looking for dongle? Ray Fine 50w Fiber

[Kev Williams]

EzCad's repeat functions, can be confusing...

to wit: In the older versions, each of the 3 hatch routines were only capable of ONE direction of hatch, which means for each entity you're hatching, you could make 3 single hatches at whatever angles, or 2 cross hatches and 1 single hatch- that was it.

In the newer versions, they added the 'cross hatch' option, so NOW you can make 3 full cross hatches, effectively doubling the hatch routines, ASSUMING you're cross hatching! And for the record, the cross-hatch option simply creates a second identical hatch at 90° opposite the original entry; if you enter a 45° hatch, a second -45° (or 135°) will be created automatically... AND, the newer version includes a 'count' option in the hatch menu, which wasn't in the older versions...

the multiple-run options: Count, Loop, and Total Number...
-the COUNT option in the hatch menu gives you the option of repeating any or all of the 3 hatch routines-
-the LOOP option in the power settings gives you the option of repeating any or all of a certain COLOR.
-the TOTAL NUMBER option (bottom of the screen) gives you the option of repeating an entire job, and the 'PART' box above the number box tells you how many runs have been completed...

so- with the COUNT option, you can now hatch different entities using the same color (same power settings) but gives you the choice of which entities to run more than once. With the loop option, you were forced to use a different color for entities that didn't need to engrave more than once.

The repeat upgrades have come in VERY handy for me. But there is ONE thing that bothers me: WHY have they limited the hatch routines to THREE? Has that been fixed in EzCad3? I have a cut routine for engraving rifle barrels that leaves the engraving virtually baby-butt smooth and with about 10° of draft angle, looks completely identical to tool engraving-- BUT, to accomplish this I have to run NINE hatch routines! Which means I have to stack THREE identical text/graphic entities with 3 different hatch routines each on top of each other on-screen. And whenever I change text (for example) I have to change all 3, etc... Why not 10 routines instead of only 3? Why not an unlimited number of hatch routines? Why don't people who write programs to run laser engravers actually consult with someone who laser engraves for a living?

[Scott Clearman]

EzCad's repeat functions, can be confusing...

Speaking of confusing..... On some of the images I try to add a hatch to, the image disappears from the work screen, like it goes away or see through or something. I have no idea why.

[John Lifer]

I occasionally have this happen. Usually I don't have a hatch on the first (#1) hatch and have a hatch on the second or third. Adding a #1 hatch usually solves it.
(it did yesterday for one new dxf I imported) Yeah, strange defect in the program.

Oh, one thing I've found if you are using Corel to export dxf's to EzCad, use early version Autocad (I use 2002 version) which works for me.
(others do other exports)