EZcad doesn't recognize stroke widths

[Vasileios Antoniadis]

Hi,

I am new to this Laser Marking thing. I bought a 20W fiber laser marking machine and it came with EZcad. Now the problem I am having is that I cannot find anywhere to change line and stroke width. Say when I want to engrave text and don't use a hatch, I engrave the outlines but the lines are very thin. If I want to increase the thickness I cant because there is no option. Its either the thin outline or a hatch will all filled.

The same goess to vector graphics imported from Illustrator. Stroke widths are completely ignored.

Is there a way around it or I am using the Hatch incorrectly?

Thanks in advance for your answers

[Kev Williams]

couple of ways to do this, one is to use the Num Loops function within the hatch menu:

numloops.jpg
this will create extra lines INWARD, it won't expand outward (at least I can't figure out how)
note the settings at the arrows:
Follow Edge Once needs to be ON or the original outline won't appear-
Set the Line Space to 0, this prevents any hatch filling
Num Loops- set this number for how many offsets you think you'll need, I put in 6-
Loop Distance, this is space between the lines, I entered .02mm

This is my results on the corner of the box I drew:
numloop2.jpg
note this is zoomed in A TON, because a .02mm space is quite small! You'll need to practice with line spacing and how many lines to add to get the results you're after...

NEXT, if you go to the EDIT button at the top, down at the bottom of the edit menu is "offset"-- this is the second way to do this. However, it has its limitations; one being you can only offset one closed graphic at a time, and you have to choose it first. So select a line, then click on Offset... once you do, at the top of the screen below the main buttons you'll get a prompt for "offset dist", enter a distance. To the right of that will be an option to "delete old curve"- if you just want to offset once, say to fatten up an object before hatching, then select it, and the original line will delete. Now comes the fun part- to DO the offset, just place the mouse arrow on the side of the line you want to offset towards, as in, if you want to offset inward, just place the arrow on the inside of the object, and click the mouse, and you'll get a new line-- click again and you'll get another new line! To offset outwards, put the arrow outside and start clicking! But NOTE- each new line becomes "the original" line, so, if you start going outward then go inward, it will duplicate your previous lines! So before changing directions, you need to stop to process, then choose the most outer or inner line as the new original...

Speaking of stopping the process, hitting the ESC button will halt the duplicating, but to EXIT the process, you need to click the arrow button at the top left of the side menu (just like you need to do to stop drawing boxes or circles, etc...)

Take some practice, I'm still learning, but it's fun -- these functions can work hand in hand with hatch filling too, as you'll find out!


.

[Vasileios Antoniadis]

Thanks you are a lifesaver!!! I managed to do it with the first example...the offset didn't work as expected on my design. I can't seem to select anything after I put an offset value.

But hey I got what I wanted

[Rodne Gold]

Try the wobble setting..

[Kev Williams]

Thanks you are a lifesaver!!! I managed to do it with the first example...the offset didn't work as expected on my design. I can't seem to select anything after I put an offset value.

But hey I got what I wanted

You can select other objects, but you have to exit out of the previous routine first- The ESC key may let you do it, not sure (I'm on the wrong computer to test )

And the Wobble Rodne mentions, which I forgot about (oops), it was designed just for this purpose- you access it via the 'advanced' button under the speed/power settings; and (going from memory), the wobble has 2 settings, diameter and distance-- what the wobble does is, instead of tracing straight lines as straight lines, it traces them in a perfect spiral path- SO, if you enter say, .1mm diameter and .05mm spacing, it will literally engrave a continuous 1mm dia. spiral spaced .05mm apart!
I did this sample awhile back, all three are actually straight lines-
wobble.jpg
the top is a very tightly spaced but wide spiral which created a uniform, thick line-
the second line is (about) a 1mm spiral with 3mm spacing,
the third is (about) a 3mm spiral with 3mm spacing, so the lines just touch. In use, you want overlap

Note that the wobble will to this to ALL lines, even hatch fills- it's a fun feature to play with (if you have time)

[Vasileios Antoniadis]

going to try wobble for sure! thanks guys!