across your post. The attachments do not seem to be there any more. If you do not mind can you send them to me so I can see what is possible with Corel. I still learning and each day brings new ideas and plans. My email is basehor awards at sunflower dot com.

Something has happened to the forum lately that won't let .CDR files display and/or be downloaded when veiwed with Internet Explorer. They show up just fine in Netscape and Firefox.

Anyhow, here are the files zipped together.


Michael

[Michael McDuffie]

Has anybody tried engraving the nickle yet?

Michael