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Overcutting
I’ll sound all newbieish now, but someone mentioned the overcut function in Signlab the other day. I’ve found it in my plotter settings, but its asks for a number then it has cm / 1000 displayed next to it.
What does this function actually do? I’m thinking its going to carry on the cut for a centimetre by what it says, but then again, I am a bit daft. If I set it to 1, would that be enough to stop the snags on the 0s and 6s as discussed the other day, or should I just leave it as it is?
Cheers, Dewi
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14 Replies
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it was me that posted bout the 0 and 6 problem, after looking into it i still havent cured it.
The overcut feature as you suspected carries the cut further on (the cut carries on after the letters have joined at there corners) the default setting is 1 and i have played about with various values on this none of which seem to cure the 0 and 6 problem!! 1 unit equals approx. 0.1mm
the current best bet is to write to BT and request 0 and 6 be removed from use in UK telecommunications! 😉
And avoid signwriting shop No.6 No.16 No.20 etc.!!! :lol1: -
Hi,
Just a thought but wouldn’t changing the cut start point help? Rather than starting the cut from the 9 o’clock position try starting it from 12 o’clock position where I would have thought there is less room for error.
The only problem is how changing back to GMT might affect this 😮
Mark
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can you do that on a drag-knife cutter?
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Changing the start point is easily done in Signlab. Go to node edit to display nodes – place cursor over the node you want to start – right click and move cursor to arrow icon. Node will then have direction arrow from it. You can change direction as well by dragging to middle left icon, this sometimes cures shadow problems. Overcut function is also changed from Signlab and I think on some cutters if not all it overwrites the setting on the cutter, this function can be turned off in Signlab but it does mean going into the ini file. Talking of ini files in Signlab I set mine so I get a warning when saving, may anoy some but it does stop accidental overwriting of your file.
Alan -
im using corel and a summa plugin, can it be done in corel?
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hi
check that you are using the correct blade ofset 2- most innerloops of font letters go anticlockwise outer loops clockwise a swivel head has to turn 180 deg to carry on. now you see the problem
good digitizing takes this in to account as to wear you start the following loop preferably in the same direction as the knife finnished the last
clear as mud fine
how do you tell the knife to start elsewear with out breaking the letter apart and rebuilding it.
chris
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Not sure about summa and corel, but you could try this.
It seems that the standard way of cutting is for the blade to cut the inside paths (holes) of an object clockwise and the outside paths are cut counterclockwise. This can result in a slight snag when the blade does a 180o.
If possible set cut direction to either clockwise or anticlockwise – doing so should make it cut inner and outer paths in the same direction.
Mark
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last two posts at least we have established they go round anyway 😉 😛
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The start point can be changed very easily, I use the ‘point tool’, select the cutting line and click the ‘change start point button’
Then move the start point to any location on the cutting line and accept the changes.
Works for me on any awkward curves.
Mark
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whot softwear please
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I’m using SignPal Master 7.0v3
Mark
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one up on others
chris
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Changing direction in Corel is easy (look at toolbar at top) not sure about start point.
Alan -
quote dtg:The overcut feature as you suspected carries the cut further on (the cut carries on after the letters have joined at there corners) the default setting is 1 and i have played about with various values on this none of which seem to cure the 0 and 6 problem!! 1 unit equals approx. 0.1mm
Just tried it and yep, absolutely no difference whatsoever 🙁 I’m beginning to suspect its something to do with CorelDRAW though, as it does tend to add in more nodes than say SignLab when you convert text to curves 😕
Having no luck changing the starting point of the knife either, looks like the 0’s and the 6’s are going to have to stay as they are 😕
Cheers, Dewi
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