Super newbie learning Laserworks

[Jamie Olger]

Ok we bought a chinese 60w laser and are cutting out wood, I want to start cutting out monograms, I loaded the font and tried a cut last night, it cut all the way through on some pieces and I just want it to cut the outlines. I haven't played around with Corel yet, is this something I can make in corel, fill it so it's not showing where the monograms intertwine and then put it into laserworks so it just cuts the outside edge? I haven't played around besides testing some basic shapes, so when we got the monogram to cut last night, I was excited, but since it's intertwined, it cut out pieces and I'd like to keep it as 1 solid piece. I have added a photo so it makes more sense, thanks!

Thanks for any help!

[Bill George]

Ok we bought a chinese 60w laser and are cutting out wood, I want to start cutting out monograms, I loaded the font and tried a cut last night, it cut all the way through on some pieces and I just want it to cut the outlines. I haven't played around with Corel yet, is this something I can make in corel, fill it so it's not showing where the monograms intertwine and then put it into laserworks so it just cuts the outside edge? I haven't played around besides testing some basic shapes, so when we got the monogram to cut last night, I was excited, but since it's intertwined, it cut out pieces and I'd like to keep it as 1 solid piece. I have added a photo so it makes more sense, thanks!

Thanks for any help!

You need to spend some time on here just searching, reading and learning the basics. Short answer, did you try reducing the power when doing Vectors?

[Bert Kemp]

Hi welcome to SMC not sure how laserwork works LOL but I think you might want to weld the mono gram so the lines don't over lap. If theres parts you want to cut out change the color of your line to cut out make them hair line and increase power, lines you just want to see reduce power . If you want to fill in between the lines the you would change setting to engrave a low power it will take some experimenting to get the desired effect you want. Yes you can do it all in corel before transfer to laser

[Jamie Olger]

I have been searching, I just hadn't found out this yet, that's why I joined the forum!

[Jamie Olger]

Yes I need to weld, I have a 6 needle embroidery machine and a vinyl cutter, so I'm familiar with that software so I knew I needed to weld it, I have to do that on my vinyl cutter too to make it all 1 file but I just couldn't find it on the program. I just need to play around with Corel more. We have photoshop but haven't got Corel yet so that's the next step. I don't want those lines to show at all, so I think welding will do the trick, thanks!

[Bert Kemp]

In corel I thing under arrange you'll see shaping open that you'e see weld don't forget to select you object first

[Jerome Stanek]

what other software do you use I use Vectric Aspire to make my DXFs and it has a snipping feature that I use the remove the lines that cross inside.

[Bert Kemp]

Corel has a similar tool but I think its easier to weld, does the whole engraving in one clic.:)


what other software do you use I use Vectric Aspire to make my DXFs and it has a snipping feature that I use the remove the lines that cross inside.

[Julian Ashcroft]

I use laser works and I'm pretty sure there is no option to weld. I do all my design work in other packages first and just import the dxf file into laser works. The only things I usually do in Laserworks is to join the line ends together, optimize the cut, resize, sort out the cutting speed and power and position on the table.

if you haven't got Corel yet, give Inkscape a try, I use it and for basic stuff that gets set to the laser it works very well, it creates vectors of black and white bitmaps brilliantly.

[Rich Harman]

I haven't played around with Corel yet, is this something I can make in corel, fill it so it's not showing where the monograms intertwine and then put it into laserworks so it just cuts the outside edge?

Yes, absolutely. There are several ways to accomplish that in Corel Draw. I always export as a version 8 AI file. Often times LaserWorks does not import dxfs correctly - my understanding is that the dxf format has many variations and flavors. I've never had a problem importing version 8 Illustrator files.

[George M. Perzel]

Laserworks is a very poor design program but a great laser driver. Save yourself a lot of grief and your designs in CorelDraw , exort the engraved portions as a bitmap and the cut portions as a AI file. many ways to solve your issues with Corel.
Good luck
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[mariano peña ascanio]

Hello,


You have two ways.
photoshop and carry it all together to see just one piece and then carry corel and perform autorouting.


The other is directly in Corel Joining paths to make it a single piece.


I illustrator is simple to use and connect the paths.


The problem you have is that you are using a font and are not bound by default.

[Jeff Body]

Yes, absolutely. There are several ways to accomplish that in Corel Draw. I always export as a version 8 AI file. Often times LaserWorks does not import dxfs correctly - my understanding is that the dxf format has many variations and flavors. I've never had a problem importing version 8 Illustrator files.

I have this problem all the time. When I import a .dxf file it changes the size. So i've been saving my work as an .plt file and importing that. Seem to work for me.

[Jamie Olger]

Ok thanks everyone! Looks like we will be playing around with the software tonight to figure it out! Has anyone bought an older version of Corel? Like older versions.

[Jamie Olger]

I'll for sure give Inkscape a try! Thanks for that suggestion! Is it like openoffice.org for word and excel but for corel instead?

[Bert Kemp]

I bought a licensed version of x5 from amazon a few years back I think it was $60 and works very well I see no need to upgrade it.


Ok thanks everyone! Looks like we will be playing around with the software tonight to figure it out! Has anyone bought an older version of Corel? Like older versions.

[Jerome Stanek]

I have this problem all the time. When I import a .dxf file it changes the size. So i've been saving my work as an .plt file and importing that. Seem to work for me.

Are you saving in mm or inches I save in mm and everything is the correct size

[Jeff Body]

Are you saving in mm or inches I save in mm and everything is the correct size


I'll have to check when I get home.

[Rich Harman]

I have this problem all the time. When I import a .dxf file it changes the size.

That's no fault of the dxf format, just units. The problem I have is that the lines in the drawing can get messed up. Sometimes for simple shapes the dxf imports fine but for more complex shapes it can be a mess. The worst is when the lines get messed up by a small amount where it is not apparent unless zoomed in - or until after it is cut.

[Jeff Body]

That's no fault of the dxf format, just units. The problem I have is that the lines in the drawing can get messed up. Sometimes for simple shapes the dxf imports fine but for more complex shapes it can be a mess. The worst is when the lines get messed up by a small amount where it is not apparent unless zoomed in - or until after it is cut.

I figured out my problem tonight. It was importing the dxf file as if it was in mm. I changed it to cm in RDworks and it's importing properly now.