Ramping with Corel

[johnmacg@interlog.com]

I'm a beginner. Got my machine finished at last and am playing around with software for making toolpaths. Corel Draw's curved lines appear to be exported in dxf as a series of straight lines. It looks like Vector's are that way too, from the sample drawing online.

Shouldn't the machine ramp down and up at abrupt changes in direction? It looks to me as though that's not happening. Is it happening? Does it matter at all? Does it matter very much?

Should I try to break the lines in the drawing program at points where there's abrupt changes in direction to force the ramping?

When I'm working with ShopBot code, is there a way of figuring out where on the drawing a particular command is applied? Anyone got any tricks on that?

I'm struggling with software trying to make toolpaths. So far software's ahead.

But I'll win in the end.

RouterClouter

[seaside@esva.net]

Hey,

>Corel Draw's curved lines appear to be exported in dxf as a series of straight lines.

A ShopBot moves in a series of straight lines; moving from point A to point B. The shorter the line segments, the closer it will be to a curve. I don't know how it works in Corel, but in many CAD programs including TurboCAD you can change the number of segments that curve is broken into. If the segments get small enough you won't be able to tell it from a true curve.

>Shouldn't the machine ramp down and up at abrupt changes in direction?

There's a setting for the change-of-direction angle ( threshold angle ) that causes a ramp down and up; I think the default is 115 degrees. You can check it's value by typing (UV) and looking for threshhold value.


>is there a way of figuring out where on the drawing a particular command is applied?

I'm not real sure what you're trying to do, but if you want to be able to insert a command at a particular point in a file, you might try inserting a dot or point at that spot in the drawing in a different color than the rest of the drawing. Then when you run the dxf convertor, give it a different zup setting for that color. Open the file in edit mode (FE), search for that zup setting, and insert the new command there. Just don't forget to remove the extra z-moves and the point.

Hope this helps,

Bill

[giggalo]

When useing Coreldraw try this save the file as a .cdr, then export it as a dxf, I heard you had to do this first for it to work

[jimt]

I have a lot better luck exporting fromCorel Draw as an HPGL and using the Shopbot HPGL converter. It automatically optimizes the tool path regardless of what order you drew it in.

Jim

[akinsmatteco@yahoo.com]

The undo in corel draw refuses to act or work

[srwtlc]

Does it not work at all, or does it only work so many times and that's it? Check the undo level settings under "Tools/Options/Workspace/General".
You may need a reinstall. What version do you have?