Stencils

[coach]

I was asked to cut stencils from pvc.
The sign shop will supply the font on disk in an EPS format.
Sign guy told me he will connect the letters so as to make the stencil.
He also mentioned stencil fonts. I am wondering if it is very difficult to toolpath?
Thanks,,,,,Dave

[harryball]

It shouldn't be too difficult if it is a simple stencil friendly font. Basically select the vectors and toolpath them. If they take some fancy font and work on it the concern would be loops, overlapping vectors and open vectors.

Remember when you are toolpathing if the insides of the letters (the part that will come out) are too small they won't stay in place while cutting. They could vibrate and cause cutting chatter, fly off the table and then cause you to loose so much vac that the whole sheet moves or raises up. You might want to use small tabs and then clean it up by hand when finished.

Good luck.
/RB

[billp]

Dave,
Piece of cake. Stencil fonts are available on the web, and you just do an "inside profile" tool path. If they are a sign shop they should understand the loop, and connection issues already.
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[laserguy]

Here are some stencil fonts for free on-line.

http://www.fontspace.com/category/stencil

You should be able to toolpath them very easily with a 2d inside profile toolpath.

[knight_toolworks]

even if you have to modify the text it's not a big deal. these too I got as pdf's and I had to fix the o's did not take much of anytime at all.
if you can use larger pieces of plastic vacuum usually works well. you can also tack the corners with screws or nails.

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