question about cutting order

[stan kern]

Is there a way to change the cutting order in light burn and rdworks
I find when i cut the parts they can partially drop into the blade table and the head can pick and ruin your work(drags it)
This way if i could control what it cuts and when i could remove those hinged parts
thanks

[Kev Williams]

I know how to change the cutting order in Corel, Casmate, EzCad and Gravostyle, but I've never used Lightburn or RDWorks... figures!

[Steve Utick]

Is there a way to change the cutting order in light burn and rdworks
I find when i cut the parts they can partially drop into the blade table and the head can pick and ruin your work(drags it)
This way if i could control what it cuts and when i could remove those hinged parts
thanks

This is a tutorial that LightBurn did on their cut planner which is how you control what gets cut when, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1hG1wv8tS4

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

I thought there was a way to select RD Works options for paths... and "inside to outside" or "cut insides first" is one I find most useful.

[Kev Williams]

While I don't know how to sort in RD or Lightburn, my favorite program for sorting is my old DOS version of Casmate, which was designed when computer controlled vinyl sign cutters came into being. Vinyl cutting is usually text, and done on sheet vinyl stock, usually 14-15" wide. If you're making lettering for a 30" x 12" sign, by 'normal' standards the vinyl cutter would cut the lettering line by line/letter by letter from left to right, unwinding the roll of vinyl as you go nearly the full 30 inches, then having to rewind the roll 30" back to the left edge and repeat until done. Moving that much vinyl that far over and over can result in the vinyl moving out of position, and then your lettering is messed up. Casmate's basic way of sorting is by sorting all objects from left-to-right across the X axis, in order of their left-most position, AND sorts each object with holes from the inside-out. Much better for vinyl cutting because the knife head, which is MUCH easier to move than a heavy roll of vinyl sheeting. The head moves from object to object only on the Y axis, up and down quickly as it cuts objects, while the heavy roll of vinyl only moves in small increments across the X axis, keeping the possibility of the vinyl roll shifting position to a minimum...

Screenshot of some pretty rough text I exported to Casmate from Corel as a PLT file;
The sort order is shown- many of the numbers are overlapping other numbers, but for the most part you can see
that the sorting is done left to right BUT line-by-line, just like it was typed-
testtext1.jpg

I grouped it all and resorted it left-to-right/inside out (these settings can be reversed, too),
and you find that the sort order will run everything from top to bottom, left-most letters first--
testtext2.jpg

Sorting this way is also a GREAT way to sort items for tool engraving... sometimes there's some long jumps but for the most part this keeps the machine's total linear-path movements to a minimum, which can save a ton of time.

Gravostyle has a simple way of sorting, it's called "do it manually: -- what you do is simply un-group everything, then select/add each next object in the order you want it to cut/engrave, then re-group the bunch. Pretty simple, but can get time consuming for complicated graphics.

Corel's sorting is even more time consuming, unless there's a way to do it I don't know about!

[John Lifer]

Sure, you can 'optimize' or not, and group or not. using group might work for you. (RDworks)

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Found it: under the [Edit] drop down menu options, are path creation priorities...
Take a look there- look for 'inside out' (which means cut insides, before outsides of shapes eg the letter O)