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can anyone help me with engraving a solid letter?
Perhaps someone can help here?
Here’s my problem , I have just got a nice little roland engraver (PNC2300) which runs beautifully off signlab 5 (Its a FULL signlab with all the modules including engraving)
The thing is , outlines are real easy with Letters as are logos , BUT engraving a solid letter is proving very difficult. Filling the letter with a colour doesnt help , one has to use a command called "HOG" (what this doeas is remover the inside of an object using different "patterns" the cutter follows.
Now the problem comes in with letter like "O" , the hog command does NOT leave the inside of the "O" it hogs out the WHOLE outside of the "O" including the centre.
Signlab say to convert the text to graphics and then do a MAKE PATH and hog that , but it still doesnt work?
There must be a way to keep insides of letters etc clear?
Im a signlab cretin , so please be gentle with me:) -
5 Replies
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I have a Roland PNC 2100 PNC (For Sale anybody interested) and I always used the Banner Fill option in the Plot menu.
Alan -
A hog on a letter "O" should only rout out the area between the inner and out contours. You should not have to convert text to graphics.
Did you by chance also put an outline or inline on the letter and maybe are hogging out the outline?If you start a new drawing and only type in a letter "O" and apply a hog tool path, does it still happen as you describe?
Also, turn OFF "Show Fill " in the view menu and then apply the Hog tool path. Does the letter O fill incorrectly on screen , or only on the router?Is it only the letter O, or also B P R etc. If its only the O, then the font is bad. What Font are you using?
Worst case, email me the drawing with the tool path.
Tell the the version and revision of Signlab from thr Help/About Signlab screen. -
Most of my graphics are in corel , I normally cut and paste.
Its not so much lettering I’m concerned with , more with graphics. Unfortunately I got no training with signlab , it was supplied to me with my Large format Tekcel overhead router (as well as profile lab) and was included with the puter that came with the machine , and it just so happens to work with this Roland engraver via the print spooler (I had a lot of hassles with dongles etc trying to connect another machine)
Its ver 5 , rev 12 ,
Using S/labs text is no problem , but importing graphics is !!!
I get a lot of my work mailed to me in EPS, Corel AI etc , and the last thing I want to do is redesign.Where Im failing in the hog is the case of lets say a star within a circle within a square and I want the star and the square to be hogged. the colour thing is not intuitive in S/lab , maybe I’m getting bogged down there.
Another problem is that I do manage to get it right , and then next time I try (using the same stuff) It kinda laughs at me and the hog defaults to something I didnt program in!!! -
Not a genius but have you tried Make path on the “O” to get the centre not to fill.
Goop.
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I think Forbie is right.
If text typed in from Signlab works ok, then its the imported artwork is not 100% ready to hog.
Import your artwork from Corel into Signlab, then make sure “Show Fill” in the view menu is ON.
If the letter compleatly fills in so that you cant see the inner contour, then they are obviously not 1 path. You will need to select both the inner and outer countour and do an Arrange/Make path , on the two. The letter should then appear to fill correctly on screen. Only when it fill properly on screen will the Hog tool path do what you want.PS, if with “Show Fill” ON, the letter appears as Dashed lines instead of solid lines, it means there is a break or opening somewhere in the artwork and you may then need to also do a “Close Graphic”
In short, if it doesnt display properly with “ShowFill” ON, it wont hog properly either.
frank at cadlink
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